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U.S. Sends ‘Kamikaze Drones’ to Ukraine; Pentagon Weighs Permanently Stationing More Troops in Europe

This has been CNBC’s live blog covering Wednesday’s updates on the war in Ukraine. Follow the latest updates here. Russian attacks on Ukraine are continuing after Moscow said it would reduce its military activity in some parts of the country. Russia said Tuesday that it would cut back its military activity near Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv but the U.S., the U.K. and Ukraine have expressed skepticism over Moscow’s pledge to scale back the fighting. Russian and Ukrainian delegates held face-to-face talks in Istanbul yesterday, with Ukraine’s delegation calling for an international agreement under which other nations would guarantee Ukraine’s security. Russia continues shelling, holds positions near Kyiv despite Moscow’s promises to scale back Significant Russian shelling and missile strikes have continued on the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, and Russian troops are still holding positions close to Kyiv, despite promises to the contrary from Moscow, the United Kingdom said Thursday. Russian forces continue to hold positions to the east and west of Kyiv despite the withdrawal of a limited number of units, the U.K. Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence briefing. Chernihiv is about 90 miles north of Kyiv and 40 miles south of the Russian border. A Russian defense official said Wednesday that Moscow would drastically reduce military activity near Chernihiv and the capital of Kyiv, NBC News reported. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urged caution about believing Moscow’s promises. The Russian Defense Ministry’s press office was not immediately available to provide comment to CNBC. The British ministry said heavy fighting will likely take place in the suburbs of Kyiv in the coming days. Since last week, Ukrainian forces began to report retaking towns close to the capital. The situation around the capital is fluid, and those Ukrainian claims are difficult or impossible to verify. You do see the Ukrainians trying to take advantage of opportunities and roll back the Russians where they can, NBC News Global Security Reporter Dan De Luce said. Heavy fighting continues in Mariupol in the south, but the U.K. Ministry said Ukrainian defenders are still holding the city center. Mariupol has been largely destroyed by Russian artillery and missiles. Ted Kemp Putin may have been misinformed about Ukraine, U.S. intelligence shows According to newly declassified U.S. intelligence, Russian President Vladimir Putin feels he was misled by military leaders, who withheld details about the botched invasion of Ukraine out of fear. We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions, because his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth, said White House communications director Kate Bedingfield. As a result, there’s been persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership, she told reporters. A U.S. official told NBC News earlier that Putin didn’t know his military was using and losing conscripts in Ukraine, a sign that there was a clear breakdown in the flow of accurate information to the Russian President. When Putin actually realizes how badly his military is done in Ukraine, there might be a real potential here for escalation, said Pentagon press secretary John Kirby. Neither the White House nor the Pentagon would say how American intelligence agencies learned what Putin was and was not being told. Releasing intelligence strongly suggests the U.S. has a mole in Putin’s inner circle. Goh Chiew Tong, Christina Wilkie U.S. sends 100 killer drones to Ukraine, following Zelenskyy’s request for additional aid The U.S. will be sending 100 killer drones to Ukraine in a colossal weapons package that President Joe Biden approved earlier this month, officials have confirmed. The so-called kamikaze drones will be deployed to Ukraine soon, according to the Pentagon. It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s request to U.S. lawmakers for additional military equipment. We’ve heard the Ukrainians and we take that request very seriously, said Celeste Wallander, assistant secretary of Defense for international security. It’s not clear how often the U.S. military has used the killer drones on the battlefield and AeroVironment, the U.S.-based firm that manufactures the weapon, declined to comment on the arms transfer. The Switchblades are equipped with cameras, navigation systems and guided explosives. They can be programmed to automatically strike targets that are miles away or can loiter above a target until engaged by an operator to strike. Goh Chiew Tong, Amanda Macias Congress hears sirens wail as Ukraine legislators visit Elizabeth Frantz Reuters U.S. Senator Rob Portman is flanked by Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin as he speaks during a meeting between members of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus and members of the Ukrainian Parliament at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., March 30, 2022. As members of the Ukrainian parliament were pleading for aid on Capitol Hill, an air raid siren blared from one of their cell phones a wrenching alert from the war-torn country back home. One of the visitors reached into her bag, pulled out the phone and let the siren wail in the halls of Congress. Right now, you hear the sound? said Anastasia Radina, a member of the Ukrainian Rada. This is the air raid alarm in the community where my son is staying right now, she said at a press conference this week after meeting with members of Congress. I need you all to hear that. Associated Press Pentagon weighs stationing more troops permanently in Eastern Europe Allison Joyce AFP Getty Images US soldiers walk to board a plane from Pope Army Airfield in Fort Bragg, North Carolina on February 14, 2021 as they are deployed to Europe. The Pentagon is considering sending more U.S. troops to Eastern Europe on a permanent basis, citing significant changes in the security environment. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the issue is under discussion, but no decisions have been made. Earlier in the day, the top U.S. commander in Europe told lawmakers that the U.S. and NATO military footprint in Europe and specifically in the Baltics has got to change. Certainly this is an opportunity as a result of this senseless act on behalf of Russia, to re-examine the permanent military architecture that exists not only in Eastern Europe, but in our air policing activity in aviation and in our standing naval maritime groups, U.S. Air Force Tod Wolters said before the House Armed Services Committee. Amanda Macias Satellite images show Mariupol before and after destruction Satellite images from Maxar Technologies show total destruction from above in Mariupol. Here is a before and after view. Before Maxar Technologies Getty Images Maxar satellite imagery of homes and buildings before the invasion, Mariupol, Ukraine on June 21, 2021 After Maxar Technologies Getty Images Maxar satellite imagery of destruction of homes and buildings after the invasion, Mariupol, Ukraine on March 29th, 2022. Maxar Technologies via Getty Images U.S. will provide $500 million in direct budgetary aid to Zelenskyy’s government Courtesy: The White House President Biden has warned Putin that the U.S. and its allies are willing to impose swift and severe costs on Russia. President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the United States plans to provide his government with $500 million in direct budgetary aid, according to a White House readout of Biden’s secure call with the Ukrainian leader. In the world of international assistance, direct budgetary aid is relatively rare. More often nation-to-nation aid comes in the form of already paid-for things, like food or weapons or subject matter experts, and monetary loans. Direct budgetary aid, on the other hand, generally comes with few strings attached, the closest thing to a cash gift from one government to another. The monthlong Russian invasion of Ukraine has severely hampered Kyiv’s ability to collect tax revenue and remain operational, making this kind of cash aid especially important. Congress recently approved a separate, more than $13 billion package of supplemental aid for Ukraine. But nearly all of that money is already committed to specific things, like refugee housing, defensive arms and medical supplies. Christina Wilkie U.K. aims to stop sanctioned oligarchs from maintaining their planes and yachts James Manning Pa Images Getty Images The superyacht Phi owned by a Russian businessman in Canary Wharf, east London which has been detained as part of sanctions against Russia. The U.K. announced new legislation that aims to prohibit maintenance on aircraft or yachts belonging to sanctioned Russian elites and their businesses. The new measures come after Britain designated more than 1,200 individuals and entities close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. There is no doubt that Putin and his elite have been surprised by the strength of our sanctions, U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss wrote in a statement. We will continue to ramp up the pressure so long as Russian troops are in Ukraine, targeting not only the businesses of oligarchs but also their assets and international lifestyles, Truss added. Amanda Macias Top U.S. commander in Europe says Putin believed that Russians supported a Ukraine invasion Sergey Guneev Sputnik Reuters Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a concert marking the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia March 18, 2022. America’s top commander in Europe gave his best assessment as to why Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine. I think he felt like he had the popular support of the citizens of Russia. I also felt like he was attempting to take advantage of fissures that could have appeared in NATO as a result of the post-Afghanistan environment, U.S. Air Force General and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Tod Wolters said during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. Tom Williams Cq-roll Call, Inc. Getty Images General Tod Wolters, commander, U.S. European Command, testifies during the House Armed Services Committee hearing titled National Security Challenges and U.S. Military Activity in Europe, in Rayburn Building on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. I also think it has to do with his age and its efficacy. All those combined together put him in a position where he elected to go at this time, Wolters said when asked why Putin chose Feb. 24 to invade Ukraine. The overriding variable in my view is the fact that he believes that he has popular support from his citizens, said Wolters, who also serves as commander of U.S. European Command. Amanda Macias Zelenskyy says he and Biden discussed a new sanctions package Ukrainian Presidential Press Service Reuters Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses the members of Norwegian parliament via video link, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 30, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hourlong secure call with U.S. President Joe Biden finished just after noon, the White House said. Ten minutes later, the Ukrainian leader tweeted that he and Biden had discussed a number of topics, most notably new sanctions on Russia and specific materiel that Ukraine needs. The White House has been working on a package of new sanctions to impose on Russia that would be aimed at making it harder for Russia’s military to get parts and material. Christina Wilkie Russia’s battlefield performance in Ukraine ‘baffling,’ top U.S. commander in Europe says Win Mcnamee Getty Images General Tod Wolters, U.S. European Command and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee March 29, 2022 in Washington, DC. America’s top commander in Europe described Russia’s largely stalled military campaign and overall battlefield performance in Ukraine as baffling. There was a degree of miscalculation and it’s evident by the performance of the Russian military up to this point, U.S. Air Force General and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Tod Wolters said during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. This one has been baffling, said Wolters, who also serves as commander of U.S. European Command. He added that the U.S. military should be prepared to take a really good look at Russia’s military force posture. Since the Kremlin’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces have been increasingly beset by logistical and command and control issues, as well as morale problems. Amanda Macias The art of war: Murals show support for Ukraine Artists around the world created murals to show support for Ukraine as Russia’s invasion continues. Chesnot Getty Images Fresco murals by French street artists Kelu Abstract and Jeff Aerosol are displayed on the wall of a Parisian building on March 14, 2022 in Paris, France. Nikolay Doychinov AFP Getty Images A resident walks past mural painting by Bulgarian artist Stanislav Belovski depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin holding his own body in Sofia, on March 15, 2022. Juan Mabromata AFP Getty Images A woman walks pass the mural No to war by muralist Maximiliano Bagnasco in Buenos Aires on March 5, 2022. Mateusz Slodkowski Lightrocket Getty Images A mural of Putin, Hitler, and Stalin with a slogan No More Time is seen on the wall next to the PKM Gdansk Jasien train station. Huw Fairclough Getty Images A resident looks at new street art mural has appeared in Cardiff depicting Ukraine’s capital Kyiv under siege on March 01, 2022 in Cardiff, Wales. To see more murals from around the world, click here. Adam Jeffery 100 ‘killer drones’ included in latest U.S. arms package for Ukraine Courtesy: AeroVironment AeroVironment Switchblade 600 Drone American officials told lawmakers that the U.S. will send killer drones to Ukraine at the country’s request. We have committed 100 switchblade tactical unmanned aerial systems to be delivered in the most recent package of presidential drawdown, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Celeste Wallander said in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters last week that the drones would arrive in Ukraine soon, but declined to elaborate further. There are two variants of the weapon, the Switchblade 300 and the 600, manufactured by U.S.-based firm AeroVironment. It was not immediately clear which variant of the weapon the U.S. deployed to Ukraine. The 300 version is designed to strike small targets. It can fit in a rucksack, weighs a little over 5 pounds and has a range of 10 miles. The 600 variant of the weapon is designed to destroy tanks and other armored vehicles. It weighs slightly more than 120 pounds and has a range of more than 40 miles. Amanda Macias Zelenskyy and Biden plan to speak by phone today Ukrainian Presidential Press Service via Reuters Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends an interview with some of the Russian media via videolink, as Russia?s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 27, 2022. President Joe Biden is slated to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy around 10:45 a.m. ET, the White House said in a statement. The two leaders are planning to discuss our continued support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. The call follows Russia’s claim Tuesday that it would dramatically reduce its military activity around the capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv. The announcement from the Russian Ministry of Defense was met with deep skepticism by officials in both Washington and Kyiv. Christina Wilkie The aftermath of shelling in Donetsk Emergency specialists work at a residential building damaged by shelling in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk during Russia’s war in Ukraine. Alexander Ermochenko Reuters Emergency specialists work at a residential building damaged by shelling during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine March 30, 2022. Alexander Ermochenko Reuters A woman carries a bottle of water as emergency specialists work at a residential building damaged by shelling during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine March 30, 2022. Alexander Ermochenko Reuters Firefighters work at a residential building damaged by shelling during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine March 30, 2022. Reuters Russia’s Lavrov says Moscow will move toward ‘multipolar world order’ with China Kirill Kudryavtsev Reuters Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a news conference following talks with President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer in Moscow, Russia March 24, 2022. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov touted a move toward a new world order during a visit to China on Wednesday. We are living through a serious stage in the history of international relations, he said. I am convinced that the outcome of this stage will substantially clarify the international situation. We will move towards a multipolar, equitable and democratic world order with China and other like-minded nations. China, a close ally of Russia, has so far refused to fully denounce Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and has not joined the coordinated move to impose economic sanctions on Moscow. Chloe Taylor Russia regrouping away from Kyiv but Ukraine still under constant attack, officials say Russia is regrouping its troops away from Kyiv to concentrate on its offensive in eastern Ukraine, Ukraine’s armed forces have said in a new update. Moscow was moving to increase the supply of troops in the Donetsk and Tavriya directions, the update said, while offensives were also underway in other parts of the country. In the northern direction, the occupier focused on shelling areas of Chernihiv and strengthening defensive positions, Ukraine’s armed forces said. Russia said Tuesday that it would cut back its military activity in and around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv. Oleksiy Arestovych, an advisor to the Ukrainian Presidential Office, said in a video message on Wednesday that Russia had ulterior motives for regrouping its troops away from the capital. The Russians are not simply removing their troops from Kyiv and from the north of Ukraine they are transferring them to the Joint Forces Operation zone in eastern Ukraine and near Mariupol in order to have a qualitative and quantitative advantage in these areas, he said, according to an NBC News translation. Meanwhile, Oleh Synegubov, governor of the Kharkiv region, said Wednesday that Russian forces had been constantly firing on multiple districts around Kharkiv, and Ukraine’s Human Rights Ombudsman said every day Ukrainian towns and cities were being shaken by constant shelling and bombing. Chloe Taylor China says relations with Russia are withstanding ‘test of international turbulence’: State-controlled media Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Wednesday that China-Russia relations have withstood the test of international turbulence, according to Chinese state-run television channel Phoenix TV. According to Phoenix TV, he made the comments during a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. Wang also said that China’s relations with Russia maintained the correct direction and continue to develop resiliently, according to the Chinese broadcaster. China, a close ally of Russia, has so far refused to fully denounce Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and has not joined the coordinated move to impose economic sanctions on Moscow. Chloe Taylor Kyiv officials say capital hit by multiple shelling strikes Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency Getty Images A completely destroyed building is seen after Russian shelling in the Sviatoshinsky district of Kyiv, Ukraine on March 30, 2022. The Kyiv region has been hit by more than 30 shelling strikes over the past 24 hours, officials said Wednesday. More than 30 shellings of housing estates and infrastructure facilities have been recorded, the Kyiv Regional State Administration said in a Telegram post translated by NBC News. Authorities said in the post that the most dangerous areas in the region were the settlements along the Zhytomyr highway, as well as the north of Vyshhorod district and the settlements of Baryshivska and Velikodimerska on the outskirts of the capital. On Tuesday, Russia said it would scale back its military operations in and around Kyiv. Chloe Taylor 45 of Ukrainians worried about finding enough food, UN says Thomas Peter Reuters People line up for food handed out by volunteers at a humanitarian aid distribution point, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 28, 2022. An estimated 45 of the Ukrainian population is worried about finding enough to eat, the U.N.’s World Food Programme said Wednesday. The organization said it was already supporting 1 million people on the ground in Ukraine by supplying them with food. Just one month ago, we had no presence on the ground, no staff, no network of suppliers or partners. To build an operation from the ground up and get food to one million people seemed a monumental challenge, Jakob Kern, WFP’s emergency coordinator for Ukraine, said in a press release. Now that the structures are in place, we need the funding to keep delivering assistance, and to help 3 million people in need. Chloe Taylor 145 children have died in the war, Ukraine says Yuriy Dyachyshyn AFP Getty Images In this picture taken on March 18, 2022, 109 empty strollers are seen placed outside the Lviv city council during an action to highlight the number of children killed in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, 145 children have been killed in the conflict in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudsman said Wednesday. A further 222 children have been injured, officials said, noting that children in the Kyiv region suffered the most. Chloe Taylor Russia state Duma speaker suggests switching to ruble payments for more exports Simon Dawson Bloomberg Getty Images Russian State Duma chairman and speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said Wednesday that Moscow should consider asking for payments in rubles for more of its exported goods. The Kremlin has repeatedly demanded that so-called unfriendly countries pay in rubles for gas, a demand that has been rejected by G-7 countries. European politicians need to stop talking, stop looking for excuses why their countries cannot pay in rubles, Volodin said on Telegram Wednesday, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin made the right decision by demanding payments for gas be made in the Russian currency. Most countries currently pay for Russian gas in euros or dollars. It would be right, where it is profitable for our country, to expand the list of goods exported for rubles: fertilizers, grain, oil, oil, coal, metals, timber, etc., Volodin added. I appeal to colleagues from the national parliaments of unfriendly countries: take the issue of ruble settlements more seriously. Volodin, an influential lawmaker in the Russian political sphere, has been an outspoken supporter of Moscow’s military action in Ukraine. Chloe Taylor 4 million have fled Ukraine, UN says Angel Garcia Bloomberg Getty Images A displaced Ukrainian and child make their way to board a bus for onward travel at a temporary refugee center, setup at a disused Tesco building, in Przemysl, Poland, on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. More than 4 million refugees have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in late February, the U.N.’s Office for the High Commissioner for Refugees said Wednesday. Chloe Taylor Chernihiv official says Russia continuing to attack the region despite claims it would pull troops back Oleh Holovatenko Reuters An external view shows hotel ‘Ukraine’ destroyed during an air strike, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in central Chernihiv, Ukraine March 12, 2022. Viasheslav Chaus, governor of Chernihiv, said Wednesday that Russian forces spent the whole night attacking the region despite Moscow’s claims yesterday that it would pull troops back from Kyiv and Chernihiv. Yesterday, the Russians publicly stated that they were reducing their offensive actions and activity in the Chernihiv and Kyiv areas. Do we believe that? Of course not, Chaus said in a Telegram post. The enemy demonstrated a ‘decrease in activity’ in the Chernihiv region by striking Nizhyn, including by air, and spent the whole night hitting Chernihiv, he added. Civil infrastructure has been destroyed again, libraries, shopping malls and other facilities have been destroyed, and many houses have been destroyed. Because, in fact, the enemy roamed Chernihiv all night. CNBC has not been able to independently verify these reports. A spokesperson for the Russian government was not immediately available for comment. Chloe Taylor Germany declares ‘early warning’ stage of gas supply emergency Kay Nietfeld Picture Alliance Getty Images German Economy Minister Robert Habeck holds a press conference on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. Germany is bracing for a potential disruption of natural gas supplies, activating the first early warning stage of an emergency amid a dispute with Russia. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said in a news conference the measure was the first of three stages and does not yet imply a state intervention to ration gas supplies. Habeck called for consumers and companies to reduce consumption, however, reportedly saying that every kilowatt hour counts. It comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin urges so-called unfriendly countries to pay in rubles for Russian gas. The G-7, which induces Germany, has rejected that demand. Habeck has said Germany, which imported around 55 of its gas supplies from Russia last year, would not be able to achieve full independence from Moscow before mid-2024. Sam Meredith You can’t trust ‘what is coming out of the mouth of Putin’s war machine,’ UK’s deputy PM says Peter Summers Getty Images Foreign Minister Dominic Raab is pictured in Downing Street on March 25, 2020 in London, England. U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has expressed skepticism over Russia’s claims that it intends to scale back its military operations in some parts of Ukraine. We judge the Russian military machine by its actions, not just its words, he told Sky News on Wednesday, saying the U.K. was not putting a lot of faith in Russia’s stated intentions. There’s some skepticism that Russia will regroup to attack again rather than seriously engage in diplomacy or anything of that nature, Raab added. Of course, the door to diplomacy will always be left ajar, but I don’t think you can trust what is coming out of the mouth of Putin’s war machine. Chloe Taylor Sanctions on Russia to continue until we see de-escalation, Italy’s Di Maio says Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe that sanctions on Russia will continue until Italy sees military de-escalation in Ukraine. Chloe Taylor Japan skeptical over Russian pledge to cut military operations Japan has expressed skepticism over Russia’s pledge to reduce its military operations in and around the Ukrainian capital. We are aware that during the ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on March 29, both sides made certain concessions, with the Russian side indicating its intention to drastically reduce military operations in and around the capital, Kyiv, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday. He noted that U.S. President Joe Biden and other U.S. government officials were taking a wait-and-see approach to Russia’s stated intentions, with some saying this is merely a repositioning of Moscow’s troops and not an actual withdrawal. Japan shares the belief that it is important to achieve a concrete cease-fire as soon as possible, and we will continue to monitor the situation with great interest, and at the same time, we will provide the various types of support to Ukraine that we have already announced in a prompt and steady manner, Matsuno said. In order to immediately stop Russia’s aggression and ensure the withdraw of its troops it is important for the international community to work together and continue to take strong measures against Russia. Chloe Taylor EU to pressure China over stance on Russia-Ukraine war Kenzo Tribouillard AFP Getty Images President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen delivers a statement in Brussels. The European Union wants to put pressure on China to be neutral with its stance over Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine, sources with knowledge of the matter told CNBC ahead of a virtual meeting between Brussels and Beijing on Friday. There is concern among western officials regarding the role that China might play in the war between Russia and Ukraine. The Chinese authorities have so far refused to fully denounce Russia’s unprovoked invasion of its neighbor having abstained during a vote for a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Moscow. China has also supported Moscow’s complaints about NATO expansion and U.S. officials have also said that Russia has asked China for military and economic support something that the Kremlin and Beijing have both denied. European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are speaking Friday with China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang at 10 a.m. Brussels time and then with Chinese President Xi Jinping at 2 p.m. The goal of the summit is ensuring, in a way, the neutrality of China so they don’t help Russia, an EU official, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the discussions, told CNBC Tuesday. Read the full story here. Silvia Amaro Ukrainian official says Russia will target Kyiv ‘until the end of the conflict’ Gleb Garanich Reuters A Ukrainian service member walks on the front line near Kyiv as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, Ukraine March 29, 2022. Oleksiy Arestovtch, an advisor to the Ukrainian President’s Office, said Wednesday morning that ongoing talks between Russia and Ukraine would do nothing to decelerate the war. Negotiations will in no way slow down the war and will not cancel it, he said on Telegram in the early hours of Wednesday morning. This is a separate line that prepares a future peace agreement, because any war, even a hundred years’ war, ends with a peace agreement. He noted, however, that serious success had been achieved at Tuesday’s talks in Istanbul. Ukraine has improved its pre-war position in all areas of consultation, Arestovtch said. At some point the negotiating and military lines will converge and this will definitely be a victory for Ukraine. But he expressed skepticism over the pledge Russia made at the meeting to scale back its military activity near Kyiv and the city of Chernihiv. Russian troops will be targeting the cities until the very end of the conflict, he said. Including Kyiv. Chloe Taylor Russian attacks continue in Ukraine Alexander Ermochenko Reuters Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of an armoured vehicle in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict on a road leading to the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 28, 2022. Ukraine’s armed forces said in an update Wednesday morning that more than 1,000 Russian troops had been transferred from occupied Georgia to reinforce Russia’s military presence in Ukraine. The enemy continues to conduct full-scale armed aggression against our state, officials said in the update, adding that Russian troops continue to loot the homes and apartments of local residents, detain pro-Ukrainian activists and government officials in Ukraine. CNBC has not been able to independently verify these reports. A spokesperson for the Russian government was not available for comment when contacted by CNBC. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said on Telegram Wednesday morning there had been shelling attacks in Kyiv’s Brovary district yesterday, which resulted in a fire. It was not specified if there were any casualties. Officials also said Russian troops had fired on residential neighborhoods in the Luhansk region early this morning. Authorities said there were victims in the attack, and were clarifying the information on casualties resulting from the attack. Rescuers are trying to save the living, Luhansk Governor Serhii Haidai said. Chloe Taylor Russian military is suffering ‘heavy losses’ but will likely continue with attacks, the U.K. says (https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/business/money-report/russias-pledge-to-scale-back-in-ukraine-met-with-skepticism-eu-to-put-pressure-on-china/3012080/)

Ukraine Claims 410 Bodies Found in Recaptured Towns; Zelenskyy Accuses Russia of Genocide. Follow Our Live Updates

This is CNBC’s live blog tracking Sunday’s developments on the war in Ukraine. See below for the latest updates. Ukraine’s top prosecutor said 410 bodies were found in towns near Kyiv as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russia. Some witnesses, however, are so traumatized by their ordeal that they are unable to speak, said Iryna Venedyktova, Ukraine’s prosecutor general. After Russia withdrew from some areas around Kyiv, the mayor in Bucha, a liberated town 23 miles northwest of the capital, said that 300 residents had been killed by Russian forces while fighters from Chechnya controlled the area. Russia has denied allegations its troops killed civilians in Bucha. Ukrainian prosecutors were only able to enter the towns of Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel for the first time on Sunday and they need more time to work out the extent of the crimes, Venedyktova said. We need to work with witnesses, Venedyktova said. People today are so stressed that they are physically unable to speak. For his part, Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy said it was clear hundreds of civilians had been killed but that he did not want to say exactly how many there were, as efforts were still under way to clear mines in the area Earlier, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of genocide against Ukrainian people, saying in an interview that: We have more than 100 nationalities. This is about the destruction and extermination of those nationalities. Zelenskyy made those comments after warning that forces want to seize the east and south of the country. He also said Ukrainian forces had regained control over communities in Kyiv and Chernihiv. Zelenskyy has also called for a ceasefire before meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Reuters Russia is using ‘a lot of manipulation’ to prop up the value of its currency, Blinken says Jakub Porzycki Nurphoto Getty Images Russian one ruble coin and Russian flag displayed on a screen are seen in this multiple exposure illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on March 8, 2022. The dramatic recovery in the value of the Russian ruble is due, in large part, to a lot of manipulation from the government in Moscow, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken claimed in an interview Sunday. The ruble traded at 84.62 per dollar, as of Friday, which is back near levels seen before the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine prompted historic economic sanctions against Russia. The ruble’s value initially plummeted, trading as low as 151.5 per dollar on March 7, according to FactSet data. When it comes to the ruble, it’s more than a little manipulation, it’s a lot of manipulation. People are being prevented from unloading rubles, Blinken said in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, referring to capital controls implemented by Russia’s central bank. That’s artificially propping up the value. That’s not sustainable, so I think you’re going to see that change, Blinken said, suggesting that the strict sanctions combined with Western businesses leaving Russia will, over the long term, weigh on the currency and economy writ large. The export controls that we’ve imposed on Russia, denying it the technology it needs to modernize industry after industry, that’s going to have an increasing bite, he said. Kevin Stankiewicz Wreckage of the Antonov An-225, once world’s biggest aircraft, seen in Hostomel, Ukraine A view of the wreckage of the Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane at an airshed in Hostomel, Ukraine, on April 3, 2022. The Mriya was once the world’s biggest aircraft but it was destroyed on or about Feb. 27, 2022, by Russian shelling as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continued. Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency Getty Images The wreckage of the world’s largest cargo plane Antonov An-225, which was severely damaged and rendered unusable due to Russian bombardments, was viewed by Anadolu Agency. Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency Getty Images A view of the wreckage of Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane, the world’s biggest aircraft, destroyed by Russian shelling as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, at an airshed in Hostomel, Ukraine on April 03, 2022. Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency Getty Images A view of the wreckage of Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane, the world’s biggest aircraft, destroyed by Russian shelling as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, at an airshed in Hostomel, Ukraine on April 03, 2022. Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency Getty Images A view of the wreckage of Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane, the world’s biggest aircraft, destroyed by Russian shelling as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, at an airshed in Hostomel, Ukraine on April 03, 2022. Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency Getty Images The wreckage of the world’s largest cargo plane Antonov An-225, which was severely damaged and rendered unusable due to Russian bombardments, was viewed by Anadolu Agency. Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency Getty Images A view of the wreckage of Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane, the world’s biggest aircraft, destroyed by Russian shelling as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, at an airshed in Hostomel, Ukraine on April 03, 2022. Anadolu Agency Russia denies killing civilians in Bucha, calls photos, film of alleged war crimes’staged’ EDITOR’S NOTE: Image in this post contains graphic content Russia denied widely reported allegations it had killed civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, describing footage and photographs of dead bodies as a provocation and a staged performance by Kyiv. Ukraine has accused the Russian military of massacring residents in the town, located northwest of the capital, an area Ukrainian troops said they recaptured on Saturday. All the photos and videos published by the Kyiv regime, allegedly testifying to the ‘crimes’ of Russian servicemen in the city of Bucha, Kyiv region, are another provocation, Russia’s defense ministry said, in a statement. Sergei Supinsky AFP Getty Images A mass grave is seen behind a church in the town of Bucha, northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on April 3, 2022. During the time that Russian armed forces were in control of this settlement, not a single local resident suffered from any violent actions, it said. Moscow has previously denied allegations that it has targeted civilians, and has rejected accusations of war crimes. Reuters Polish PM calls for EU meeting to impose harsh sanctions Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency Getty Images A photo shows damages from conflict areas in the Hostomel region, as Russian attacks on Ukraine continue, on April 03, 2022 in Bucha, Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called for a meeting with European heads of state as soon as possible to impose hard-hitting sanctions on Russia following reports that the nation’s forces executed scores of Ukrainian civilians. The massacre in Bucha is more than an alarm bell for Europe and the world. It is a terrible cry for justice, freedom and the right to life; for basic and universal values, Morawiecki said in a Facebook post. He added that Russian troops committed acts of genocide. The EU must confiscate all Russian assets in its western banks as well as those of Russian oligarchs. It must sever all trade relations with Russia without delay. European money must stop flowing to the Kremlin. Putin’s criminal and increasingly totalitarian regime needs to have one thing imposed on it: SANCTIONS WHICH ACTUALLY WORK, he said. Jessica Bursztynsky Ukraine foreign minister: Russia’s war crimes make it ‘worse than ISIS’ Sopa Images Lightrocket Getty Images Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, pictured here at the Ukrainian Embassy in Warsaw, Poland, called Russia worse than ISIS after apparent evidence emerged of civilian atrocities near Kyiv. Ukraine minister of foreign affairs Dmytro Kuleba said in a video on Sunday that Russia is worse than ISIS, referring to the Islamic extremist group. In its atrocities, in its crimes both the scale of these crimes and the ruthlessness of the behavior of the Russian army in Ukraine, Kuleba said in a video on Twitter. I don’t know where these soldiers were educated what kind of values they have, if any, Kuleba added. It’s unspeakable. Rapes, tortures, murders of civilians. He noted that Ukraine has begun work to prosecute everyone involved in these crimes. Kuleba also said that he is trying to prepare myself for images and videos which will come from Mariupol when we liberate it. Probably they will be even more devastating, Kuleba said. Michael Sheetz Scholz says West to agree more sanctions on Russia in coming days Hannibal Hanschke Reuters German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gives a press statement about the war crimes discovered the day before in Bucha, Ukraine, at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany April 3, 2022. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday Western allies would agree further sanctions on Russia in the coming days over its invasion of Ukraine and the atrocities committed by Russian troops in a town near Kyiv. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his supporters will feel the consequences of their actions, he said, in a statement to reporters in the chancellery. And we will continue to make weapons available to Ukraine so the country can defend itself against the Russian invasion. Reuters Civilians take shelter from Russian artillery in Kharkiv Civilians are seen taking shelter from Russian artillery in the Kharkiv area of Ukraine. Wolfgang Schwan Anadolu Agency Getty Images Civilians are seen taking shelter from Russian artillery in the Kharkiv area of Ukraine on April 3, 2022. Wolfgang Schwan Anadolu Agency Getty Images Civilians are seen taking shelter from Russian artillery in the Kharkiv area of Ukraine on April 3, 2022. Wolfgang Schwan Anadolu Agency Getty Images Civilians are seen taking shelter from Russian artillery in the Kharkiv area of Ukraine on April 3, 2022. Wolfgang Schwan Anadolu Agency Getty Images Civilians are seen taking shelter from Russian artillery in the Kharkiv area of Ukraine on April 3, 2022. Wolfgang Schwan Anadolu Agency Getty Images Civilians are seen taking shelter from Russian artillery in the Kharkiv area of Ukraine on April 3, 2022. Getty Images U.S. to send more aid as Moldova embraces Ukraine war refugees Lev Radin Lightrocket Getty Images US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield makes a statement at a stakeout at the Security Council at UN Headquarters. Meeting was convened at the request of the Russian Federation who accused Ukraine of developing biological weapons under the tutelage of the United States without providing any evidence. The United States will give Moldova $50 million to help it cope with the impacts of Russia’s war against Ukraine, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said during a visit to the former Soviet republic on Sunday. She said the funding would support programs, training and equipment for border management, efforts to counter human trafficking, help to improve accountability and transparency in the justice sector, and combat corruption and cybercrime. Nearly 400,000 refugees have already fled Ukraine through Moldova, with about a quarter remaining in the country, since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Moscow says it is carrying out a special military operation that aims to destroy Ukraine’s military infrastructure. The money pledged to Moldova by the United States on Sunday comes on top of $30 million announced last month to assist refugee relief efforts in Moldova over the next six months. Moldova, sandwiched between Ukraine and European Union member Romania, is one of Europe’s poorest countries and has 2.6 million people. Like Ukraine it aspires to join the EU. Reuters U.S. Secretary of State responds to claims of ‘genocide’ in Ukraine Jacquelyn Martin AFP Getty Images US Secretary of State Antony Blinken addresses the Media after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, on March 27, 2022. America’s top diplomat on Sunday stopped short of agreeing with those who claim Russia is committing genocide against Ukrainian civilians during its invasion. We will look hard and document everything that we see, put it all together, and make sure the relevant institutions and organizations that are looking at this, including the State Department, have everything they need to asses exactly what took place in Ukraine, who is responsible and what it amounts to, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on CNN’s State of the Union. In a CBS interview that aired Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed the Russian military is committing genocide against Ukrainian people. The U.S. government has formally accused Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine. That’s one of four main crimes over which the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction. Genocide, crime against humanity and crime of aggression are the other three. However, the U.S. is not a member of the ICC, which defines genocide as the specific intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group by killing its members or by other means. Kevin Stankiewicz EU must discuss import ban on Russian gas, German defense minister says Michele Tantussi Reuters German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht speaks with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during the weekly cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, January 26, 2022. Germany’s defense minister said on Sunday that the European Union must discuss banning the import of Russian gas after Ukrainian and European officials accused Russian forces of committing atrocities near Kyiv. There has to be a response. Such crimes must not remain unanswered, the defense ministry quoted Christine Lambrecht as saying in an interview with the public broadcaster ARD. Berlin has so far resisted growing calls to impose an embargo on energy imports from Russia, saying its economy and that of other European countries are too dependent on them. Russia supplies 40 of Europe’s gas needs. But Lambrecht said EU ministers would now have to discuss a ban, according to a tweet from her ministry. Reuters Boris Johnson says Putin and his troops ‘are committing war crimes’ Thomas Coex AFP Getty Images Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a press conference at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on March 24, 2022. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said graphic reports coming out of Bucha and Irpin are more evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his forces are committing war crimes in Ukraine. I will do everything in my power to starve Putin’s war machine, Johnson said in a statement. We are stepping up our sanctions and military support, as well as bolstering our humanitarian support package to help those in need on the ground. Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of executing civilians prior to their retreat of areas surrounding the capital of Kyiv. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry posted a video early Sunday that showed bodies in civilian clothing on the side of the road, accusing Russian forces of executing the residents. Earlier in the day, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called for the attacks to be investigated as war crimes, adding the U.K. would support any investigations by the International Criminal Court. Russia has denied committing the atrocities, according to The New York Times. No denial or disinformation from the Kremlin can hide what we all know to be the truth Putin is desperate, his invasion is failing, and Ukraine’s resolve has never been stronger, Johnson said in a statement. Jessica Bursztynsky Zelenskyy says U.S. has not yet offered Ukraine security guarantees Ukrainian Presidential Press Service via Reuters Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends an interview with some of the Russian media via videolink, as Russia?s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 27, 2022. The U.S. has not provided Ukraine an official security guarantee, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CBS’ Face the Nation. In an interview that aired Sunday, Zelenskyy said he was grateful for the support Washington has offered Ukraine to date to assist the country in defending against Russia’s invasion. The U.S. has provided Ukraine more than $1 billion in security assistance, which includes more than 1,000 Stinger anti-aircraft systems and other military equipment like ammunition and body armor. But nevertheless, the United States have not provided the security guarantees to us, Zelenskyy said, according to a full CBS transcript. Ukrainian officials have recently focused on the concept of security guarantees in their diplomatic peace talks with Russia. According to Reuters, Ukraine has said it would be willing to adopt neutral status if it’s able to enter agreements with a group of countries that pledge to militarily defend Ukraine if Ukraine is attacked in the future. Zelenskyy described the security guarantees as an enforceable document, not just a piece of paper. He suggested that receiving such commitments from allies are critical for peace discussions with Russia to advance because so far, sanctions have yet to deter Russian aggression. We don’t believe in papers any longer. So we are very grateful for the support of the United States, Zelenskyy said. It’s a very powerful support. But in terms of security guarantees, we have not received them yet from anyone, and we have to get them. Kevin Stankiewicz At least 1,417 civilians killed in Ukraine, UN says Alexander Ermochenko Reuters Local resident Pavel, 42, stands next to the grave of his friend Igor, who was killed by shelling while they were riding together in a car during Ukraine-Russia conflict, in a residential area in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 30, 2022. At least 1,417 civilians, including 121 children, have been killed since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said. An additional 2,038 have been injured, including 171 children, from Feb. 24 to April 2, it added. The agency expects the actual figures to be considerably higher. It’s been difficult for officials to determine the extent of injuries and deaths in areas with heavy fighting or that have been taken over by Russian forces. The bulk of the injuries have been caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, such as shelling from heavy artillery and missile and air strikes, the agency said. Jessica Bursztynsky The war is exacerbating supply-chain disruptions that have sent U.S. auto prices sky-high Pablo Monsalve Corbis News Getty Images View of a used car dealership in Ridgewood, Queens New York on January 19, 2022. Inflation spiked to its highest level in four decades, sending consumer prices soaring 7 percent for the year ended. Russia’s war against Ukraine has thrown up a new obstacle to the global auto industry’s attempts to recover from a Covid-related global shortage of semiconductor chips and other key parts and the result is likely to keep prices of new and used vehicles sky-high for a while longer, The Associated Press reports. Ukraine is a key supplier of automotive wiring harnesses to automakers, particularly European automakers including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen or at least it was before the invasion. Now, the Associated Press is reporting that automakers find themselves scrambling to replace the Ukrainian production further hampering their efforts to restore full production and ease the new-car supply crunch that has driven auto prices sharply higher since the beginning of the pandemic. The average price of a new vehicle in the U.S. is up 13 in the past year, to $45,596, according to an Edmunds.com report cited by The Associated Press. Average used prices have surged far more: They’re up 29 to $29,646 as of February. Before the war, S&P Global had predicted that global automakers would build 84 million vehicles this year and 91 million next year. Now it’s forecasting fewer than 82 million in 2022 and 88 million next year, according to the AP. John Rosevear European leaders call on Russia to pay for ‘war crimes’ in Bucha EDITORS NOTE: Image contains graphic content European leaders are calling for Russia to be held accountable amid allegations that its forces killed scores of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry posted a video early Sunday that showed bodies in civilian clothing on the side of the road, accusing Russian forces of executing the residents. Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, shared several photos of casualties, some with their hands tied behind their backs. These people were not in the military. They had no weapons. They posed no threat. How many more such cases are happening right now in the occupied territories? Podolyak said on Twitter. Sergei Supinsky AFP Getty Images EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content: Communal workers carry a civilian in a body bag after he was killed during Russian army shelling in the town of Bucha, not far from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on April 3, 2022. CNBC could not immediately independently verify the claims of execution. But reporters on the ground from The New York Times, Associated Press and Reuters said they saw bodies in civilian clothing on the streets. The AP saw some with their hands tied behind their backs, and also saw two bodies wrapped in plastic, bound with tape and thrown into a ditch. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, called for an independent investigation into the atrocities. She added that perpetrators of war crimes would be held accountable. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the country would issue more severe sanctions in response to the reports. The images from Bucha are unbearable. Putin’s rampant violence is wiping out innocent families and knows no bounds, Baerbock said on Twitter, according to a translation. French President Emmanuel Macron said the images of dead civilians were unbearable. The Russian authorities will have to answer for these crimes, Macron said in a tweet. Jessica Bursztynsky Zelenskyy accuses Russia of committing ‘genocide’ in Ukraine Oleksandr Ratushniak Reuters Local residents ride bicycles past flattened civilian cars, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, on a street in the town of Bucha, in Kyiv region, Ukraine April 1, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the Russian military of committing genocide against Ukrainian people. Zelenskyy made the comments in an interview on CBS’ Face the Nation, in light of the reported devastation in the town of Bucha, near the capital Kyiv. Russian forces have now retreated from the city after occupying it for weeks. This is genocide, Zelenskyy said. We have more than 100 nationalities. This is about the destruction and extermination of those nationalities. We are the citizens of Ukraine, and we don’t want to be subdued to the policy of Russian Federation. This is the reason we are being destroyed and exterminated. Ukrainian officials say bodies of dead civilians in Bucha show signs of torture and appear to be executed. Reuters reported some victims laid in mass graves while others were still on the city’s streets. Sergei Supinsky AFP Getty Images Editors Note: Graphic Content: A body of a civilian man with hands tied behind his back lies in the street as a communal worker prepares a plastic body bag to carry him to a waiting car in town of Bucha, not far from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on April 3, 2022. The International Criminal Court is traditionally where claims of alleged war crimes are adjudicated. The ICC defines genocide as the specific intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group by killing its members or by other means. Kevin Stankiewicz GOP Rep. Kinzinger: Tucker Carlson and politicians who supported Putin should ‘answer’ for their support Kevin Dietsch Getty Images Rep. Adam Kinzinger speaks after the Republican House caucus voted to remove Rep. Liz Cheney of her leadership, at the U.S. Capitol on on May 12, 2021 in Washington, DC. In a tweet from his personal account, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said that members of Congress and media figures who have expressed support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should now be held to account, given the emerging evidence of Russian atrocities in Bucha and other areas near Kyiv. He specifically called out Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in the tweet. Carlson’s and McCarthy’s offices didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. John Rosevear Russia’s move away from Kyiv not a ‘withdrawal’ but a ‘repositioning,’ NATO’s Secretary General says Halil Sagirkaya Anadolu Agency Getty Images NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg gives a press conference after the Extraordinary Summit of NATO Heads of State and Government in Brussels, Belgium on March 24, 2022. Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia’s retreat from Kyiv does not appear to be a withdrawal, but rather a shift in strategy. What we see is not really a withdrawal, we see that Russia is repositioning its troops, Stoltenberg told CNN’s Dana Bash. They are taking some of them back to rearm them, to reinforce them, and to resupply them. We should not in any way be too optimistic, the attacks will continue, and we are also concerned about potential increased attacks in the south and in the east. So this is not really a withdrawal, more a shift in strategy, focusing more on the South and East, he said. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed Stoltenberg’s comments, telling NBC’s Meet the Press that Russian forces may be regrouping. They may be recalibrating. We’re focused on on what they’re doing, not what they’re saying. John Rosevear Pope Francis prays for end to’sacrilegious’ war Grzegorz Galazka Mondadori Portfolio Getty Images General audience of Pope Francis with the presence of a small group of faithful in masks after the long pause due to the coronavirus pandemic in the Cortile San Damaso. Vatican City, May 26th, 2021. Pope Francis prayed Sunday for an end to the sacrilegious war in Ukraine and for the world to show kindness and compassion to refugees as he concluded a two-day visit to Malta that was dominated by his concern for the devastation unleashed by Russia’s invasion. Francis asked for prayers for peace in Ukraine, a day after he blasted Russia’s invasion as infantile and based on anachronistic claims of nationalistic interests. He urged the faithful to think of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in the martyred Ukraine, which continues to be bombarded in this sacrilegious war. May we be tireless in praying and in offering assistance to those who suffer. The Associated Press Zelenskyy calls for ceasefire before meeting with Putin Ukrainian Presidential Press Service via Reuters Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives for a meeting with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine April 1, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for a ceasefire so that he can meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. I can’t even have a meeting when the shelling is going on, Zelenskyy said on CBS’ Face the Nation. So, first the ceasefire and then we can have a meeting with the Russian president we will discuss a point in time where the end of the war will come. After discussions, Zelenskyy said Russian troops need to exit Ukrainian borders. This is the bare minimum, he said. Jessica Bursztynsky Ukraine says Bucha ‘massacre’ was deliberate, demands new Russia sanctions EDITORS NOTE: Image contains graphic content Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia on Sunday of carrying out a deliberate massacre in the town of Bucha outside Kyiv and called on the G-7 to impose devastating new sanctions on Moscow. We are still gathering and looking for bodies, but the number has already gone into the hundreds. Dead bodies lie on the streets. They killed civilians while staying there and when they were leaving these villages and towns, his ministry quoted him as saying on Twitter. Sergei Supinsky AFP Getty Images EDITORS NOTE: Graphic Content: A communal worker standing inside a van loaded with body bags, waits for another body to be wrapped and collected by a colleague following Russian shelling of the town of Bucha, not far from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on April 3, 2022. Russia has so far not commented publicly on the claims. Moscow has previously repeatedly denied Ukrainian claims that it has targeted civilians. Reuters Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister says more humanitarian corridors are set to open Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, said in a message on the Telegram messaging app that more evacuations are planned. We continue to evacuate people from Mariupol to Zaporizhia, Vereshchuk wrote. There are currently 17 buses near Berdyansk 10 of them are for the evacuation of Mariupol residents and local residents. If they are not allowed into the city, we ask people to come to the checkpoint at the entrance to Berdyansk there they will be waiting for you. Seven additional buses will attempt once again to get near the battered port city of Mariupol, Vereshchuk said. Evacuations are also planned out of the towns of Lysychansk, Nyzhne, Popasna, Rubizhne, Severodonetsk, she added. Terri Cullen Russia will soon ask for ruble payments for other exports, Kremlin warns Dado Ruvic Reuters Russian rouble coins are seen in this illustration taken February 24, 2022. Russia will soon ask for ruble payments for other exports, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has warned, saying heavy economic sanctions imposed by the West have accelerated diminishing confidence in the dollar and euro. I have no doubt that it will in the future be extended to new groups of goods, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, Reuters reported, citing RIA news agency. Peskov’s comments referred to Moscow’s repeated demands that so-called unfriendly countries pay for Russian natural gas in rubles. The U.S. and international allies have imposed an unprecedented barrage of economic sanctions against Russia, seeking to isolate the Kremlin following its unprovoked onslaught in Ukraine. Sam Meredith Several missile strikes hit Ukraine’s southern port city of Mykolaiv, mayor says The Mayor of Mykolaiv Olexandr Senkevych has reported that several rocket attacks have hit Ukraine’s southern port city. Friends, we have had several missile strikes in the city. We are collecting data now, Senkevych said via Telegram, according to a translation. It comes shortly after a series of explosions could be heard in Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa, prompting thick black smoke to cover the sky. Like Mykolaiv, Odesa is a strategically important port hub on the Black Sea coast. Sam Meredith Ukraine sees sharp drop in March grain exports, economic (https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/business/money-report/missiles-slam-into-port-city-of-odesa-zelenskyy-says-russians-aim-to-seize-east-and-south-ukraine-follow-our-live-updates/2930821/)

Inside Truth Social: Hands on with Trump’s social media platform

Over Presidents’ Day weekend, I, like many others who had signed up for the Apple App Store pre-order of Trump’s social media platform Truth Social, received a notification to sign up for an account. And, like everyone but a few hundred lucky VIPs, I got put on a waitlist. However, weeks later, Truth Social decided to open the door and grant me access to its brand new “free speech” social media platform. The time has come. I’ve been invited to join Truth Social. Credit: Mashable Screenshot “Your wait is over.” read the notification that came in at 2 a.m. on a Saturday morning. “Tap here to start using Truth Social.” So I did. This is Donald J. Trump’s long-awaited social network. I had to check it out. I can handle the Truth Upon tapping the iOS notification, I was directed straight to the app, shown a welcome screen that popped up and was only noticeable for under a second, and then whisked away to my Truth Social profile. Here’s what your profile looks like when you first enter Truth Social. Credit: Mashable Screenshot My profile was empty. I also saw there were “Truths,” “Truths & Replies,” and “Media” tabs right below where your follower counts are and profile bio goes. If you’ve ever used a little website known as Twitter which the founder of Truth Social was famously kicked off after the events of Jan. 6, 2021 this might all look familiar to you. Sure, the labels of things are changed and instead of the “light Twitter blue” UI color scheme you get a “light Truth Social purple,” but everything else is the same. I will say, when compared to other alternative “free speech” conservative social media platforms, like Parler and Gettr, Truth Social is easily the nicest looking of the bunch. It does feel much more like a modern day web platform, likely thanks to Mastodon, the open source software it’s built with. Here’s where you write your “Truth.” Credit: Mashable Screenshot There’s a little floating button much like how it is on Twitter that you tap to compose a “truth.” Upon pressing the button, it was deja vu once again as the Compose screen looks exactly like Twitter’s. One thing that did pop out to me though was that the character count limit is 500 characters, a full 220 more characters than is allowed per tweet on Twitter. Finally, something different. At the bottom of Truth Social app is a 4-tab menu: Feed, Alerts, Search, and Messages. This is what your feed looks like when you first join Truth Social. “No Truths to show”. Credit: Mashable Screenshot The top profiles listed on the default Truth Social search page. Credit: Mashable Screenshot Feed is like your Twitter newsfeed, populated with posts from all the users you follow. Search provides users a way to discover new profiles, truths, and popular “trending” hashtags. Alerts is the equivalent to Twitter notifications, showing all the “re-truths” basically retweets and mentions of your handle. Messages is where private messages from other users would live, if they worked. According to the Truth Social app, a “new” message experience is on the way, and there doesn’t appear to be a way to privately message other users at the moment. Mentions and re-truths will show up here. Credit: Mashable Screenshot Messages don’t appear to be working yet on Truth Social. Credit: Mashable Screenshot When a user goes to another user’s profile, they are able to follow that user as well as re-truth, like, and reply to their truths. Clicking on one of a user’s truth shows the comments on that post, but not all the time. More on that in a minute. The official Truth Social profile. Credit: Mashable Screenshot Users can mute and block others on the site, change some general appearance settings, and turn on 2-factor authentication from a sidebar within the app as well. You can block users on the free speech platform. Credit: Mashable Screenshot And that’s about it. That’s everything to Truth Social right now. The most talked about hashtags on Truth Social at the time of publishing. Credit: Mashable Screenshot Bugs and Glitches There are some pretty prominent bugs on Truth Social. It’s clear it’s still very much a beta app. Like I mentioned earlier, there doesn’t appear to be a working direct messages feature. The search function doesn’t appear to work particularly well either. For example, when I searched for the user “Trump,” I was inundated with profiles from fans of the former president. Yet, not a single profile belonging to the Trump family not even Donald Trump himself appeared in the results. Donald Trump doesn’t appear in the search results for “Trump.” Credit: Mashable Screenshot After publishing a “truth,” it took quite a few refreshes for my post to show up on my profile page. It took so long that I thought it got lost for a minute and doubted it would ever materialize, but then it finally did. Those comments that were previously mentioned that don’t always show? They do show if a post doesn’t have more than a hundred or so comments. If a user tries to view the comments on a post with hundreds or more comments, they just won’t load. It’s unclear if this is an issue where the server can’t handle the load or if this part of the app is just poorly coded. Truth Social was able to load these 160 replies to Dan Bonino’s post but it could not load the comments for a similar Bongino post with 500 replies. Credit: Mashable Screenshot Also, along with the iOS notification, users receive an email notification as well when their account is ready. However, if a user clicks through on their desktop, they’re met with a 404 page because there is no desktop version of Truth Social. Then there are the issues with content. Truth Social bills itself as a “free speech” platform, but, of course, it has policies and community guidelines like even the Big Tech social media platforms. For one, Truth Social has already banned a user for registering a username that its CEO Devin Nunes doesn’t like. Hard Truths Over the past few days, there have been a few articles about Trump ” whining ” and being ” furious ” over the “failure” of the Truth Social launch. As those reports mention and I can personally now attest, the former President of the United States has only posted a single “truth” since its launch more than two weeks ago. The social media app debuted at the top of the App Store charts, but has since fallen precipitously in the rankings. Trump has posted once on Truth Social in the weeks it has been live. Credit: Mashable Screenshot But, more revealing than Trump posting just a single time is just how many people follow Trump there. At the time this article was published, a little over 200,000 people were following the former president on Truth Social. Trump is ostensibly the reason why Truth Social exists a place where people can hear from its founder after he was banned everywhere else. If you’re planning to actually use Truth Social, one would assume he’d be the first person you’d follow. He’s also the first user who comes up as a suggestion when you open the search tab, before inputting any search query. Other journalists who’ve gained access to Truth Social in recent days, such as Ruby Cramer of Politico, have noted just how dead Truth Social appears to be. “There isn’t much happening on the site,” Cramer wrote. And that’s true. It is a brand new platform after all. The problem is where the engagement on the site what little there is, at least is happening. It’s the same issue that has plagued Truth Social competitors like Parler and Gettr. All the action occurs in the comments of its most popular users. People are just looped into conversations with others who happen to stumble upon their thread in a reply section full of thousands and thousands of comments. Truth Social’s top posts seem to mostly be from verified users. Credit: Mashable Screenshot If you’re not Trump or Dan Bongino or some other conservative influencer, you’re barely seeing any interaction on Truth Social. Even worse, these personalities are barely even acknowledging the people who are conversing in their replies. This all gives the average user very little reason to stick around on the platform. It’s sort of ironic because the average Truth Social user is often the type to mock the “blue tick” verified users on Twitter for their verification badge. Yet, here on Truth Social, the only users who seem to be generating any real engagement are the verified users with Truth Social’s own little “red tick.” The NFL isn’t actually on Truth Social. Credit: Mashable Screenshot In addition, looking at the top “suggested” profiles when going to the search tab, users will notice a number of accounts such as @NFL, @DailyMail, and @Military that are labeled “BOT.” According to Truth Social these are just automated feeds that aren’t even affiliated with the organization or outlet they’re representing. The @NFL “BOT” account, for example, appears to just post ESPN’s latest NFL-related articles. Just how many Truth Social “BOT” accounts have been set up in the name of a third-party without their consent? Alternative “free speech” platforms like Truth Social tend not to have advanced algorithms recommending users to follow or new posts to check out. Truth Social, for example, doesn’t even suggest users to follow when signing up. Everyone’s first Truth Social experience is just an empty feed without any content which seems like a good way to stop first-time users from returning. Whether you’re a Trump ” hater ” or are willing to storm the Capitol for him, there’s one thing we can likely all agree on: Trump is not boring. But his social media platform certainly is. That’s a bad deal for Truth Social users, and a very bad deal for The Donald himself. (https://mashable.com/article/inside-truth-social-trump-social-network-tour)

Ukrainian President Says Defense Is at a ‘Turning Point,’ Pleads for More US Help

The Ukrainian president said his country’s defense against the Russian invasion is at a turning point and again pressed the United States for more help, hours after the Kremlin’s forces reneged on a pledge to scale back some of their operations. Russian bombardment of areas around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv and intensified attacks elsewhere in the country further undermined hopes for progress toward ending the brutal war. Talks between Ukraine and Russia were set to resume Friday by video, according to the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia. A delegation of Ukrainian lawmakers visited Washington on Wednesday to push for more U.S. assistance, saying their nation needs more military equipment, more financial help and tougher sanctions against Russia. We need to kick Russian soldiers off our land, and for that we need all, all possible weapons, Ukrainian parliament member Anastasia Radina said at a news conference at the Ukrainian Embassy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made the case directly to U.S. President Joe Biden. If we really are fighting for freedom and in defense of democracy together, then we have a right to demand help in this difficult turning point. Tanks, aircraft, artillery systems. Freedom should be armed no worse than tyranny, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation, which he delivered standing in the dark outside the dimly lit presidential offices in Kyiv. He thanked the U.S. for an additional $500 million in aid that was announced Wednesday. More Russia-Ukraine Coverage 10 hours ago Ukrainians Already in US Mobilize to Prepare for Up to 100,000 Inbound Refugees Gas prices 16 hours ago Biden Planning Bigger Tap Into Oil Reserve to Combat Gas Prices There seemed little faith that Russia and Ukraine will resolve the conflict soon, particularly after the Russian military’s about-face and its most recent attacks. Russia said Tuesday that it would de-escalate operations near Kyiv and Chernihiv to increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations. Zelenskyy and the West were skeptical. Soon after, Ukrainian officials reported that Russian shelling was hitting homes, stores, libraries and other civilian sites in or near those areas. Russian troops also stepped up their attacks on the Donbas region in the east and around the city of Izyum, which lies on a key route to the Donbas, after redeploying units from other areas, the Ukrainian side said. Olexander Lomako, secretary of the Chernihiv city council, said the Russian announcement turned out to be a complete lie. At night they didn’t decrease, but vice versa increased the intensity of military action, Lomako said. A top British intelligence official said Thursday that demoralized Russian soldiers in Ukraine were refusing to carry out orders and sabotaging their own equipment and had accidentally shot down their own aircraft. In a speech in the Australian capital Canberra, Jeremy Fleming, who heads the GCHQ electronic spy agency, said President Vladimir Putin had apparently massively misjudged the invasion, he said. Although Putin’s advisers appeared to be too afraid to tell the truth, the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime, he said. U.S. intelligence officials have given similar assessments that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about the poor performance of his military in Ukraine because they are too afraid to tell him the truth. Five weeks into the invasion that has left thousands dead on both sides, the number of Ukrainians fleeing the country topped a staggering 4 million, half of them children, according to the United Nations. I do not know if we can still believe the Russians, Nikolay Nazarov, a refugee from Ukraine, said as he pushed his father’s wheelchair at a border crossing into Poland. I think more escalation will occur in eastern Ukraine. That is why we cannot go back to Kharkiv. Zelenskyy said the continuing negotiations with Russia were only words without specifics. He said Ukraine was preparing for concentrated new strikes on the Donbas. Zelenskyy also said he had recalled Ukraine’s ambassadors to Georgia and Morocco, suggesting they had not done enough to persuade those countries to support Ukraine and punish Russia for the invasion. With all due respect, if there won’t be weapons, won’t be sanctions, won’t be restrictions for Russian business, then please look for other work, he said. During talks Tuesday in Istanbul, the faint outlines of a possible peace agreement seemed to emerge when the Ukrainian delegation offered a framework under which the country would declare itself neutral dropping its bid to join NATO, as Moscow has long demanded in return for security guarantees from a group of other nations. Top Russian officials responded positively, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying Wednesday that Ukraine’s willingness to accept neutrality and look outside NATO for security represents significant progress, according to Russian news agencies. But those statements were followed by attacks. Oleksandr Pavliuk, head of the Kyiv region military administration, said Russian shells targeted residential areas and civilian infrastructure in the Bucha, Brovary and Vyshhorod regions around the capital. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the military also targeted fuel depots in two towns in central Ukraine with air-launched long-range cruise missiles. Russian forces hit a Ukrainian special forces headquarters in the southern Mykolaiv region, he said, and two ammunition depots in the Donetsk region, in the Donbas. In southern Ukraine, a Russian missile destroyed a fuel depot in Dnipro, the country’s fourth-largest city, regional officials said. The U.S. said Russia had begun to reposition less than 20 of its troops that had been arrayed around Kyiv. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said troops from there and some other zones began moving mostly to the north, and some went into neighboring Belarus. Kirby said it appeared Russia planned to resupply them and send them back into Ukraine, but it is not clear where. The Ukrainian military said some Russian airborne units were believed to have withdrawn into Belarus. In northern Ukraine, Russian forces took no offensive actions Wednesday, focusing on reconnaissance and logistics, the general staff said in a statement. But Russia is expected to increase attacks soon to protect its own troops as they are repositioned, it said. The Russians also are expected to try to blockade Chernihiv. Top Russian military officials say their main goal now is the liberation of the Donbas, the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial heartland where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014. Some analysts have suggested that the focus on the Donbas and the pledge to de-escalate may merely be an effort to put a positive spin on reality: Moscow’s ground forces have been thwarted and have taken heavy losses in their bid to seize the capital and other cities. In other developments: The U.N. is looking into allegations some residents of the besieged and shattered southern city of Mariupol were forcibly taken to areas controlled by Russian forces or to Russia itself. Germany said Russia had reassured it European companies won’t have to pay for Russian gas in rubles, a prospect that raised fears Russia could cut off supplies. Also, Poland said it would end Russian oil imports by the year’s end. Click here for complete coverage of the crisis in Ukraine. Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report. (https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/national-international/ukrainian-president-says-defense-is-at-a-turning-point-pleads-for-more-us-help/2859729/)

‘The Batman’s politics are deliberately hollow

The Batman like an increasing number of aspirationally prestigious, pick-me superhero movies desperately wants to prove it’s not like all the other superhero movies. Sure, it’s yet another multi-million dollar blockbuster remake of a popular comic book IP already rebooted less than a decade ago, set in a universe “reinvented” nearly every other fiscal quarter. So, to justify its own existence, The Batman hopes to be an elevation of the genre into capital ‘C’ Cinema with Serious Themes that speak to Our Times. Yet in its cacophony of self-importance, The Batman only capitalizes on the unique power of superhero movies that can seem to stand for something, while actually standing for nothing. On-trend with 2019’s Joker, director/co-writer Matt Reeves’ Gotham aims to be the darkest and grittiest of them yet by drawing on the grim politics of today. But instead of saying anything of substance, both only exploit the painful social ills we’re living through for the sake of triggering set dressing. The Batman evokes this litany of very real-world suffering to conclude with a big shrug about it all. Themes around classism, dire wealth inequality, widespread police corruption, institutional government failures, and violence against sex workers are shoe-horned in throughout. Then toward the end, the Riddler summons now-familiar images of mass shootings, white male privilege, Qanon-style social media conspiracies, and white nationalist political terrorism. Closing with hauntingly memorable images of bombings around Madison Gotham Square Garden and even a catastrophically flooded American city that descends into so-called “looting,” there appears to be no source of collective trauma this movie is unwilling to mine. But just like Joker, The Batman evokes this litany of very real-world suffering to conclude with a big shrug about it all. Actually, if you try to follow the meaning behind any one of its IRL parallels, you just end up with a whole lotta yikes. SEE ALSO: ‘Joker’ is self-serious without much to say That’s not an accident, either. It’s by design. As of now, no tentpole DC movie appear willing to take a stance on any of the divisive issues they raise for this appearance of relevancy. Why would they, since that risks alienating a vocal subset of their fan base, which the studio must pander to or at least placate for maximum return on investment? Don’t get me wrong: There’s a lot of artistry worth praise in the new Robert Pattinson-led Batman. There’s even solid groundwork laid for a more radical rejection of the vigilante hero’s fascist underpinnings. But any hope for a transgressive Last Jedi -style interrogation of the underlying hypocrisy holding back this beloved IP is promptly abandoned in the final acts. The movie must, by necessity, return to a status quo of the same old Batman mythos we keep being force-fed again and again, even though it’s antithetical to the cultural shift needed to address the injustices raised by the movie. And, listen, no one was demanding Batman to suddenly become “woke.” Superhero movies are by no means obligated to serve as timely morality tales. But The Batman explicitly tries to cash in on the clout of a vague progressivism that it sorely misrepresents. Trauma porn doesn’t get a pass just because it’s wearing a cape. And frankly, in 2022, I just don’t need the help of a bat-suited blockbuster to be bombarded by endless images of human suffering I can neither do anything about nor make sense of. Trauma porn doesn’t get a pass just because it’s wearing a cape. Worst of all, there’s a real danger in co-opting the aesthetic of social justice as a smokescreen to bolster the heroics of a character who ostensibly embodies an oligarchical American police state. In conjunction with Joker ‘s vacuous depiction of violent white male rage, The Batman does show that a playbook is developing for Oscar Bait-y superhero movies desperate to be taken seriously: One merely needs to gesture at the existence of important social issues in order to receive heaps of critical praise declaring it a triumphantly ” different,” ” of the moment,” ” grounded,” and ” diverse ” pop-culture genre film. Nevermind that, for all of Batman’s tortured self-reflection, the movie ends with no change to his outdated worldviews whatsoever even after Selina stuns him with the revelation that impoverished people can be backed into criminality for survival. The extent of Bruce’s character development amounts to realizing that, sometimes, his fists should be used to hold the hands of innocent victims, whenever they’re not pummeling said criminals into submission with total impunity. To be clear, Reeves rebuffs any perceived parallels between the movie’s climax and real-world events like the January 6 insurrection. He maintains that the script was written pretty much as-is five years ago. That mostly tracks, since risk-averse big-budget Hollywood studios aren’t wont to purposefully wade into such recent, polarizing political crises. But that’s exactly the problem with giving too much credit to superhero movies made by corporate machines that only feign concern for the marginalized when it’s profitable. So Riddler is a Qanon conspiracy theorist who.was right all along? Credit: Warner Bros. It’s the reason why Joker could only end inconclusively, with a psychotic episode that calls the movie’s entire reality into question, conveniently absolving both its protagonist and creator from repercussions for the shocking acts depicted. The ending leaves the movie’s true opinions on the sensitive topics raised entirely up to audience interpretation. It allows Joker to circumvent the need to make any actual value statements about the disabused white men it purports to be about. Director Todd Phillips must say nothing meaningful about the controversial issues he alludes to, so the movie can simultaneously speak to a volatile male audience that feels unseen while also maintaining a “both sides” plausible deniability all while raking in unearned critical applause for seeming daring enough to break from genre conventions. But the only artistic risk Joker takes is inviting comparison to the laundry list of far better films it mishmashes together. Mixed political signals are not a bug, but a feature of today’s gritty superhero movie “realism.” Riddler’s Qanon parallels, for example, inadvertently send wildly irresponsible messages if you try to take them seriously. Unlike Joker, he’s at least the villain rather than the protagonist of The Batman. But the movie still pretty much validates his belief system. In contrast to the ludicrous Qanon conspiracy theories of our reality, the Riddler’s internet-orchestrated unmasking of Gotham’s Satanic cabal of coastal elites is vindicated as totally factually correct. That’s a level of intellectual bankruptcy that movies with 85 percent Rotten Tomato scores just shouldn’t be allowed to get away with. SEE ALSO: ‘The Batman’ Review: A crime-thriller suffocated by PG-13 demands Also, a huge part of what makes the cult of Qanon so seductive is that it preys on a very legitimate sense that the ultra-wealthy are corrupting our social structures. The system really is rigged to screw over underprivileged people like the Riddler in order to line the pockets of greedy politicians and billionaires. But you don’t need a Zodiac Killer anti-hero mastermind to piece together any elaborate secret puzzle to uncover some underground criminal collusion between the rich and powerful. They do it in broad daylight, right in front of our eyes, and legally. You can read about it in any reputable newspaper that covers corporate-backed political funding and lobbying. Unlike Qanon or Riddler’s thrilling online game, the real truth is a far more boring answer to this most mundane of conspiratorial riddles: How do wealthy elites plot against the lower classes while herding them into complacency like mindless sheep? Capitalism. It’s just Uncle Sam-approved late-stage capitalism, folks. Then there’s the blatant copaganda that’s completely incongruous with the real-world versions of Gotham’s mob-like police gang. Either Gordon is just that bad at his job, or he’s complicit. Credit: Warner Bros. Reeve’s Batman almost finds itself chanting “ACAB,” but then softens it with a “bad apples” strawman plotline that culminates in a heartfelt celebration of the many “good cops” who were apparently totally unaware and uninvolved in their department’s decades-long criminal operation. I also want to believe in the hopeful vision for Gotham proposed by new, progressive mayor Bella Reál, clearly coded as an AOC type who stands in opposition to the corrupt government systems that have failed to enact change. But her final mealy-mouthed plea to rebuild trust in our institutions sounds an awful lot like centrist urgings to get back to normal, and return to the status quo after a crisis clearly reveals how fundamentally broken those institutions are. Her words only seem more radical because they’re spoken by a woman of color, instead of the crooked white guy she ousted, who’s a clearer visual representation of the systemic problems that remain embedded in American politics regardless of who’s in charge. Similarly, Zoë Kravitz’s Catwoman can shame Batman all she wants for being a white rich dude with zero concept of how systemic injustice and oppression works. But the movie still requires audiences believe that Bruce and Bruce alone holds the power to deliver justice to Gotham’s streets. SEE ALSO: ‘The Batman’ director on that surprising ending and where it might lead Selina’s words fall on deaf bat ears because the script still needs her to act the role of supportive love interest who bends to his worldview, which advocates for something akin to reform rather than an abolishment of the carceral criminal justice system. Batman must forget the lived experiences that Selina tries to impress upon him. The movie must also negate their salient criticism that the world only cares about the suffering of privileged white men since the studio needs us to keep buying into a franchise that only seems to care about the suffering of a privileged white man. Most disappointing of all, the thematic foundation for a Batman movie that argues for defunding the police or at least interrogating the values of the American criminal justice system are right there. It throws those fascinating threads out the window to instead celebrate Batman developing an even bigger white male savior complex. No one embodies the ineffectuality of carceral policing more than Batman. He’s a vigilante who must work outside the law to even deliver his “justice” of filling the city’s prisons with folks that society failed to help a super cop with endless funds who only inspires more bombastic super-villainy, neither lowering crime nor making Gotham any safer. The movie comes this close to pointing out those cyclical failures, and even de-mythologizing the lie of benevolent philanthropic billionaires like Thomas Wayne. Then it throws those fascinating threads out the window to instead celebrate Batman developing an even bigger white male savior complex. If you follow The Batman”s line of questioning too honestly, you’d have to admit that the only way Bruce could “speak to our times” is if he shut the fuck up and let someone else talk. The Catwoman would’ve been a movie much more capable of addressing the hot-button issues that The Batman fundamentally cannot. But if you admit all that, then you’d potentially have yet another toxic DC fanboy revolt on your hands. There are ways superhero movies and stories can be relevant to real-world issues and collective cultural traumas. Black Panther, for one, unequivocally demonstrates how impactful these foundational comic book heroes can be in furthering conversations around deep-seated social injustice. The difference, it seems, lies in a film that treats those wounds as a narrative foundation rather than trendy fodder for the #discourse. With each new release, it’s getting harder to give DC the benefit of the doubt that they don’t know whose worldview their “elevated” comic book movies speak to most and who they sideline in the process. (https://mashable.com/article/batman-2022-joker-dc-problematic-social-justice)

Why Substack creators are leaving the platform, again

About a year ago, writer and University of Berkeley professor Grace Lavery accepted a six-figure deal from Substack, under the newsletter platform’s Pro scheme. At the end of January this year, Lavery decided to leave the platform, “belatedly,” severing contractual ties and closing her account. “I’ve never been under any illusions about why a literary scholar specializing in Victorian literature and psychoanalysis was offered a lot of money by a tech startup,” she wrote in a post on her blog. “It’s because I’m a trans woman, and about a year ago, Substack was facing public criticism for its publication of a number of authors critical of the movement for trans civil rights.” Lavery acknowledged that Substack’s publisher agreement insists users must not use the platform “in a manner that is fraudulent, deceptive, threatening, abusive, harassing,” but wrote, “I no longer have any faith that the executive team at Substack will enforce these Terms of Use, or the Content Guidelines. Because I do not trust that the platform will enforce its own rules, I’m leaving.” Her move comes after a long trail of transphobic incidents on Substack. Lavery is now a part of an exodus of Substack writers, overwhelmingly considering it a home for users expressing transphobic comments and making money for such views. Such a collective reaction to Substack’s refusal to tackle misinformation and hate speech is still happening. Writers are publicly speaking out about leaving Substack or calling out the company’s policies when it comes to free speech, content moderation, and censorship. It happened first in 2021, when trans writers including Jude Ellison Sady Doyle, Nathan Tankus, and Yanyi called out Substack in the wake of the platform’s refusal to remove harmful content. In a final post on Substack before departing for nonprofit publishing platform Ghost, Doyle wrote that Substack has chosen to “platform hate groups.” Meanwhile, Yanyi wrote, “I have no faith that Substack will protect me or other trans people from harassment or abuse.” This type of hateful content has been produced by people like British writer Graham Linehan, who posted libellous harassment, transphobic remarks, and hate speech towards Lavery and others through his Substack newsletter. Linehan was permanently kicked off Twitter in 2020 for “repeated violations of our rules against hateful conduct and platform manipulation.” He remains on Substack, however, with thousands of paid subscribers. Substack itself published a post around this time, doubling-down on their “hands-off philosophy” on content moderation, saying that writers and readers on Substack are “in charge” of what they say and who they subscribe to. “Writers own their content and their mailing lists and have full editorial control on Substack. Readers choose for themselves which writers to invite into their inboxes and their minds,” the post read. It underscored the ideas in Substack’s content moderation guidelines : that the platform is “different from social media platforms,” writers are paid by the readers, who, in turn, “are in full control of what they see.” In January 2022, Mashable reported on Substack newsletters that promote anti-vaccine sentiments and COVID-19 misinformation, with writers like Dr. Joseph Mercola, Steve Kirsch, and Alex Berenson, each known for publishing a slew of misinformation surrounding the pandemic, finding a home on Substack after being deplatformed elsewhere. “The reason I chose a paid membership platform on Substack is because it will protect all of my content from censorship,” Mercola wrote of launching his newsletter on the platform. Following this report, Substack subsequently published a post through its company newsletter, written by CEO Chris Best and co-founders Jairaj Sethi and Hamish McKenzie. They described the “growing pressure” they face to censor content that “to some seems dubious or objectionable.” “We believe that when you use censorship to silence certain voices or push them to another place, you don’t make the misinformation problem disappear but you do make the mistrust problem worse,” they wrote. The founders added that they will continue to give power to both readers and writers, and will “take a strong stance in defense of free speech.” Tweet may have been deleted This post, for Lavery, was a tipping point and the motivation behind her final decision to leave Substack. She tells Mashable that her complaints about Linehan were “being taken seriously” by Substack’s content moderation team via email, but they insisted “his conduct passed Terms of Use.” Lavery also cited the distinction between free speech and harassment, saying, “It seems really weird that Substack is unwilling to make that distinction.” K. Tempest Bradford, a writer and teacher, also left Substack this year, in a similar protest. “By not moderating, Substack isn’t creating more trust, they’re fostering an environment that’s unsafe for marginalized, vulnerable people,” she tells Mashable. Bradford says Substack’s statement in January wasn’t the catalyst for her decision, but it “certainly solidified” that she had made the right one for herself. “It’s irresponsible, especially at this stage of the internet,” she says. Similarly, Kirsten Han, a journalist and activist based in Singapore, was amongst the writers who left the platform. Han wrote a newsletter on Substack about politics, civil society, and social justice in Singapore; she was also the recipient of a grant from the company in April 2020. But she left Substack last year, citing transphobia on Substack and even raising direct concerns with the company about Linehan’s content. This past year, she has also used Twitter to call out COVID misinformation on Substack and the company’s hands-off approach to content moderation. “Substack and tech companies should be working to be transparent, thoughtful, to work with civil society on their responsibilities,” she says. SEE ALSO: Substack failed to register a URL. It allowed me to receive their private emails. Like Bradford, Han tells Mashable that Substack has a responsibility “to moderate more,” especially because some of the newsletters spreading hate speech “are getting a wide reach” and being monetized. Many of the newsletter writers passing along misinformation and reiterating transphobic views are amongst Substack’s paid users. Writers who use a subscription model include Linehan, Mercola, Berenson, and Kirsch. Paid creators keep 90 percent of the revenue, while Substack keeps ten. It’s an appealing offer: the platform offered is sleek, efficient, and potentially financially rewarding. According to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, Substack has accumulated at least $2.5 million in revenue due to anti-vaccine newsletters, per year. The non-profit NGO said that Mercola and Berenson are the main contributors to this revenue, making “a combined $183,000 a month.” And, despite backlash from a band of writers and users, Substack has raked in the numbers overall: the company garnered over 35 million views in January 2022 alone, according to SimilarWeb. There are over 1 million paid subscriptions to publications on Substack, according to the company, and the top 10 paid publications on the platform “bring in more than $20 million a year.” Lavery, Han, and Bradford all seem to agree that the financial gains writers those who spread harm and hate are deriving from Substack furthered their dissatisfaction with the company. Such numbers fed into Bradford’s withstanding argument for leaving, she says: “The revelation that the company paid certain writers what amounted to a salary in order to get them to publish their newsletters via Substack.” when I see their responses to criticism about providing platform to Covid misinformation peddlers and harassers of minorities, I’m concerned about how it might all come together. Kirsten Han 韩俐颖 February 2, 2022 Han appreciates the argument Substack’s leaders are grappling with. “I get that it’s a complicated issue. I get the desire to protect and defend free speech and be a platform for free speech. It’s an issue I work on a lot in Singapore. I just felt like Substack wasn’t making sufficient distinctions and being upfront with themselves about their responsibilities. If what’s being spread is false, that’s not free speech. I don’t feel comfortable with that false equivalency being set up,” Han says. Lavery also expresses “some sort of sympathy” with Substack. “If they were found to have editorial control over any part of their platform, they would lose their business degree it would fall to the floor,” she says. “The moment they do that, they stop being a publisher, and they start being a publication.” When approached for comment, a Substack representative told Mashable that they “respect writers’ decision about where they want to publish their work,” which is why they “make it easy” to pack up a Substack newsletter and neatly transition to other platforms. “While it sucks whenever writers leave the platform, we continue to believe in freedom of the press and freedom of expression, and we will continue our hands-off approach to content moderation,” they said. Tweet may have been deleted Notably, there are those who are critical of Substack but continue to use the platform. Kent Anderson, a former publisher at Science from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and publishing director of the New England Journal of Medicine, has been a Substack user since 2018, via his newsletter The Geyser. He has been outspoken about the presence of misinformation on the platform. “I got to know the founders of Substack, and interviewed them for The Geyser, where they touted Substack as an alternative to misinformation platforms and one devoted to the truth,” Anderson says. He believes they have since “abandoned” their stance. “When you enter the information space, you have a duty to care about whether the information you’re putting out is accurate, about what readers might think or believe based on what you tell them, about your reputation within society, and about integrity and compassion,” Anderson says. “This goes for anyone involved, including platform providers.” He adds Substack is feeding into “a vicious cycle” of misinformation and distrust. Anderson has not yet left Substack, but tells Mashable that he is “considering options and alternatives,” continuing to remain on the platform for the moment. For many, the attractiveness Substack can offer has just not been enough to mitigate certain decisions. Han tells Mashable, “In a way, leaving worked out. Before all of this, though, I was happy at Substack.” Related Video: How to recognize and avoid fake news (https://mashable.com/article/substack-writers-leaving-misinformation)

Zelensky’s show matters more than ever. Let’s see it all.

If Americans have learned anything about Ukrainian president Vlodomyr Zelensky in the weeks since Russia invaded his country, it’s that he’s a masterful media strategist. In trolling Russian president Vladimir Putin, as in mobilizing world opinion behind Ukraine, his prior experience as an actor and comedian has served him well. Which is why this is a perfect time for western audiences to familiarize themselves with Zelensky’s Servant of the People one of the most intriguing and historically important shows you could possibly watch right now. And you should watch, as much and as fast as you can despite a bizarre number of obstacles in accessing the whole thing. This is the TV show that ran in Ukraine for three seasons from 2015 to 2018. Zelensky’s character is a history teacher who is unexpectedly elected president in a landslide after his students post a viral video of him complaining about corruption and crowdfund his campaign online. Life imitated art when Zelensky started a Servant of the People Party, ran for president in a campaign run almost entirely on social media, and won in a landslide. It may not explain why Russia started this war as well as, say, The Death of Stalin. Still, for outsiders, Servant of the People is something of a lesson in Ukrainian politics and culture, and yet the 24-minute episodes are easy to binge. The humor, a handful of references aside, is universal. This is satire of the fast-moving, widely-accessible kind. The show consistently tells the terrible truth about real-life villains the billionaire oligarchs who stop any government working for the people in a way only the court jester of a hopeful democracy can. SEE ALSO: Ukraine’s everyday heroes are owning social media Zelensky emerges from the show less a buffoon, more a heartfelt true believer in democracy. The nearest American analogue might be Jimmy Stewart in the classic Frank Capra movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, another great advertisement for democratic principles in dark times. In both stories a somewhat naive history-lover is elevated to high office, refuses to bow to corruption, suffers outrageous smears from the corrupt, and holds the line of morality with from-the-hip speeches. Via Giphy Servant of the People gives Mr. Smith a humor upgrade by way of Veep, with a little Walter Mitty-style daydreaming. I also saw scenes and setups that reminded me of The Office, Parks and Rec, The Great, The Thick of It, Yes Prime Minister, Arrested Development, and if you’re chomping at the bit to watch it all after that name-checking, you’re my kind of people. How to watch: with difficulty But therein lies the trouble: Watching it all. After tracking down the world’s most wondered-about show, the best I can suggest is that you time-travel back a couple of years and convince yourself to watch it on Netflix in its entirety before it vanishes from the streaming service for still-unexplained reasons. Search for it on Netflix now and you’ll get redirected to Winter on Fire, the documentary on the 2014 protests that forced Ukraine’s pro-Putin, police-state-loving president Viktor Yanukovych to flee the country If you’re in the UK, Servant of the People is now screening on Channel 4 but at a painfully slow rate. Currently, just three episodes out of the 24 in season 1 are available on the UK-only All 4 streaming app. The company that owns TV rights has been doing brisk sales, according to multiple reports, but will not reveal if there’s a U.S. taker yet. Given the amount of disinformation about Zelensky rife in certain dark corners of American politics Rep. Madison Cawthorn was just caught on video calling Ukraine’s leader a ” thug ” the show that proves the Putin apologists wrong can’t come to U.S. screens soon enough. For now, would-be Servant of the People viewers are left with YouTube, where there is good and bad news. Good news: Zelensky’s own production company has uploaded every episode, so we’re talking high-quality transfers, not bad user rips. Bad news for English speakers: Most of the episodes offer only Russian subtitles. Some of the episodes with English subtitles are more comprehensible than others. If YouTube wanted to do some good in the world, and thank Zelensky for the millions of ad impressions he’s brought to the online video giant, it could sink some money into a full-on worldwide Servant of the People translation project. In the meantime, here’s a quick guide to the best Servant of the People viewing experience currently possible. Episodes 1 and 2 The double-length premiere is a great place to start. Servant of the People wisely skips over the whole election part, dropping us into the story the morning that history teacher Vasily Petrovich Goloborodko learns his campaign for the president was successful. He’s then ushered through a dizzying round of interviews and makeovers by the prime minister, Yuri Ivanovich Chuiko, whose silky smoothness you would be right to distrust. The story of the viral video and the crowdfunding that kickstarted his campaign is told in flashback. And the shadowy oligarchs we’ll come to know later in the show are anonymous, their faces always covered by items of furniture as they plot nefarious schemes. And here, in all its glory, is the joke that was cut when the show aired in Russia. Vasily is offered a range of expensive watches, and is told which one Putin favors. “Putin Hublot?” he says innocently a phrase that sounds a lot like “Putin khuilo,” a Ukrainian football chant that translates roughly to “Putin is a dickhead.” Episode 3 Episode 3 focuses on Vasily’s family; in an early sign of the corruption that will surround him everywhere he goes, his mother, father, niece and sister are seen promising government positions to their friends and receiving “100 percent discounts” at their favorite stores. The fourth wall shatters when a couple of policemen ask the family if they can “do something about” comedians who criticize the government. Episode 4 Episode 4 opens with what is hands-down my favorite scene of the show: Vasily being shown around his swanky new presidential residence. He finds a chandelier so expensive that it caused the country to default on its debt during the 2008 financial crisis, and a parrot that squawks “no, you’re the idiot.” when it hears the name of ousted pro-Putin president Viktor Yanukovych; the show was actually filmed on the massive estate Yanukovych had vacated in a hurry less than two years earlier. Unfortunately the episode is the first to lose its English subtitles before the end, so if you want to see Zelensky’s character chatting about his inauguration address with Abraham Lincoln, you’ll need to watch this version. Episode 5 Episode 5 may be my favorite episode overall and certainly the show’s best example of physical comedy. In the first half, Vasily spends much of his time running away from his ridiculously large security detail. In the second, we’re introduced to his presidential predecessor, who has barricaded himself into his office with a shotgun and a bar full of booze. Much of the show hits differently now Russia has invaded Ukraine, but this is the first scene that hits differently in the wake of Donald Trump’s disastrous bid to cling on to power. The quality of the English translation starts to go downhill with episode 6, in which Vasily falls out with his family, yells “Putin has been overthrown” to get the attention of squabbling deputies, and has a chat with Che Guevara. Subtitles then disappear early in episode 7. In episode 8, the show takes a turn towards screwball office comedy, as Vasily brings in a cabinet of outsiders like himself only they all happen to be his old school pals. The show presents them as a cadre of trusted allies who are less likely to take bribes, but it’s hard for a viewer not to notice that such nepotism is a form of corruption in itself. In episodes 9 and 10, the oligarchs take a number of steps to bribe or bring down the new cabinet, including dosing one member with psychedelics. As promising a plotline as that may be, we’re lost without English subtitles for the next 13 episodes. Which brings us to the last and most epic English language experience in the current canon: Servant of the People 2: The Movie After Season 1 was a huge hit, Zelensky and company repackaged a planned plotline from Season 2 as a 90-minute movie, Servant of the People 2. Here you’ll encounter mild spoilers; Yuri Ivanovich, the prime minister, is in jail, having been unmasked as a stooge of the oligarchs, and Vasily is dating an assistant who is also revealed to be one of their people. To break up an alliance of the three most powerful oligarchs, Vasily and Yuri take a train to the east of the country. Classic road movie farce ensues. Meanwhile Ukraine has applied for a loan from the International Monetary Fund, which keeps piling on the onerous conditions even as Vasily’s hapless foreign minister tries to keep the IMF leadership drunk. Vasily’s speech at the end of the movie responding to the IMF loan offer is a thing of beauty, and in retrospect can be applied to any situation where Ukraine has been pushed too far. “We’re not a border region between orcs and elves,” Vasily says. “We are a nation of open, clever and talented people. When we understand this, when we understand that stealing is bad, that we need to roll up our sleeves and work hard. Then the whole world will say ‘glory to Ukraine.'” Slava Ukraini indeed. (https://mashable.com/article/zelensky-servant-people-how-to-watch)

The Truth About That Nicole Kidman Viral Oscars Photo

Although Nicole Kidman didn’t walk away from the 2022 Oscars with an award, she did win over hearts as a new meme. Soon after Will Smith stunned the world when he got out of his seat and slapped presenter Chris Rock onstage, reacting to the comedian’s joke about Jada Pinkett Smith ‘s shaved head, which is a result of the actress’ years-long struggles with alopecia, a photo of Kidman looking shocked quickly made its way online. And, naturally, many social media users started purporting that the image was a snap of the Being the Ricardo star’s response to the unscripted altercation. However, that theory has since been proven false thanks to Myung Chun, the photographer behind the now-viral pic. In an interview with Vulture published on March 28, Chun revealed that the picture was taken during a non-televised portion of the awards show hours before Smith and Rock’s headline-making confrontation. So, what was Kidman actually reacting to? The truth is much more heartwarming. 2022 Oscars Red Carpet Fashion Will Smith Mar 29 Read Will Smith’s Apology for Slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars: Full Text Oscars 2022 Mar 29 Jim Carrey Slams’spineless’ Hollywood for Giving Will Smith Standing Ovation After Chris Rock Incident According to Chun, Kidman was snapped just as Jessica Chastain, who won the Oscar for Best Actress later that night, had walked into the Dolby Theatre in her stunning Gucci gown. It appeared that she was excited to see Jessica Chastain across the room, Chun said. Kidman then reached out her arms and waved to her with both hands. The photographer added that Chastain walked over to greet Kidman and her husband Keith Urban shortly after the photo was taken. This wasn’t the first time Kidman’s appearance at the Oscars became a meme. Back in 2017, video footage of the Nine Perfect Strangers actress clapping during the awards ceremony captured the Internet’s attention, with some people comparing her peculiar applause to a seal clap. Kidman later shared that the massive Harry Winston diamond ring she wore that night was to blame. It was really difficult because I had a huge ring on that was not my own, she explained on the Kyle and Jackie O Show weeks after viral moment. It was absolutely gorgeous, and I was terrified of damaging it. Someone give Kidman an award for most iconic Oscar memes. (https://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/the-truth-about-that-nicole-kidman-viral-oscars-photo/3622539/)

DuckDuckGo ‘down-ranks’ Russian disinformation. The search engine’s users are not happy.

Tech companies are continuing to take action as Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on. Search engine DuckDuckGo is the latest platform to take measures in the information war that’s being battled online. According to DuckDuckGo’s founder and CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, the privacy-focused search engine has “down-ranked” websites in its search results that are “associated with Russian disinformation.” Tweet may have been deleted “Like so many others I am sickened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the gigantic humanitarian crisis it continues to create. #StandWithUkraine️,” Weinberg wrote in a tweet thread on his personal Twitter account explaining DuckDuckGo’s actions. To those unfamiliar with DuckDuckGo, the move may not feel too out of the ordinary. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have updated their policies to deal with disinformation about Russia’s war. Search engines like Google and even Microsoft’s Bing have taken actions against disinformation, too. However, the overwhelming response to Weinberg’s tweets about the “down-rankings” has been outrage from DuckDuckGo’s user base. Some even claim to have already changed their default search engine preference due to this decision. Tweet may have been deleted “Can you see how swiftly most of your user base has been put off by this announcement?” reads a reply from @AdamantPluto. “Loyal long time supporters are talking about abandoning the service. Please reconsider your stance on this.” “This is not the way bro,” replied @primalpoly. “We no longer trust anyone to decide for us what is ‘misinformation.’ Let us make our own calls about that.” Whenever the topic of alternative online platforms comes up, the focus is usually on social media services like so-called “free speech” networks Truth Social or Gettr. Yet perhaps the most successful alternative to Big Tech platforms is actually DuckDuckGo, which was founded in 2008 as an alternative to the big search engine giants like Google. The company has always focused on privacy and emphasized user privacy. According to the New York Times, DuckDuckGo currently makes up around 3 percent of the U.S. search engine market share. The service’s growth points to a strong interest from users looking for a more privacy-oriented search platform. DuckDuckGo says it currently has a U.S. user base of 30 million people from all across the political spectrum. However, it has also gained traction over the past few years as conspiracy theorists and far-right internet users sought out alternative online platforms as a response to Big Tech companies’ content moderation policies. Unlike most other recent alternative platforms, though, DuckDuckGo was not built to placate users with a certain political ideology. Still, DuckDuckGo has found themselves lumped in with those platforms just by being an alternative platform in this day and age. So, whether DuckDuckGo likes it or not, many of those types of users have adopted the search engine. Tweet may have been deleted “The whole point of DuckDuckGo is for you to NOT do that,” replied @JasonHayward87 to the DuckDuckGo down-rankings announcement. “So the one thing that differentiates you from Google’s uselessly politicized search you’re binning that,” complained another user, @MorganColeBooks. Weinberg responded to the previous reply on Twitter. Tweet may have been deleted “The whole point of DuckDuckGo is privacy,” he stated. “The whole point of the search engine is to show more relevant content over less relevant content, and that is what we continue to do.” Privacy and data collection policies don’t necessarily mean content policies. DuckDuckGo itself, however, has marketed the fact that its search engine results don’t create a content “filter bubble” that’s often found with personalized search results based on users’ data. DuckDuckGo’s dedication to and frequent advertisement of its ” unbiased results ” again, based on its privacy policies have caused confusion among its user base after this most recent action. When it comes to content policies unrelated to user data, DuckDuckGo has actually moderated its search results before. The search engine already bans content farms on its platform due to the low-quality content often found on these websites. DuckDuckGo is also often beholden to the content policies of Big Tech search engines, because that’s where it actually gets its search results. For example, when the infamous “Tank Man” Chinese protest photo temporarily disappeared from Bing last year, the photo stopped appearing in DuckDuckGo’s search results as well. These nuances don’t appear to affect how DuckDuckGo’s users feel about Weinberg’s announcement. At the time this piece was published, Weinberg’s tweet about the “down-rank” has been replied to more than 10,000 times and received over 3,000 quote tweets. The tweet has less than 600 retweets. In Twitter lingo, this is called being ” ratioed ” when a tweet receives more replies than shares, signaling the broader Twitter user base is not in agreement with what’s being said. In addition to down-ranking certain websites, Weinberg also announced that DuckDuckGo would display “news modules and information boxes” pointing users to “quality information” for certain breaking topics. Many platforms like Facebook and YouTube already provide a similar features. Google calls them “knowledge panels” on its search engine. However, this feature doesn’t seem to have caused an uproar like DuckDuckGo’s down-rankings have. Mashable has reached out to DuckDuckGo for comment. We will update this piece when we hear back. UPDATE: Mar. 10, 2022, 2:35 p.m. EST A DuckDuckGo spokesperson provided Mashable with a statement regarding its decision to “down-rank” Russian disinformation websites. “The primary utility of a search engine is to provide access to accurate information,” writes a DuckDuckGo spokesperson. “Disinformation sites that deliberately put out false information to intentionally mislead people directly cut against that utility.We are simply using the fact that these sites are engaging in active disinformation campaigns as a ranking signal that the content they produce is of lower quality, just like there are signals for spammy sites and other lower-quality content.” As mentioned earlier, this isn’t the first time DuckDuckGo has moderated for quality. And as Protocol covered earlier this month, it’s also not the first time DuckDuckGo has taken action regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine. The company has recently “paused” its partnership with the Russian search engine Yandex. DuckDuckGo was using the service’s results for some of its search queries in certain countries. DuckDuckGo’s full statement as provided to Mashable can be found below: The primary utility of a search engine is to provide access to accurate information. Disinformation sites that deliberately put out false information to intentionally mislead people directly cut against that utility. Current examples are Russian state-sponsored media sites like RT and Sputnik. It’s also important to note that down-ranking is different from censorship. We are simply using the fact that these sites are engaging in active disinformation campaigns as a ranking signal that the content they produce is of lower quality, just like there are signals for spammy sites and other lower-quality content. In addition to this approach, for newsworthy topics we’re also continuing to highlight reputable news coverage and reliable instant answers at the top of our search results where they are seen and clicked the most. We’re also in the process of thinking about other types of interventions. UPDATE: Mar. 10, 2022, 3:33 p.m. EST Additional information from DuckDuckGo has been added to the piece regarding its U.S. user base stats and why people use the platform. (https://mashable.com/article/duckduckgo-search-engine-russian-disinformation)

Trump shares first ‘Truth Social’ post and it looks exactly like Twitter

Donald Trump has published his very first post on his new social media platform. How do we know this? Because his son shared a screenshot of it on Twitter. On Tuesday night, the former president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., share a screenshot of his father’s very first post on Truth Social on his Twitter. The platform has not launched publicly. Tweet may have been deleted “Get Ready. Your favorite President will see you soon.” read the post on Truth Social. “Time for some Truth.” tweeted Trump Jr., sharing the screenshot on the website that banned his dad after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021 in an attempt to overturn the official election results. A few others in the Trump orbit have also shared screenshots of their own debut Truth Social posts. The video service Rumble, which has pivoted into a “free speech” conservative media platform following those events at the Capitol, tweeted out a screenshot promoting how its company will power video on Truth Social. Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted The screenshot-sharing campaign was clearly an endeavor to promote the upcoming launch of Truth Social. However, from a marketing perspective, it seems like a missed opportunity, primarily because there was nothing to promote. Truth Social has still not launched. There is no officially launch date for when the social network will go live. A pre-order page on Apple’s App Store for the Truth Social iOS app lists a Feb. 21 release date. However, according to a recent report from TIME, that date has since been pushed back to “late March.” One thing that is clear, though, is that Truth Social looks like an exact replica of Twitter. The posts all look like tweets, complete with similar looking reply, retweet, share, and like buttons. The profile page looks like you’re viewing a user’s account on Twitter. Perhaps the biggest difference is the dystopian renaming of “tweets” as “truths.” For a platform that’s not even publicly available yet, Truth Social has already experienced its fair share of issues. A horde of trolls descended on an unreleased test version of the website on the day it was announced last October. These trolls registered fake Donald Trump accounts and filled the website with memes, such as “Pig Poop Balls.” Then Truth Social had to deal with licensing issues. The conservative social network is powered by open-source software, Mastodon. However, Trump’s platform broke the software’s policy by removing any credits pointing back to Mastodon. Truth Social quietly fixed those issues late last year. It’ll certainly be interesting to see how the conservative online media landscape changes when Truth Social finally launches. The social network Parler became a right-wing darling shortly after the 2020 presidential election, even peaking on the App Store’s top charts. Not long after, Gettr was launched by former Trump advisor Jason Miller. That platform seems to have replaced Parler in popularity amongst Trump supporters. It seems likely that a pro-Trump platform that actually features Trump himself as a user will become the defacto right-wing social network. We’ll find out on Feb. 21, or late March, or whenever Truth Social ends up actually launching. Related Video: Jack Dorsey’s weirdest tweets of all time, because why not (https://mashable.com/article/trump-truth-social-launch-date)

Does pineapple really make your cum taste better? An investigation.

As Sex and the City’s Samantha Jones once said, “Honey, they don’t call it a job for nothing.” And, as you might have guessed from the headline, we’re talking about blowjobs. Specifically, whether consuming pineapple affects the taste of your, err, semen. In layman’s terms and please do pardon the graphicness does it make your cum taste better? This burning question is one that’s currently doing the rounds on TikTok, with many claiming that the tropical fruit holds a secret power. As with many supposed ‘facts’ being circulated on social media, we have to ask: is there any truth to this? Never one to shy away from uncomfortable subjects, I decided it was incumbent upon me to get to the bottom of this issue and to investigate whether eating copious amounts of pineapple will make your spunk less funky. After speaking to two doctors, we can safely say that it’s a little bit more complicated than TikTok creators will have you believe. Men’s health expert GP Dr. Jeff Foster from H3 Health told Mashable that more than 80 percent of semen is made up of water. “The rest of it contains the following: amino acids, citric acid phosphorous potassium, zinc, calcium, sodium potassium, and various enzymes,” said Foster. “The proportions of these have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to support sperm as it makes its journey towards to an egg for reproduction.” SEE ALSO: Bottoming TikTok: Meet the creators educating the internet about anal sex Changing the taste of semen would mean altering these core components, said Foster. “There are no quality studies that have really looked at this as it is a difficult thing to justify getting funding for,” he added. “However there are certain foods that are supposed to make semen taste sweeter, i.e. those high in fructose/glucose.” Foster said that in reality, eating these fruits is unlikely to make a difference to semen taste. “If it did, it would alter the constituents of the medium that the sperm is in and potentially damage it. Semen is almost completely protected from what you eat,” he explained. The idea itself doesn’t make much sense, according to Foster. “If you eat pineapple, it goes into your stomach, is then digested, goes into your liver and blood and eventually small aspects of it broken down many times, are used to make more semen products in the future,” he said. “It is not linked directly at all and even if it did, it would take weeks.” “Not much research has been done on the subject, but also there are no specific indications.” Dr. Dmitry Loktionov a gynaecologist and sexual health specialist who developed CBD lube Quanna agreed that there is insufficient research into the subject to prove that pineapples have an impact. “Not much research has been done on the subject, but also there are no specific indications that the composition of sperm changes after eating pineapple,” said Loktionov. “Generally, a healthy diet will contribute to healthier or ‘better tasting’ sperm, compared to an unhealthy, junk food diet and smoking, alcohol etc.” Loktionov said that the same rule is true for people with vulvas. “Vaginal pH changes with women’s overall health and diet as it contains a lot of bacteria Lactobacillus, for example which respond to such changes. But specifically saying that pineapple will change its taste is not correct. It’s about more major changes to your diet,” he explained. Foster added that the best thing to do is drink plenty of fluid, which might help dilute any taste, and to keep good hygiene. Sorry to anyone that’s been bulk-buying pineapples. On the upside, your body’s probably loving the Vitamin C boost. (https://mashable.com/article/pineapple-semen-flavour)

Microsoft pulls Russian news sources from Bing and the Start news app

Microsoft has chosen to avoid the spread of disinformation by de-ranking Russian state-sponsored sites Russia Today and Sputnik from the company’s Bing search results. In a post authored by president and chairman Brad Smith, the company said that it was taking action on both fronts in response to the conflict in Ukraine Consumers will see the most high-profile reaction in the Microsoft Bing search engine, which has less than 6 percent market share in the United States, according to Statcounter. Here, Microsoft said that they would refuse to display content authored by Sputnik and Russia Today on the Start app. They’re going to remove the RT app from the Microsoft Store as well. Start is part of the news found within the Widgets apps on Windows 11 and News & Interests on Windows 10. Start also has its own dedicated news page. We are moving swiftly to take new steps to reduce the exposure of Russian state propaganda as well to ensure our own platforms do not inadvertently fund these operations, Microsoft’s Smith wrote. In accordance with the EU’s recent decision, the Microsoft Start platform will not display any state-sponsored RT and Sputnik content. We are removing RT news apps from our Windows app store and further de-ranking these sites’ search results on Bing so that it will only return RT and Sputnik links when a user clearly intends to navigate to those pages. Finally, we are banning all advertisements from RT and Sputnik across our ad network and will not place any ads from our ad network on these sites. It’s unclear what Microsoft can do to prevent the spread of misinformation across social networks, which the company doesn’t own. However, they said they’re trying. The past few days have seen kinetic warfare accompanied with a well-orchestrated battle ongoing in the information ecosystem where the ammunition is disinformation, undermining truth and sowing seeds of discord and distrust, Smith wrote. This requires decisive efforts across the tech sector both individually by companies and in partnership with others as well as with governments, academia and civil society. Behind the scenes, Microsoft said they were also acting to block the spread of malware, which they first identified soon after the conflict began. We immediately advised the Ukrainian government about the situation, including our identification of the use of a new malware package, and provided technical advice on steps to prevent the malware’s success, Smith wrote. Within three hours of this discovery, signatures to detect this new exploit had been written and added to our Defender anti-malware service, helping to defend against this new threat. In recent days, we have provided threat intelligence and defensive suggestions to Ukrainian officials regarding attacks on a range of targets, including Ukrainian military institutions and manufacturers and several other Ukrainian government agencies. This work is ongoing. (https://www.pcworld.com/article/618016/microsoft-pulls-russia-news-sources-rt-from-bing-start.html)

This social media marketing bundle is on sale for 98 off

TL;DR: The Complete 2022 Social Media Marketing Manager Bundle is on sale for 22.38, saving you 98 on list price. Do you think you’re social media savvy enough to have a career in social media management and marketing? The truth is having it is as a job involves more than participating in trending TikTok challenges and tweeting your thoughts on the latest episode of Euphoria in rapid succession. Social media marketing involves leveraging one’s social accounts to grow a business. On top of crafting perfectly-worded tweets and curating images for posting, it entails building a careful strategy to generate leads, engage with users, and expand your reach all with the hopes of building more sales. Managing social media accounts takes great skill, and with the Complete 2022 Social Media Marketing Manager Bundle, you can receive premium quality training on social media marketing and branding for less than what you would pay for a digital marketing bootcamp. This course collection packs over 20 hours of content on Instagram, Facebook Ads, Pinterest, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, and just about any relevant social media platform. It tackles techniques on how to gain a better following and increase customer engagement on every account, strategies in creating great ads that convert and sell, and tips on how to build amazing income-generating funnels. Expect to gain familiarity with the major social media platforms, so you can navigate them with ease and unlock their full potential. You’ll also be getting to grips with how organic and paid traffic works in selling digital products, how to spend the lowest amount possible to earn a profit, and how to strengthen awareness through your product or service’s visual design. All these are taught by marketing experts, including Paul Cline and Phil Ebiner, so you know you’re in good hands. Beef up your social media marketing prowess. This 10-course bundle is on sale for only 22.38. Credit: Skill Success Complete 2022 Social Media Marketing Manager Bundle 22.38 at the Mashable Shop Get Deal (https://mashable.com/uk/deals/best-social-media-marketing-course)

Trump’s new social media app tops Apple rankings on first day

Truth Social, the new social media platform backed by ex-president Donald Trump, has debuted atop Apple’s rankings for free apps Read Full Article at RT.com (https://www.rt.com/news/550300-trump-social-media-tops-apple-ranks/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS)

Trump’s social media app launch date revealed report

Donald Trump’s promised jump into social media, TRUTH Social, is currently beta testing and could be ready by the end of March Read Full Article at RT.com (https://www.rt.com/news/548847-truth-social-launch-trump/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS)

Trump’s social media platform ‘Truth Social’ available on Apple this week

Former President Donald Trump’s new social platform “Truth Social” is set to hit Apple’s App Store this week, making the tech alternative more widely accessible as it looks to challenge prominent sites that have banished Mr. Trump. The App Store lists the Truth Social app as expected to be available. (https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/feb/20/trumps-social-media-platform-truth-social-availabl/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS)

Truth Social: Trump social media app debuts, but early glitches prevent some new users

Truth Social, the social media platform by former President Donald Trump, faced a rocky rollout on Monday with technical glitches that prevented some users from creating profiles. The platform was available on Apple’s app store on Monday. But some of Mr. Trump’s supporters who hoped to promptly join the free. (https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/feb/21/truth-social-trump-social-media-app-debuts-early-g/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS)

Trump’s Truth Social Is Poised to Join a Crowded Field

Truth Social, the former president’s hard-right alternative to Twitter, could open its doors next month. But as businesses go, outrage may not be the best moneymaker. (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/18/business/trumps-truth-social.html)

Trump’s Truth Social app launches over a year after Twitter, Facebook bans

Former President Donald Trump’s social media app was offered for download from the Apple App Store to a limited number of subscribers who had preordered. (https://globalnews.ca/news/8636416/trump-truth-social-app-launched/)

Trump’s Truth Social app aims to stand up to Big Tech. But it needs Google, Apple to survive

The launch of Truth Social comes a year after Donald Trump was banned from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. (https://globalnews.ca/news/8600534/trump-truth-social-app-big-tech/)

Trump news live: Truth Social app off to shaky start as users report massive waiting list

Follow latest updates here (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-news-today-truth-social-jan-6-latest-b2019425.html)