One of President Vladimir Putin's most important allies is becoming increasingly outspoken in his criticisms of the Kremlin over its execution of the war in Ukraine. Ramzan Kadyrov's willingness to criticize top Kremlin officials directly, and thus indirectly criticize Putin, is notable. It evinces rising tensions in Russia's elite over the absolute failure to subjugate Ukraine.

…Earlier last week, Kadyrov released an odd video in which, while swiveling in a chair in one of his opulent offices, he complained that Russia's lead negotiator in talks with Ukraine was making too many compromises. Then, on Sunday, Kadyrov escalated by publicly lambasting Putin's chief press officer, Dmitry Peskov. Kadyrov appears to dislike Peskov over the latter's occasional reminding of the Chechen leader as to who ultimately rules Russia.

Posting to his very active Telegram feed, Kadyrov complained that Peskov had defended Russian TV host Ivan Urgant even though Urgant had criticized the war in Ukraine and left Russia. Kadyrov contrasted Peskov's treatment of Urgant with the experience of Chechen forces in Ukraine who "sit in a cold trench for several days." The strongman complained that Peskov had not offered congratulations over Putin's awarding of a lieutenant general rank to him (Putin awarded that rank last week in recognition of the Chechen military service in Ukraine — although, perhaps interestingly, Putin did not award Kadyrov the higher rank of colonel general). Kadyrov asked why Peskov did not "comment more delicately" so as to boost Chechen morale. He concluded that Peskov's "priority scale" is unacceptable and "we need to do something about it," followed by a suggestive pause.

It's highly unlikely that Kadyrov would act against Peskov. Doing so would risk a personal affront to Putin that the Russian leader simply could not tolerate. Still, political tensions are clearly growing both inside the Kremlin and at the Russian frontier…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/in-ramzan-kadyrov-s-criticism-a-window-into-putin-s-growing-ukraine-crisis/ar-AAVPRfU?ocid=ob-tw-enus-677

An analysis of satellite images by The New York Times refutes claims by Russia that the killing of civilians in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, occurred after its soldiers had left the town.

When images emerged over the weekend of the dead civilians lying on the streets of Bucha — some with their hands bound, some with gunshot wounds to the head — Russia’s Ministry of Defense denied responsibility. In a Telegram post on Sunday, the ministry suggested that the bodies had been recently placed on the streets after “all Russian units withdrew completely from Bucha” around March 30.

Russia claimed that the images were “another hoax” and called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on what it called “provocations of Ukrainian radicals” in Bucha.

But a review of videos and satellite imagery by The Times shows that many of the civilians were killed more than three weeks ago, when Russia’s military was in control of the town.

More (including video) at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/04/world/europe/bucha-ukraine-bodies.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes

Israel’s ambassador to Ukraine denounced the killing of civilians in a Kyiv suburb as a “war crime” on Sunday, in a break from the more restrained rhetoric exhibited by Israeli officials since Russia invaded the former Soviet republic just over a month ago.

“Deeply shocked by the photos from #Bucha. Killing of civilians is a war crime and cannot be justified,” Ambassador Michael Brodsky tweeted on Sunday morning, using the hashtag #UkraineRussiaWar.

Brodsky’s comment came after Ukrainian forces recaptured the city, where Reuters saw bodies lying in the streets, and the hands and feet of multiple corpses poking out of a still open grave at a church ground.

Brodsky’s comments are different from those coming from higher echelon officials in Jerusalem, and it is very unusual for an official Israeli representative to actively post such a message on his Twitter account.

https://twitter.com/michael_brodsk/status/1510504944499105793

Asked if the Foreign Ministry’s official position was that Russia had committed war crimes in Ukraine, a spokesman replied: “No. It’s a tweet by the ambassador regarding the photos. He didn’t blame Russia.”

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/in-rare-rebuke-israeli-envoy-blasts-war-crimes-after-russia-flees-kyiv-suburb-1.10716828?utm_source=App_Share&utm_medium=Twitter

While some allies, including America, Germany and France, are said to want to wait for a provocation by Russia before providing more deadly lethal aid, Johnson has made clear that he believes it should be made available immediately.

“Boris says we don’t need another trigger,” the senior government source added. “He [Putin] has already crossed the line ... Whatever Zelensky asks for he will get, if we have it.”

President Zelensky has called for the West to supply Ukraine with anti-ship missiles, including Harpoons, which are used by the Royal Navy. US officials last week signalled that the issue was being discussed by Nato members.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/70688f70-b29f-11ec-b03d-8bd1be808b51?shareToken=ec5a88a1b78fbbbec2cce915026319ec

Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged the EU not to "tie the whole world" to the crisis in Ukraine and warned it could take decades to repair the economic damage.

In a virtual summit with European Union leaders on Friday, Xi told European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel that the crisis must be "properly handled".

"Many people are very worried that the current situation may destroy the achievements of decades of international economic cooperation. If the situation continues to deteriorate, it is estimated that it may take years, or even decades, to recover afterwards," Xi said, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry.

…The EU said later that it urged Beijing not to "interfere" with sanctions on Russia and while the two sides agreed on working to end the conflict, they had expressed "opposing views" on the situation. Xi warned against a chaotic response that would "tie the whole world to the crisis [and means] people of all countries will pay a heavy price".

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-president-xi-jinping-warns-093000245.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw&tsrc=twtr

China staged a huge cyberattack on Ukraine’s military and nuclear facilities in the build-up to Russia’s invasion, according to intelligence memos obtained by The Times.

More than 600 websites belonging to the defence ministry in Kyiv and other institutions suffered thousands of hacking attempts which were co-ordinated by the Chinese government, according to Ukraine’s security service, the SBU. In an apparent sign of complicity in the invasion, the spy agency revealed that Chinese attacks started before the end of the Winter Olympics and peaked on February 23, the day before Russian troops and tanks crossed the border.

The SBU said China’s attacks sought to infiltrate targets ranging from border defence forces to the national bank and railway authority. They were designed to steal data and explore ways to shut down or disrupt vital defence and civilian infrastructure. Russia also tried to cripple Ukraine’s computer networks and compromise government websites before invading, but the SBU said Chinese attacks could be distinguished by the trademark tools and methods of the cyberwarfare unit of the People’s Liberation Army.

…US intelligence sources indicated that the information about a Chinese cyberattack on Ukrainian government facilities prior to the Russian invasion was accurate. The Chinese embassy did not respond to a request for comment.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/china-cyberattack-ukraine-z9gfkbmgf