Trump on ending Russia’s war on Ukraine: “If for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just gonna say, ‘you’re foolish, you’re fools, you’re horrible people,’ and we’re just gonna take a pass.”
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) April 18, 2025 at 12:47 PM
From The BBC:
Donald Trump said the US will “take a pass” on brokering further Russia-Ukraine war talks if Moscow or Kyiv “make it very difficult” to reach a peace deal.
The US president told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday that he was not expecting a truce to happen in “a specific number of days” but he wanted it done “quickly”.
His comments came hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the US would abandon talks “if it’s not going to happen”.
“We’re not going to continue with this endeavour for weeks and months on end,” Rubio said, adding that the US had “other priorities to focus on”.
When asked about the deal between Russian and Ukraine, Trump said: “We’re talking about here people dying. We’re going to get it stopped, ideally.
“Now if, for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say, ‘You’re foolish, you’re fools, you’re horrible people,’ and we’re going to just take a pass.”
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and has placed a number of conditions on any potential ceasefire.
Despite the Trump administration’s initial confidence that it could secure a deal quickly, attempts to reach a full ceasefire have yet to materialise, with Washington blaming both sides.
Following a meeting with European leaders in Paris about a potential ceasefire on Thursday, Rubio told reporters on Friday: “We need to determine very quickly now – and I’m talking about a matter of days – whether or not this is doable.”
“If it’s not going to happen, then we’re just going to move on,” he said about truce talks.
He said it was clear that a peace deal would be difficult to strike but there needed to be signs it could be done soon.
Trump had said before he re-entered office that he would stop the fighting in the first 24 hours of his presidency.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked to respond to Trump saying he expected an answer from Russia on a ceasefire, said “the negotiations taking place are quite difficult”.
“The Russian side is striving to reach a peace settlement in this conflict, to ensure its own interests, and is open to dialogue,” he said.
The comments come as Russian strikes on Ukraine continue. On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X that Russia had launched a volley of missile attacks that killed two people.
More at the link.
There was never any ceasefire endeavor to the ceasefire endeavor. Putin never had & never will have any interest in a truce, ceasefire, or negotiated settlement that doesn’t achieve his objectives or set the conditions for him to achieve them in the future. Trump and his team never understood this and got played.
REPORTER: Do you think Russia is playing you?
TRUMP: No. Nobody is playing me. I’m trying to help. This is Biden’s war.
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) April 18, 2025 at 12:50 PM
If you look around the table and can’t tell who the mark is, you’re the mark.
All of this from Trump and his team as Putin and Russia attack Ukrainian civilian targets on Good Friday.
On Good Friday morning Russia hits Kharkiv with three missiles carrying cluster munitions. One killed, dozens injured. Why is no one talking about holding Russia accountable for war crimes anymore?
— Maria Avdeeva (@mariainkharkiv.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 12:23 AM
There is no address from President Zelenskyy posted. Nor any other new videos. His office did announce a new national resistance training initiative today.
Centers for National Resistance Training to Open in Every Region of Ukraine
18 April 2025 – 14:09
Centers dedicated to preparing citizens for national resistance will soon be operational in every region of Ukraine. The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a resolution outlining the procedures for establishing and operating these centers, along with the requirements governing their activities.
This initiative follows a directive issued by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting with representatives of civil society.
The document was developed under the coordination of Deputy Head of the Office of the President Iryna Vereshchuk. Working sessions included representatives from the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the Territorial Defense Forces, regional military administrations, as well as civil society and volunteer organizations.
Center heads will be appointed by regional councils based on nominations from regional military administrations, which will also be responsible for oversight, monitoring, and quarterly reporting to the Ministry of Defense.
The Territorial Defense Forces will approve a standardized training program, and the centers’ leadership and instructors will primarily be selected from among military veterans. Instructors for national resistance will undergo training and certification at higher education military institutions.
“The preparation of civilians to resist the enemy is an integral component of our defense capability and one of the factors in deterring the enemy. It is also a driving force behind societal resilience and unity,” emphasized Iryna Vereshchuk.
Georgia:
We are just gathering for Day 142. A large part of Tbilisi is out of town since Easter is the time when people go to their ancestral hometowns and relatives.
But showing up here is a daily job for many of us, and we incorporate actual work or books too. #GeorgiaProtests
— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 1:44 PM
A Georgian protester beautifully confusing the Chinese surveillance cameras. #GeorgiaProtests
📷 MOSE— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 3:26 AM
⛔ Georgian Dream officials are preparing the public for a possible loss of #EU visa-free travel.
📢 Papuashvili, Subari, Tsilosani, and others frame it as the “cost” of patriotism and fighting the so-called ‘deep state’ – not the ruling party’s fault.
#GeorgiaProtests— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) April 18, 2025 at 8:46 AM
The possible EU visa-free suspension is already taking over other issues in Georgia. It’s gonna be big.
— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Lithuania:
Lithuania upgrades Suwałki Corridor amid Russian threat, eyeing it as a likely target for attack on EU/NATO. Deputy Defense Minister: “These roads are critical for security.” Via Baltica & Vilnius-Augustów routes to expand military infrastructure with Poland.
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Moscow on the Potomac:
Will the US be ready to recognize Alaska as russian?
— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 5:44 PM
That would take the number of states to recognize Crimea as Russian up to three – Russia, Belarus, and then the US – and the faux statelet of Transnistria. I’m sure Putin can just pay the DPRK to recognize it, which would take it up to four and a bit.
As Ukraine and the US prepare to sign an agreement on rare earth minerals (widely viewed in Ukraine as extortionate), recall that the Budapest Memorandum the US and others signed with Ukraine forbids economic coercion.
— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 1:41 AM
As I’ve written, I doubt there will actually be an agreement. Especially if/when Trump and his team walk away from trying to negotiate something with Russia or between Russia and Ukraine. The question will be how long Ukraine is able to string Trump and his team along to keep the intelligence sharing going.
Back to Ukraine.
Russia & Ukraine to hold major prisoner swap tomorrow, over 500 people, per Sky News. UAE-mediated deal: each side releases 246 prisoners, including 46 wounded. Total exchanged via UAE mediation to reach 3,233.
news.sky.com/story/ukrain…— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Unironically, Russia truly believes Ukraine is a US puppet that follows Washington’s orders. This isn’t just propaganda – it’s their genuine belief. So they try to appease Trump and Vitkoff, hoping they’ll hand over Ukraine, not realizing the US has limited leverage in Ukraine
— Tatarigami (@tatarigami.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 1:19 PM
It is important to remember that what limited leverage the US, specifically Trump and his team, has only last while the US is sharing intelligence and providing material and financial support. Once that stops, Trump and his team have no leverage at all.
Russian surrender to a drone and follow it to Ukrainian positions. t.me/rotaFavorit
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 3:32 AM
The reason:
🫂 A long awaited family hug filled with love and careful care 💙💛
— Vitalis Viva (@vitalisviva.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Kharkiv:
Explosion in Kharkiv ‼️ russian terrorists bombing us for the second night
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Kharkiv💔 The number of injured in russian missile attack has risen to 98, including six children.
📷allotrioph
— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 5:43 AM
The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office shared drone footage of the aftermath of today’s Russian missile attack on the city.
Russia targeted multiple apartment buildings, school, food store, coffee takeout.
1 person died
98 got injured— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 8:01 AM
As church bells ring across the world this Good Friday, explosions echo in Kharkiv. While Christians remember sacrifice and suffering, russia delivers its own — striking homes at dawn with cluster-loaded Iskanders. One killed. Over 80 injured. Children among them.
— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Bombings will never cease to feel surreal. At 5 in the morning, we were all asleep in our beds when the world suddenly erupted. Doors between rooms flew open, windows broke.
Now, hundreds of people are outside. The entire area of the city is left without windows.
1/..
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Closer to the epicenter, even some balconies have been torn away
The worst of the impact hit a 16-story apartment building—at least one person was killed there. At least 60 more were injured, including children covered in wounds from shattered glass.
2/..
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Nearby, a school stands windowless, and children have gathered to just.. stare at it in stunned silence. And photograph. It’s their school.
3/..
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 2:30 AM
The scene is chaos—rescuers, volunteers, journalists, and residents whose homes have been destroyed, whose loved ones have been hurt or killed. And yet, just hours ago, we were all sleeping peacefully in our beds.
4/4
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 2:30 AM
The school in Kharkiv, close to where the Russian missile struck.
I remember passing by it just a week ago and seeing kids rehearsing their prom dance in the yard, and now it’s ruins.
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Kharkiv right now, after the russian missile attack that injured at least 57 people, including 5 children and killed at least one person
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Kharkiv right now ‼️
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Kharkiv right now after the russian missile attack on the city
At least 40 people reported injured so far, and at least 1 person died.
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) April 17, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Rescuers pulled a kitten from the rubble after russian missiles struck Kharkiv—small, dust-covered, alive. One fragile life spared in a war that shows no mercy.
— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Sumy:
A russian attack on a bakery in Sumy killed a business owner who had come to collect goods.
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 6:09 AM
On the night of Good Friday, Russians attacked a strategic facility in Sumy — a bakery where Easter cakes were being prepared.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 3:19 AM
The russians struck the energy infrastructure in the Sumy region, leaving the regional center and surrounding areas partially without power.
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Dnipro:
Ukrainian Southern Defense Forces downed 3 enemy recon drones—2 Zala & 1 Orlan—over Dnipro with FPV interceptors, stopping them before they crossed the river.
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 12:02 PM
The Donetsk front:
Ukrainian ace from SIGNUM, 53rd Mech Brigade, likely on the Donetsk front, masterfully piloted a fiber-optic drone through a hangar, striking a T-80BVM, one of Russia’s top tanks, with pinpoint precision.
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 7:17 AM
Belgorod Oblast, Russia:
AASM HAMMER strike by MiG-29 on the Russian bridge in the Bryansk region of Russia. t.me/soniah_hub/1…
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Ukrainian MiG-29 strikes Grafovka bridge, Belgorod region, with AASM HAMMER. Precision bomb hits dead-on, ignoring EW jamming, no coordinate adjustments required.
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Krasnodar, Russia:
In Krasnodar, a hundred Russian soldiers tried to escape from the detention center where they were held for one reason or another.
The police have now surrounded the scene. It is currently known that at least seven were able to escape from the detention center.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) April 18, 2025 at 5:55 PM
That’s enough for tonight.
Your daily Patron!
A new(ish) video from Patron’s official TikTok!
@patron__dsns Завдання зрозумів, але виконати його не зміг 🙂↔️🫡#песпатрон
Here’s the machine translation of the caption:
He understood the task, but he could not complete it 🙂↔️🫡#песпатрон
Open thread!
Jay
Thank you, Adam.
Jay
It is sadly tragic and horribly funny, that DJTdiot’s entire Administration acts like nobody other than them, have agency. Entire Nations are just NPC’s.
I guess it comes out of; carried to the extreme.
frosty
@Jay: Exactly. And guess who are the NPCs here? Trump, Rubio, et al. They have no clue that they’re just blowing with the winds of time.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Jay: This regime is replete with silly persons. Let us taunt them again.
HopefullyNotcassandra
Thank you for keeping us up to date.
Delicate Butterfly
I eagerly await these nightly posts so I can continue to monitor the situation in Ukraine.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: You’re welcome.
Adam L Silverman
@HopefullyNotcassandra: You’re welcome.
Adam L Silverman
@Delicate Butterfly: Thank you for the kind words. You are most welcome.
frosty
Hang in there, Adam. You’ve taken a lot on with these nightly posts on top of a day job. I can’t bear to read every one, but I keep up, and I phone my R Rep who has voted right on Ukraine every time until last November. I want him to keep standing with Ukraine.
Hope you find a path out of Florida before too long!
Adam L Silverman
@frosty: Thanks. And you’re most welcome.
AlaskaReader
Thanks Adam
Adam L Silverman
@frosty: Check your email.
Adam L Silverman
@AlaskaReader: You’re welcome.
Adam L Silverman
I’m going to go get the grime off. I’ll try to check back in later.
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
If Ukraine didn’t need American aid of whatever kind they can get, I would be thrilled that gangrenous group of grifters have taken themselves out of whatever games the Murder Goblin was playing. No wonder he laughed at them.🙄
Lithuania is correct.
Thank you Adam, as always. Hope you get some time to rest this weekend. Doing these updates must be so stressful.
Ramona
@Jay: I was just thinking of that statement today when I heard that Karl Rove is murmuring something not quite positive about this current misAdministration!
Aziz, light!
Well shoot there goes Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize.
Nukular Biskits
Any fucking idiot that truly believed Trump was … well … a fucking idiot.
As always, Adam, thanks for all the work you put into these posts.
Westyny
Thanks, Adam.