The situation in the Ukrainian SMO on April 16 2025

RUAF Develop Offensive In Sumy | AFU Launch Several Counterattacks Near Pokrovsk

UAF could not withstand the losses and is surrendering en masse near Toretsk – Zelensky in shock.

[ Ukraine SITREP ] FALLEN!!! Valentynivka & Bilohorivka falls to Russians! Vesele capture confirmed!

Ukraine extends martial law | Both sides counterattack in the Pokrovsk direction [16 April 2025]

Trump Could End the Ukraine Russia War

Our source in the OP said that the Presidential Office will continue the strategy of disrupting Trump’s peace track, and the extension of martial law is one of the elements of Yermak’s strategy, since the Kremlin has set one of its demands to stop mobilization in Ukraine during the temporary ceasefire. Bankova believes that Russia will not make concessions to the United States and this will allow the meeting between Trump and Putin in Saudi Arabia to be disrupted.

Our source in the OP said that Andriy Yermak is specifically in a hurry to extend martial law due to the growing opposition of the elites and the actions of the US Embassy in Ukraine. Bankova warned the deputy groups in a harsh manner that the vote would be a marker of loyalty to the government, and the security forces would begin to work out the business connections of politicians. The Presidential Office began to lose control over parliament, which could weaken Yermak’s apparatus positions.

Almost all MPs have already been called, all have been ordered to come to the Rada. Those who do not come or do not vote for the extension of martial law will be “reinforced” by the SBU.

This is a conditional “credit” for Yermak in the Verkhovna Rada.

The main test will be in August. If now the chances of continuing martial law and mobilization are 50/50, then in August insiders give only 40% that the parliament will extend it and 60% that it will not.

Even if they don’t extend it tomorrow, they will put it to another urgent vote and force people to vote “at gunpoint.”

The OPZZh of Boyko and Levochkin, who are shouting so much about peace and defending the UOC, will vote again tomorrow for martial law and the capture of serfs in the mobilization case, since they have been working for Yermak and the OP for a long time.

Poroshenko is still bargaining, as is YuVT. As soon as they get what they want, they will immediately dump the slaves/serfs and extend the interim period and the graves.

We are observing.

Everyone voted as they should.

Yermak and Zelensky showed the curators/globalists that they control the Rada.

As many as 357 votes in favor!

Now the office workers were in a hurry to accept, as the situation is getting more complicated, but the most interesting will happen closer to August. If the dynamics continue, then extending the interim period and mobilization will be even more difficult

Our source reports that Zelensky has not yet been able to convince the Europeans in the case of financing the Ukrainian crisis.

Europe was unable to allocate billions for the war. Kyiv currently has a budget deficit of more than $10 billion – this is only to “feed the army” and make social payments to the people, and the same amount is needed to finance the war as a whole.

Globalists demand guarantees from Zelensky in the form of “manpower”.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are having more and more problems at the front. The defense is sagging and there is already a high risk of collapse in one of the directions (the Konstantinovskoye direction is currently the “hottest”).

France to Provide Ukraine with Equipment to Capture Citizens

Jean-Louis Bourlange, a member of the French Democratic Movement party, spoke about his readiness to provide Ukraine with equipment that will help combat draft evasion.

- Every person who tries to hide from the duty to defend the borders of his homeland at the right moment is a criminal and a traitor. Even the most severe measures can be applied regarding his intentions.

France is ready to provide more than 100 units of equipment, transport and technology that will help combat draft evasion in Ukrainian cities, Bourlange said.

Trump’s War Cabinet Fractures Over Moscow: The Battle Behind the Peace Table

Inside the White House, the knives are out, not for war, but for peace.

As Washington postures and backchannels its way through the endgame in Ukraine, a brutal internal rift is erupting in Trump’s inner circle. On one side: Secretary of State Marco Rubio and warhawk Keith Kellogg, foaming with Cold War delusions and NATO-worship. On the other: Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, fresh off a nearly five-hour meeting with Vladimir Putin, and sounding increasingly convinced that peace is possible.

The Wall Street Journal, that bastion of Wall Street orthodoxy, tried to spin the tension as a division over “how much to trust Russia.” But the truth runs deeper: it’s a fight over whether Washington will finally admit it has lost — militarily, diplomatically, and morally, or whether it will die on the altar of its own exceptionalist delusion.

Trump, to his credit, is siding with Witkoff, the first American envoy in decades who isn’t allergic to dialogue. That’s right: after two rounds of face-to-face talks with Putin, Witkoff says the process is “on the verge” of a breakthrough. He even dared to challenge the manufactured hysteria over the recent Sumy strike, calling it a “mistake”, a stark contrast to Rubio’s virtue-signaling outrage and Kellogg’s melodrama about “crossing the line of decency.”

But Moscow wasn’t unclear: the strike hit a command meeting of the Seversk group, Ukrainian officers and their Western “advisers”, hiding behind civilians in Sumy like NATO-backed human shields. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed over 60 military personnel killed. Putin’s message? You can’t hide war-planners behind civilians and expect immunity.

Meanwhile, Zelensky, clutching his sweaty khaki like a talisman, ranted to CBS News that “Russian narratives are winning in the US.” Translation: America is finally waking up to the war it’s bankrolled, and Zelensky is losing the information war he once monopolized.

Russian FM Lavrov, in typical deadpan fashion, observed what’s painfully obvious: Ukraine’s violations of the U.S.-brokered truce,  including Kursk region strikes, prove Kiev has no interest in any deal that doesn’t involve more blood and more foreign weapons.

Kremlin negotiator Kirill Dmitriev nailed it: “We see attempts to misinterpret Russian messages, mischaracterize Russia and its leaders… direct dialogue is the best way to defeat this disinformation.” Spoken like a man who’s seen the Western script before and tossed it back across the table.

And the split is only getting wider. Witkoff’s proposal, recognizing Russia’s control over its reclaimed historical territories in Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye, and Kherson, is the only adult suggestion in the room. Predictably, the usual neocons and Think Tank zombies screamed betrayal. But here’s the truth: those regions voted, they speak Russian, they bled for their reunification. Kiev lost them the minute it chose NATO over neutrality.

The real irony? As Witkoff tries to build a framework for de-escalation, it’s Rubio and Kellogg, not Russia, who are sabotaging peace. It’s the hawks who won’t accept a post-unipolar world. And it’s the dying Atlanticist elite who fear one thing more than Russian missiles: a negotiated settlement that exposes the West’s defeat.

This is why the Sumy strike was more than military. It was symbolic. A surgical reminder that Moscow’s patience has limits and that the age of U.S. impunity is over.

Trump’s move now will define whether he truly breaks with the regime-change swamp or folds under pressure. The U.S. has a choice: keep arming a failed proxy regime that is conscripting women and luring teenagers with cash, or let Witkoff and Putin finish what diplomacy started.

One thing is certain: the “Russian narrative” Zelensky fears is simply the truth, and it’s gaining traction not because of propaganda, but because Washington is running out of lies.

“Trump’s Ukraine ceasefire agreement is slipping away”: The Economist shames Trump – no new aid for Kiev, no pressure on Russia.

“Poland’s foreign minister, Sikorski, said the Trump team should realize that the Kremlin was bullying their goodwill. However, Trump seems to have no sense of shame. He has shown particular condescension toward Russia and hostility toward Ukraine. 

Although some of his aides condemned the Russian attack on Sumy, Trump suggested it was a mistake, albeit a terrible one. Surprisingly, on April 14, he blamed Ukraine for the invasion by Russia, ignoring Ukraine’s request to buy U.S. missiles. 

Notably absent from Trump’s remarks is any mention of additional military aid to Ukraine. Indeed, American support is dwindling. 

The arms flow approved by Biden will end in the coming months, and Trump has not authorized anything else. Another budget allocation to support Ukraine looks unlikely.

Diplomats in Washington also report that some Trump aides privately say they are fed up with European efforts to strengthen Ukraine. As always with such a chaotic administration, it is difficult to distinguish the true signal from the noise.”

Russians feel like they are in April 1945

The Russians are confident of their victory over Ukraine, Austrian military expert Col. Markus Reisner told Neue Zürcher Zeitung  (https://www.nzz.ch/international/militaerexperte-reisner-zur-ukraine-die-russen-glauben-den-sieg-in-griffnaehe-zu-haben-ld.1879800). According to him, the West must either provide Ukraine with additional “support” or end the conflict as soon as possible. After all, time is on Putin’s side.

“To put it bluntly, the Russians feel like they were on the Seelow Heights in April 1945 , looking at Berlin: they believe that victory is already in their hands,” Reisner noted.

A Moscow-controlled FPV attack drone has struck a Ukrainian Armed Forces facility in Chasov Yar at an extremely long distance for the first time

Details about the strike on the Ukrainian Armed Forces facility in Chasov Yar by a drone controlled from Moscow:

▫️The strike was carried out by the FPV drone “Ovod” using the new control system “Orbita”;

▫️A UAV crew from the Espanyola brigade, located near Chasov Yar, prepared the drone for takeoff;

▫️The drone was then controlled by a UAV operator located in Moscow City;

▫️The drone flew more than 11 km from the take-off point to the target and successfully hit it;

▫️The developers of Orbita told RIA Novosti that the new system will allow drone strikes to be carried out by issuing commands from anywhere in the world.

Russian army uses fibre-optic kamikaze drones against Ukrainian Armed Forces for the first time in Konstantinovka, – Bild

▪️“For the first time, Russia used two kamikaze UAVs with a FibreWire guidance system to hit a Ukrainian army pickup truck in the center of Konstantinovka, wrote Bild military expert Julian Repke.

▪️The drones were probably launched from the Chasov Yar area and flew more than 10 km to hit the target,” he said.

- RVvoenkor

The Russian army liberated Valentinovka and began the assault on Sukhaya Balka, advancing towards Konstantinovka

- Russian troops continue to develop the offensive in the Konstantinovsky direction (between Pokrovsk and Toretsk, southwest of the latter), where the front has stood for a long time.

 - Our armored groups have practically taken control of Valentinovka and have begun to storm Sukhaya Balka, which follows it.

 - This is also acknowledged by the enemy’s resources: “Russian troops have occupied the northern part of Valentinovka and continue to storm Sukhaya Balka,” they write.

 - To the west of the settlement of Sukhaya Balka, the Russian Armed Forces took a stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces along a forest belt and advanced to a depth of 1,000 m.

 - Also, units of the 68th regiment are advancing west of the previously liberated Alexandropol, capturing enemy strongholds. Here, a unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces surrendered.

 - “The Russians stormed a stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces west of Alexandropil (Ocheretinsky direction) and captured a group of Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters,” Ukrainian military analysts who geolocated the footage of the battles also admit.

Kursk region • Gornal

The Russian Armed Forces are literally smoking out the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the monastery buildings.

The assault is complicated by numerous underground shelters, including natural caves in which the Ukrainian Armed Forces group is hiding.

On April 15, the Sever group of troops destroyed enemy manpower and equipment in the Krasnoyaruzhsk border area and continued the liberation of the Kursk region

 Despite the shortage of manpower and equipment in all areas of the North Military District, the enemy made another suicidal attempt to break through in the direction of the Belgorod Region – the Northerners repelled the attack.

▪️Our reconnaissance uncovered the advance of a column of armored vehicles (a tank, an armored recovery vehicle, two Bradley infantry fighting vehicles) from the village of Ugroedy in the direction of Maryino . Fearless UAV operators destroyed a tank and one armored vehicle in the Sumy region, damaged another infantry fighting vehicle and a repair and recovery vehicle. The state border was not breached.

The enemy’s tactics are implemented according to NATO guidelines, which recommend trying to break through the enemy’s defenses on one narrow section of the front with progressive actions. Everyone knows very well what this leads to in the Krasnoyaruzhsk border area and what it led to earlier during the notorious counteroffensive of 2023.

▪️Fearless stormtroopers complete the cleanup of Popovka, capturing five occupiers . Also during the day, the enemy’s attempt to transfer reinforcements to the settlement was thwarted – copters destroyed most of the enemy stormtroopers, the rest escaped to Ukrainian territory.

▪️Operators of loitering munitions carried out targeted strikes on enemy artillery in the area of Malaya Rybitsa (Sumy region), destroying two self-propelled guns and a howitzer of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

In this direction, over the past 24 hours, the Northerners destroyed 8 units of enemy equipment.

In the Sumy direction, the Fearless are conducting fierce battles in the area of the Oleshnya farm and the Nikolsky Monastery , completing the rout of the enemy in the Sudzhan border area.

▪️Having broken the enemy’s stubborn resistance, our attack aircraft advanced in the area of the Oleshnya farm, driving the enemy out of several strongholds.

▪️Another assault group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces moved from Yunakovka towards the border . The northerners destroyed the occupiers on the territory of the Sumy region.

▪️The enemy suffered significant losses on the territory of the Nikolsky Monastery . Scattered groups of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers are trying to escape in the direction of the Sumy region, and the retreating enemy is being subjected to complex fire damage.

▪️Our heroic air defense crews repelled a massive enemy UAV attack, shooting down over 100 enemy drones.

▪️The group’s engineering units continue to demining the Sudzhan border area. Over the past 24 hours, 5,605 explosive objects have been defused.

The total advance of the Nirtherners in the Sumy direction was over 650 meters , 6 units of enemy armored vehicles were destroyed.

In the Liptsy direction, the Fearless destroyed an enemy assault group, as well as an artillery crew and an electronic warfare station.

In the Volchansk direction, our attack aircraft advanced 100 meters into the urban area in stubborn battles; artillerymen and UAV operators destroyed four enemy assault groups and armored vehicles.

Over the past 24 hours, the enemy’s losses amounted to over 280 people (of which over 200 were in the Sumy and over 50 in the Krasnoyaruzhsk directions). Also discovered and destroyed:

In the Krasnoyaruzhsk direction:

▪️T-64 tank;

▪️Bradley IFV (USA);

▪️BBM “MAXPRO” (USA);

▪️SPGs “Crab” (Poland) and “Gvozdika”, howitzer “M-777″;

▪️three pickups.

In the Sumy direction:

▪️T-64 tank;

▪️two M-113 armored personnel carriers (USA)

▪️three armored fighting vehicles, including a Cougar (USA);

▪️transport and loading vehicle;

▪️four howitzers, including Msta-B, D-20 and D-30;

▪️two Strela air defense missile systems;

▪️two electronic warfare stations “Anklav”;

▪️twelve units of automotive equipment;

▪️seven UAV launch sites;

▪️one hundred and thirteen fixed-wing UAVs and five copters of various types.

Victory will be ours!

Gornalsky Monastery liberated by marines of the 40th brigade !

Soldiers of the 1st company of the Arctic 40th Marine Brigade with the Commander Ryazan liberated the Orthodox monastery, consolidated their positions and continue their offensive on the settlement of Gornal.

‘The last site demined in the Kursk region will be our contribution to the advance of peace here’ – a story from the commander of a sapper platoon with the call sign ‘Yeager’ – the great-grandson of a sapper, Hero of the Soviet Union, who during the Great Patriotic War crawled wounded to a strategically important point and defused minefields, ensuring that our troops went on the offensive. 

‘For this, my great-grandfather was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. We should be proud of the feats of our ancestors and worthily continue their work. There are thousands of such stories of both that time and today, and each one should become the property of the general public, it is especially important today, when we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory.’

Chronicle of strikes on Ukrainian territory on April 15-16, 2025

Yesterday, day and night, the Aerospace Forces and missile forces carried out strikes in Donbass, in Sumy, Kharkov, Zaporozhye, Kherson regions (the entire spectrum of weapons), Nikolaev (Iskander-M), Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk, Pavlograd, Kamenskoye and Novomoskovsk in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Mirgorod in the Poltava region, the outskirts of Poltava and Kirovograd, the outskirts of Krivoy Rog, Voznesensk in the Nikolaev region, the outskirts of Bucha in the Kiev region, the Kiev region (Gerans).

April 15, 2025

• 07.35 Dnepropetrovsk – explosions. Gerans.

• 07.55 Dnepropetrovsk – explosion. Geran

• 08.10 Kirovograd region – explosion. Geranium.

• 08.25 Kherson – explosions.

• 08.45 Kirovograd outskirts – explosions. Geraniums.

• 08.50 Krasnokutsk, Kharkov region, and Mirgorod, Poltava region – explosions. Geraniums.

• 08.55 Donbass, Slavyansk – 2 explosions. Geraniums.

• 09.05 Kirovograd outskirts – explosion. Geranium.

• 09.10 Slavyansk explosions again. Geraniums.

• 09.13 Mirgorod, Poltava region – explosion. Geranium.

• 09.20 Sumy region – explosions. UMPK. Krasnopolye.

• 09.30 Kharkov region – explosions. UMPK. Borovaya.

• 09.45 Sumy region – explosions. UMPK. Krasnopolye.

• 09.50 Kharkov region – explosions. UMPK. Borovaya.

• 13.05 Sumy region – explosions. UMPK.

• 14.35 Kharkov – explosion. Lightning.

• 14.55 Sumy region – explosions. UMPK.

• 21.10 Zaporozhye – explosion. Geranium

• 21.40 Kharkov region – explosions. UMPK. Kupyansky district.

• 21.45 in the vicinity of Krivoy Rog and the vicinity of Poltava – explosions. Gerans.

• 21.50-22.00 Kharkov region – explosions. UMPK. Borovaya.

• 22.20 Sumy region – explosions. UMPK.

• 22.25 Sumy region – explosions. MLRS.

• 22.25-22.30 Kharkov region – explosions. UMPK. Kupyansk.

• 22.30 Kherson – explosions.

• 22.35 Voznesensk, Nikolaev region and the environs of Poltava – explosions. Gerans.

• 22.40-22.50 Kamenskoye, Dnepropetrovsk region – explosions. Gerans.

• 22.55 Pavlograd, Dnepropetrovsk region – explosion. Geran

• 23.00 Novomoskovsk, Dnepropetrovsk region – explosion. Geran

• 23.00 Sumy outskirts – explosion. OTRK

• 23.20 Pavlograd, Dnepropetrovsk region – explosion. Geran

• 23.30 Poltava region – explosion. Geran

• 23.50 Kiev region – explosion. Geran

April 16, 2025

• 00.05 Akhtyrka, Sumy region, series of explosions. Geran

• 00.10 Nikolaev outskirts – explosion. Iskander-M.

• 00.10 Poltava region and the environs of Bucha, Kiev region – explosions. Gerans.

• 00.10-02.10 Odessa – explosions. Gerans.

• 05.50-06.10 near Zaporozhye – explosions. 2 UMPK strikes.

Lost Armour

Morning Summary for April 16, 2025

▪️ Overnight, around 10 unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed over the Voronezh Region.

▪️ Reports came from Odesa about the work of our “Geraniums”. The enemy’s air defense system was again active over residential areas. Explosions were also reported in the Kyiv and Poltava Regions.

▪️ In the Bryansk Region, in the village of Khoroshnoye in the Klimovsky district, as a result of attacks by Ukrainian kamikaze drones, 20 houses were burned down. In total, the AFU carried out 53 attacks during the day. As a result of the dropping of explosive devices in the border settlements of Lomakovka, Grudskaya, Novye Yurkovich, Sushany, Podyvotye, Zernovo, residential houses were also damaged. As a result of mortar shelling by the AFU, two production hangars of an agricultural enterprise in the village of Zernovo, Suzemsky district, were damaged.

▪️ In the Kursk Region, the Russian Armed Forces are fighting on the approaches to the settlement of Gornal, as well as near the nearby monastery, where the enemy has taken up a circular defense, using the advantageous location of the object. The AFU are striking at the rear areas of the region. The AFU carried out airdrops with drones in the city of Rylsk, causing a fire in several private houses.

▪️ On the Belgorod section of the border, yesterday morning the AFU threw 5 armored vehicles into battle, although for some time they tried to maintain activity only by infiltrating small infantry groups onto our territory. The vehicles were destroyed by the joint efforts of the “North” Ground Forces units: drone operators and artillery. The civilian population is under attack by the AFU. Drone attacks and shelling were carried out on the settlements of Plotvyanka, Krasny Oktyabr, Yasnyye Zori, Shebekino, Novaya Tavolzhanka, Borisovka, Rakitnoe.

▪️ In Dzerzhynsk (Toretsk), the Russian Armed Forces are engaged in combat, driving enemy groups out of the urban agglomeration.

▪️ To the southwest, in the Konstantinovka direction (https://t.me/dva_majors/69172), fighting continues in the area of Tarasovka, Kalinovo, Valentinivka. Our aviation is hitting with FAB bombs on Malinivka, plowing up the positions of the AFU. According to the enemy’s estimates, the Russian Armed Forces are conducting assault operations in the Kalinovo area, in the area of strongpoints northwest of Valentinivka, and are trying to consolidate in Sukhaya Balka, into which they entered from the eastern part of Valentinivka.

▪️ West of Constantinople, there are battles on the approaches to Bogatyr, the Russian Armed Forces are advancing and taking over enemy strongholds, moving from the settlement of Razliv. They also report on the activity of our troops near Shevchenko (west of Burlatskoye).

▪️ On the Zaporizhia front, in the Lobkovo area, active combat operations continue, the enemy tried to counterattack. The Russian Armed Forces, with the support of aviation, artillery and strike UAVs, are pushing through the enemy’s defense line.

▪️ In the Kherson Region, a nine-story residential building in Oleshky and a wholesale base in Nova Kakhovka were hit by AFU strikes. The Russian Armed Forces are striking at the positions of the enemy across the Dnieper.

Source: http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-situation-in-ukrainian-smo-on-april_16.html