Russia Storms Central Bakhmut; Kiev, US in Denial; Zelensky Depressed; Putin Upbeat Econ; EU NatGas

JOIN US ON Rokfin: rokfin.com/TheDuran
LIKE. SHARE. COMMENT. Please join us on LOCALS: theduran.locals.com

*TIME STAMPS*
- Bakhmut reporting bifurcation 00:00
- Kreminna/Kupiansk/Marinka 12:33
- The famous counter attack 14:40
- Nezavisimaya Gazeta bakhmut article 17:00
- Reznikov interview: counter offensive 28:22
- Russian tank production 38:35
- viewer report: Russian rear support use older equipment 40:40
- Elensky depressing AP interview 45:33
- Putin optimistic meeting with members of gov. 48:18
- Inflation and interest in Russia 53:55
- EU to members: cut back gas consumption 15%! 56:50

Three cheers for the Austrian parliament for walking out during Zelensky’s speech!

A bit frightening really and a bit sad , for a country the size of America and the best they can offer is Biden, Blinken, Austen, Milley and Sullivan, God help all of us.

Russia winning alone while Nato and the EU are losing together.
Living in a Nato country and supporting Team Z (The good guys) .
Anybody notice that no Russian banks are failing? Seems that is an American and European problem.
If I'm right 34 countries are supporting Ukraine militarily and/or economically but 32/34 are still buying Russian resources lol

Zelenskyy has no intention of defending Bakhmut to the last Ukrainian. It is more like the second last Ukrainian - Zelenskyy has no intention of dying there.

All of the responsibility for the massive carnage inflicted on Ukraine goes to the US and UK. Both governments threatened Zelensky with dire consequences if he did not walk out of the peace negotiations that were close to a deal on ending this war a year ago.

Thank you, am just a normal housewife who enjoys listening to your channel. My chimney sweep guy also listens to you! Thank you again for the straight forward reporting rather than the propaganda garbage we see in the MSM. The truth will always prevail.

It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for an honest and intelligent man to become a senior US general or a British front bench politician.

I listen to people talk about this who have the standard mainstream viewpoint and I get angry that they can be so blind to what is going on and the damage we are causing. Then I remember how I used to believe exactly the same things. It is so sad.

Some day, and one dearly hopes that it will come soon, the people of Ukraine will realise that they've been led down the path of insanity.

Glory to the Russian federation 🙏🙏🙏🇷🇺, Africa is behind you, Russia is fighting the evils to liberate the people of the Donbass region who have been for so long suffered gravely in the hand of the Ukrainian Nazi regime.,

Shame on the West for letting these poor soldiers die needlessly.

All the Ukrainian troops that trained on tanks in the UK were from the “Right Sector” One of our neighbours used to be in “The Royal Tank Regiment”. He said he wouldn’t want anything to do with training them. However, he also said, it would be seriously bad for your career to request not to.

I don’t know how you do it Alexander ! I cannot believe the amount of information you daily manage to discover for us, the people who don’t trust the western media. Thanks and keep the good work

Thank you, Alexander! Really appreciate your consistent updates. All the best to you and your listeners! 🙏💜🙏

God bless Russia, from India with love.

Thank you Alexander for the daily updates and your analysis. You are a wealth of knowledge.

Thank you Alexander for your extensive and careful analysis and commentary, always aiming at accuracy.

The strategy for using tanks in the conflict is completely different. If earlier the tanks were a breakthrough tool, today it has become a means of destroying strongholds. It seems that the old T-55 and T-62 tanks are more suitable for this role, for which, apparently, there is a significant supply of old shells. These tanks have rifled guns, which allows more accurate firing at a distance of 5 km and more than the more powerful 125mm smoothbore guns allow.

Unconditional surrender is the only way out for Ukraine. Hitler's Germany also refused to admit defeat until Hitler killed himself, then Keitel signed unconditional surrender. Ukraine already lost most trained and motivated soldiers along with almost all hardware it had before the war plus hundreds of tanks and IFVs it got from Eastern Europe (to understand the scale of losses it had 1 990 tanks, 1 212 IFVs, 1 112 heavy artillery systems, 354 multiple rocket launchers). Its army is a shadow of its former self at the beginning of the war . WSJ is describing Zelenskyy mobilization in this way: "Mr. Zelensky in January introduced even harsher punishment for desertion and disobedience . A disabled person was drafted in western Ukraine and pronounced fit for service despite having no hands. Another died on the front lines within a month of mobilization after 10 days of training, according to his relatives." Zelenskyy is officially catching and forced conscripting even disabled. When such people are in the trenches, it means that the front can collapse at any moment.

Thank you, Alexander, for another pristine update! If they had, over there, anything near as much rain as we had in southern England the last 6 months, the famous loamy soils of ukraine could take very many weeks to dry out somewhat. Here, it’s like a spongy marsh in many areas. Perhaps drier there? Weather is so fickle! 🤓

In the Germany army, a medic is called a Santitäts soldat, Sanitäter or simply 'Sani' as opposed to a doctor or surgeon who holds the title of 'Arzt'; when the Russians talk of 'sanitary casualties' they likely mean wounded troops who have been evacuated.

Can a day pass without one's daily input from Alexander or indeed the Duran.

Great way to start the day in Central Pennsylvania, Alexander, you do marvelous work!

thank you for interesting and objective information and for subtitles: regards from Poland

First thing in the morning, last thing at night: listen to your reports! Thanks!

If you are right that the fighting in Bakhmut is now going on mainly for internal Ukrainian political reasons, then I'm appaled both at the cold blooded waste of human lives, and the militarily stupid waste of manpower which will be needed in any attempted counter offensive.

The statement by Miley shows both his utter lack of what is actually happening and his ability to just continue to lie to the American people. What he will say when Bakhmut falls to Russia is anyone's guess.

Great stuff as always. Thanks for the updates. Peace and love

You know the fighting is intense when progress is described in terms of being within 30 meters of an objective.

Appreciated the internal economic analysis. As important as the front. Thanks for providing a unified understanding of the overall situation. Well done each day.

As always Alexander your reports are some of the most thorough and clear. Thank you

Let’s go Russia 🇷🇺❤️🇵🇸🦾

I thank you so much for you educated commentary on this topic when we know that in times of war and conflict, truth is the first casualty.

On the day (+/-1) when Bahmut falls, the Ukrainians will start their long talked about "counteroffensive" to shift the public focus away from the defeat and the enormous losses there. Ironically, that offensive will cause even more losses. All those poor dead and wounded men 😢 just to save some evil people's faces! 🤬

T-54/55 has many share parts with T-62, particularly engine and suspenssion which are no longer manufactured anywhere, so these tanks maybe shipped to factory to salvage parts for modernizing T-62. Also they can take out the turret and replace with something more powerful like rocket launchers, simply poweful automatic cannons, those are very usefull against big kamikadze drones, and to provide supression fire against enemy fortified position. Israel successfully turn many of those trophy T-55 tanks into heavy armored infantry vehicle. And finally its a tracked vehicle with 500-550 horses power which can simply be used as tank recovery vehicle. When Leopard 1 isno longer used anywhere for a very long time, therefore I have dobt about the condition of its ammunition, T-55 is still in active duty in many countries and Russia have a good amount of its ammunition in proper condition, its gun is actually more accurate than smootbore gun with very good range, with drone support you can use it as artillery gun in close range with very good accuracy even with old aiming system.

Great stuff as usual , and my new interest in Geopolitics has been due to you and TheDuran.Thanks so much for the truths you speak.

The paper tiger general Miley is all "Russia is getting hammered' and all I can do is LMAO at the ludicrousness of DC.

Slava Russia FOREVER!!

As always, Thanks for keeping us in the know.

Je vous remercie pour vos analyses très intéressantes.

Excellent coverage as always Alexander.

The condition of the ground at this time of the year is known to them and therefore they cannot have planned a counterattack and postpone it for that reason. Either they didn't plan such an offensive at all or, what I believe, they had to postpone it because they lost too many men in Bakhmut and are generally not in shape that allows for such an offensive. In other words, a lame excuse.

"Irretrievable" losses could also include soldiers who are captured and become prisoners of war. Has anybody seen estimates of the approximate numbers of PoWs on either side? Has it been reported or discussed anywhere?

Long live Russia. Russia was never the enemy or a threat to the world but the USA certainly is. The quicker the USA is weakened beyond belief the better for world peace. The USA instigated this war for their own goals.

Make Ukraine Russia again 💪🏾🇷🇺

Thank you for the daily updates, Alexander! The best! Shared! 😎👊

Another fantastic reporting. Thank you Alexander for your honesty.

A very good piece today Alexander.Please give more anecdotes like today.Perhaps on the political landscape of Europe and uk

The deceleration in Russian industrial production since the start of the year could also be a reflection on industry having used up spare capacity in the 2nd half of last year and now has to make capital investments that take time, to increase output further. There might also be bottlenecks in machine tool production and specialized manufacturing skills.

Thank you for your in depth analysis❤

From South Africa 🇿🇦 we follow the truth. Thank you for telling the truth

I don't understand how the west has questions about Russian shell production. They produce 1 shell every 90 seconds per hydraulic machine Shoigu stood in front of during his factory tour.

Alex...always sorted and focused...great attention to facts. Thanks.

Victory to Ruussia👊🐻🇷🇺

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has praised the "dedication and determination" of Ukrainian soldiers being trained to operate British Challenger 2 tanks donated for the war against Russia. The Secretary of State, who is a former soldier himself, met the troops training at Bovington Camp in Dorset and told them: "Britain is going to continue with you until the end."

One of the constant features of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been the “reconnaissance in force.” This process, in which platoon-size units are sent forward until they make contact with the enemy, then the information they are able to obtain about Ukrainian positions-often indicated by drawing fire-is used to evaluate the next steps. This kind of operation has casualty rates that are often as great as those in the “human wave” attacks in which Russia sent troops across open terrain to face prepared defensive positions. (cont in detail below)
But here’s a question: Why did Russia do this? It’s one thing to say that they have little regard for the lives of their troops, but Russia certainly has high regard for winning, for capturing Ukrainian territory and advancing. Why proceed in such a foolish fashion? One that not only has a high price in men and materiel, but which often fails to deliver enough information to make the next assault any more effective?
One reason, reported this month in Popular Mechanics, is pretty surprising. The nation that launched the first satellite, and has continued to be one of the world’s biggest “space powers” over the last sixty years, doesn’t have enough intelligence satellites to tell them what’s going on. In fact, their fleet of eyes-in-the-sky is old, designed for other purposes, and just generally incapable of giving Russia the kind of real-time, high-quality view of the battlefield that you would expect them to have in 2023.
Russia does have some spy satellites, of course, but the majority of what it has aloft are satellites for communications and to support its GLONAS location system-an alternative to the U.S.-launched GPS. Even some of Russia’s dedicated spy satellites are so purpose-built that they can’t help on the Ukrainian battlefield, like a satellite that tracks warships in the Pacific ocean.
As a result, Russia gets high-quality imagery of the battlefield only once every two weeks. That infrequent availability of images doesn’t just explain why Russia is often left fumbling forward like a man going through a dark room with his hands stretched ahead of him. It also helps to explain one of the big mysteries of the war: Why isn’t Russia using its missiles to attack more strategic targets?
“Because of a lack of reconnaissance capability, Russia is not able to use its high-precision weapons in the planned way,” Luzin told Popular Mechanics. “That’s why Russia started its campaign of missile terror against the cities and civil population of Ukraine.”

Thank you Alexander for given us the real news 👍🏼

Glory to 🇷🇺from Canada

T55's can be used as moving artillery,they have a range of up to 17km so can be used to soften the enemy as the more advanced hardware reaches the front line and if used as defence against any Ukrainian counter attacks the devastation would be immense,once bakmut falls Russian forces will be able to attack behind the defence lines North and South of Ukrainian forces. And as Russia stated they will create a demilitarised zone which Equal the longest range weapons Ukraine has which will now be 150km this will require the Kharkov and Odessa regions to be neutral.

I want to question the assumption that the Ukrainians are making a grave error in fighting to hold Bakmuhd. I am thinking of two historical occasions when armed forces faced a similar choice. Stalins order to hold Stalingrad at all costs and Hitlers' order to his armies subsequently to hold fast. In both cases historical analysis now concludes those decisions were correct. Any other choice would have lead to a disorganized route and collapse of the entire front. I suspect the same applies to the Ukraine front. I would have expected consideration from some sources at least of this possibility...instead of the constant repetition of how stupid the Ukrainians are to persist in their strategy of holding fast.!!

The Ukrainians love their new Challenger 2 tank. “It’s a diamond,” one air-assault tanker said in a short documentary the U.K. defense ministry produced. “It’s a beast.”

Russian units may soon surround Bakhmut, Denis Pushilin, acting head of the DPR, said on the air of the Russian First Channel.
I'll talk about this in the next update on my channel, but right now Wagner PMC fighters are establishing control over the central quarters of this city.

Can tell things aren't going well for Ukraine right now as all these salty comment postings from the pro-Ukraine crowd. Naturally they didn't bother when they were feeling secure about Ukraine's situation. Those that are getting increasingly inwardly nervous about a matter instinctively resort to putting on an outward show of bravado bluster.

Challenger 2 is an older tank, needs ammo for a rifled barrel. It is quite heavy and requires a crew of 4. Russian tanks are said to be superior.

Well done Russia!! Keep up the good work, and put in as much overtime as possible!!!

i have heard today that the russians took out a large batch of western armor in the zaporizhzhia area, also andrei mentioned on his channel that the kinzhal strike that supposedly took out hundreds of nato military in underground was reported on in a greek newspaper outlet as well as in a large russian outlet

Many thanks Mr.Mercouris for your Deep sound updated reporte in several items like the Ukrania front linea war situation,the limited producción capacites of ammunition of Usa&west countries,the strange Democratic Summit called by Washington that looks importante even ridicuolus

Putin remains unlikely to deploy newly conscripted troops to participate in combat in Ukraine due to concerns for the stability of his regime.Western officials reported that Wagner Group and conventional Russian forces have likely lost a substantial amount of manpower in the Bakhmut area, which will further constrain Russia’s offensive on Bakhmut.

Alexander: "Trying to slow down the Russian advance, which as always is gradual and incremental", and, I would add, inexorable.

I listen to you every afternoon and every evening Mr Alexander. Thanks for your truthful coverage. From Zambia

Great news and analysis as always, your dedicated listener and supporter from sunny California USA.

2:00 Sanitary are the losses that include any kind of wounded: lightly, heavily and mortally, that were successfully evacuated from the battlefield.
Irretrievable are the losses that cannot be retrieved: killed and captured as POWs.
So a huge part of sanitary losses won't be able to fight, and some part of irretrievable losses (POWs) can be actually retrieved via prisoners exchange.

The last report on Bakhmut in the Washington Post was, as of this moment, on March 25, 2023 at 5:21 PM EDT. I suspect that they do not feel things are going well there, and thus their silence.

Excellent program and update... I know this might be premeditated, and ... dangerous, and I could understand of you wouldn't want to indulge such information.. but I would like to know the actual difference in cost there is between 7.62 rounds (that go for about $70.00 per box of 30) and 5.46 rounds that I believe Russia 🇷🇺 has switched to... again, excellent program

You are so polite in the way you say people are lying their arse off and are completely delusional. Thanks for the information and still want to meet the dog.

About T55 it's important that in the case of nuclear escalation the crew is protected and everything works on him.

If one offers nothing but a pittance, with regard to weapons, then idiocy underwrites the aspirations one holds in this endeavour. Namely that Ukraine might prosper and indeed win. Can't those Ukrainian people see this, a trickle is offered to sustain the war, but nothing more. Their lives are irrelevant.

Yesterday there was a large Ukrainian "Recon in force" that was smashed north of Bakhmut. It's possible that ground is bad - it's raining again, and if Western tanks are in theater they are heavier. Tracked vehicles should handle mud pretty well, but add 15 tons to the vehicle's weight and less width and it might be dicey. Or Kyiv is lying. RT reports the Ukrainian FM saying that an decisive "counter attack" should not be necessary for continued Western support, openly suggesting that a great victory was far from certain.

GLORY TO RUSSIA

Do US generals get accountable for lying blatantly to house of representatives? I mean that it is easy to prove (video evidence) that he's lying if someone wanted to.

At 22 minutes in, Alexanders dog starts dreaming, you can hear it and see its little fuzzy paws twitching. Bless :D

Thanks Alexander for sharing your very informative thoughts. I what to inform you that youtube has CENSORED them since mid February, I know because I recorded them, and can see the CENSORING!

If Bakhmut falls, the whole of Ukraine will fall soon after. The Ukranian soldiers are getting younger and younger. I assume that Russia is also suffering heavy casualties. It is not unreasonable to assume that assaulting forces generally have twice the number of casualties than defending troops. There is still no international organization where disputes between nations can be impartially and fairly resolved. When I look at most governments, they are no better than elementary school children when it comes to disputes with other nations. Therefore and heretofore, I pronounce that Marijuana (Weed, holy sacrament) be legalized the worldover immediately, and that all people be compelled to partake of it daily. I have never seen an angry pot user, so this in the only solution.

Not only a reduction in productive industry from the restriction, but that industry is also now more and more focused on military production vice civilian goods.

1500 these are human beings sacrificed for a war that could've been avoided.

According to my estimate Ukrainian army has left with no more than 300 various units shooting 155 mm shells. On the other hand 1 min of 155 mm ammo or over 3000 per barrel comes to twice the time of barrel longevity. In other words Ukrainians do not have enough guns to shoot 1 million rounds of ammo and by far.

It is winter now in Donbass with snowfall and winter landscape in Donetsk city. So an imminent Ukrainian offensive is not on the cards and this will give Russia ample time to defend in depth. Was wondering with all their bases covered if Russians going to just sit back and twiddle their thumbs waiting to repulse much vaunted/hyped Ukrainian counter offensive.

Apppreciate it as always Alexander.

Col. McGregor has said that according to his sources Bakmut has fallen. It’s completely surrounded and there’s no more than 3000-5000 Ukrainians left in the city

Ukrainians spread rumours that there are kilometres long tunnels reaching Chasiv Yar, so cutting off Bakhmut is impossible😂probably to prevent Ukrainians caught in the cauldron from running away😅
And second, some people claim that Ukrainians shoot only 3k shells a day because they are saving ammo for the offensive. We'll see😏

Another solid episode!

Lumumba and Kigali are interesting because Lumumba after prison wore a pink costume and Kigali still in Rwanda . A bit off topic both countries are landlocked only say because Russia has a Lumumba uni and Ukraine has a Patrice Lumumba highway.. I found it interesting as a history buff

Keep it up We are always looking forward for your update

I believe the 500/day casualty number now for Ukraine in Bakhmut alone as more and more of their troops get squeezed into a smaller and smaller space while Russian mortars, rockets and artillery artillery keep pounding them Day and night.

What would a retreat mean? A clear shift in the direction; loss of the key defensive strategy; falling back on untested fortifications; panic; more fleeing; rejoicing; loss of will; undo narrative; quiet.

As always Alexander your assessment is spot on 👍👍👍👍

Elensky might be thinking that the CIA may be making an un-annouced visit soon. That would make anyone depressed .

Thank you for diligent updates!!