They drive into occupied areas to get the people out: Activists in Ukraine take a lot of risks when they set out. They have to get sprayed at checkpoints, pass through minefields and get shot.
Written by Andrea Beer, currently Zaporischschja, for ARD Studio in Moscow
He has already risked his life 18 times. The thin, dark blond man, who did not wish to reveal his name, was sitting in a thin red shirt and jeans at the wheel of a white minibus. „Ljudi” is written on the sign on the car – „People”.
Andrea Berg ARD Studio Moscow
Again and again, special aides evacuate people from the battle line. But he drives directly to the areas occupied by Russia. It begins in Zaporizhia, a city in southern Ukraine where many refugees arrive, from Berdyansk, from Cherson, from the area around Mariupol.
Helping refugees in Zaporizhia
George Hill, RBB, Morgenmagazine, May 13, 2022
Every trip is different
When he’s driving, he’s often forced to take long detours—bombing, mines, searching for gasoline, or staying overnight, all of which make the journey complicated and often go differently, he says. As for Berdyansk, for example, he has already traveled 870 kilometers – and this is only about 220 kilometers on the direct road.
There is gunfire everywhere, artillery can explode 20 meters away from you. The bombing may start and you may not reach a shelter. We always have to think and improvise. Sometimes we walk over fields, but they can also be mined. Once when I was driving, one of our cars hit a mine and exploded.
For its already stunned passengers, this is an enormous strain. Among them are many elderly and children who sometimes share a seat if there is not enough space. On the way they spend the night in the fields and schools with hospitable villagers.
Most of them have lost everything and see no future in their former place of residence. There they sat in cellars or passed the so-called liquidation camps, where Russian occupiers registered people and looked for Ukrainian soldiers and activists like a chauffeur. This is another reason why he doesn’t want to be recognized.
barrier cigarettes
Dennis stands a few meters away. He’s actually a DJ, but now he’s helping him and his friends organize daring tours. While the driver continues to pack his luggage, Dennis displays two packs of cigarettes that each driver sees. The cheapest kind, he says – for the numerous checkpoints of the Russians and the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, through which all must pass. According to Dennis, they also ordered detergent and SIM cards.
If you don’t give it to them, they will most likely hold you for a very long time or won’t let you pass at all. Two drivers are currently detained near Donetsk. The car was confiscated, they were arrested near Mariupol and taken to a prison in Donetsk for a month. The sentence has just been extended for a month. Both are civilians, one is 28 years old and the other is 50 years old. He also wanted to help his sister. They are civilians who have nothing to do with the army.
Dennis says more than 20 drivers are currently being held captive and sitting in the boot of a car with dark sunglasses. The next day, two pickup trucks will go to Berdyansk to pick up people from Mariupol, he says.
Dennis supports private trips to hostile countries. He knows it takes more than luck.
Photo: a. Ber
ear stick thing
The driver drives one of these trucks and has to take adventurous roads through random Russian checkpoints. He says many already know him. „At the checkpoints, they are waiting for me to bring them something to eat and drink. Even ear sticks. Someone said: If you don’t bring me ear sticks from Berdyansk, I won’t let you pass.”
Like most special assistants, the driver sits in the car without a helmet or protective jacket. He points to a small wooden cross on his wrist. This is his protection – the priest gave her in a village.
It arranges a little more in the car. „Everything will be fine,” he says calmly. He has risked his life many times and is now doing it again. Of course he says his family is afraid. His wife understands why the decision was made and supports him – at the same time she and the children don’t want him to lead her. But then he adds, „I can’t just sit at home when I have the opportunity to help people.”
Ukraine: On the way to a hostile country – the driver
In the United States, the H5N1 bird flu virus is spreading among cows, and even milk from supermarkets is affected. Researchers fear that the Mo flu could get out of control.
In March, cattle ranchers in the US states of Texas, Kansas and New Mexico noticed something disturbing. Something was wrong with her cows, they looked sick. Some of the animals gave less milk than usual, the milk was thicker, and the animals appeared to have lost their appetite. A few days later it was clear: they had contracted the bird flu virus H5N1 Experts detected it in their milk and, in one case, in a throat swab. Since then, more and more farmers in the United States have reported cases of infection in their herds. Recently, the American authorities found Genetic effects of the virus in pasteurized milk From the supermarket. New samples indicate The outbreak is likely to be largerwhich the official figures indicate.
Britain is set to supply Ukraine with heavy guided bombs to help it fight the Russian invasion led by Vladimir Putin.
KYIV — Ukraine's allies want to know: As the Russian army advances in Donbas, the United States has released $61 billion in arms shipments to Kiev. Great Britain put together a $3.7 billion military package, and tiny Lithuania gave the Ukrainians the last fighter plane to fight back against Vladimir Putin.
Arms shipments to Ukraine: British send Paveway IV bomb to Kiev
For example, the medium-range ATACMS missiles that Washington sent to the Ukrainian military, according to a US media report, before Congress finally voted yes, are much more powerful. The time factor when it finally arrives has a major impact on the course of battles between the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions in the Ukraine war.
They are also highly accurate – like the ATACMS – Paveway IV guided air-to-surface bombs, which London says it is supplying to the Ukrainian armed forces as part of the latest weapons deliveries. Newsweek It will save. In this case, it is air power, which repeatedly inflicts heavy losses on Russia – especially in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.
Military aid to Ukraine: Great Britain is significantly increasing its arms package
At the start of the week, the UK increased its planned 2024 military aid to the Ukrainians, who are in dire straits on the ground, by another £500m to £3.23bn. Such as, among others, the independent electronic portal for Eastern Europe Setback It was reported that these arms shipments include, for example, 160 Husky armored personnel carriers, in addition to 1,600 offensive bombs and anti-aircraft missiles. also telegraph Reports on this topic.
American news magazine Newsweek He speculates that Paveway bombs should be part of this package. The big advantage: After being launched, the bomb can glide greater distances in the air and search for a target independently or be actively guided towards a target. For this purpose, the Paveway IV is equipped with a modern laser array, which, in addition to GPS, includes both an infrared and a laser seeker on the head of the weapon. The bomb can also be directed at moving targets, such as moving tank convoys.
Ukraine War: Vladimir Putin attacks cities with huge bombs
The so-called Aurora Integrated Detonator from the French arms company Thales allows a rapidly approaching bomb to detonate in the air above the target, on impact or after penetrating the target – depending on previous programming. This means that Paveway could also be used against command and communications centers in bunkers – in theory. Because: The warhead weighs 226.8 kilograms, which is equivalent to 500 pounds. This is a lot and would certainly be enough to establish shelters in the ruins of destroyed homes, such as the ones the Russians continue to erect. But also for caches?
For comparison: Moscow is dropping FAB-1500 bombs on the front-line town of Chasiv Yar in Donbas, which, according to videos and photos on X (formerly Twitter), is currently being destroyed by Putin's brutal Kremlin regime. Like Bachmut before. Or like Avdiivka in the meantime. high Süddeutscher Zeitung (SZ) The Russian Armed Forces have been using FAB-1500 aircraft with a gross weight of 1.5 tons since January 2024 in the Ukraine war to an unprecedented extent. “One of the biggest problems is their increasing use: 80 of them a day in one place, and that has a huge impact,” military expert Michael Kaufman explained in a podcast called “War on the Rocks.” It is said to be dropped intermittently, and the warhead alone weighs 1,400 kilograms.
NATO Guided Missiles: Ukrainians are turning their fighter jets against Russia
The Paveway's advantage over Russian FAB bombs, which date back to the Soviet era, is not least its tremendous accuracy. The Ukrainians have so far demonstrated that they are capable of mounting Western missile systems in practice using pylons on the wings and fuselages of their MiG-29 fighter jets and Su-24M front-line bombers. This is now also expected for Paveway IV guided bombs equipped with the appropriate devices. (evening)
The massive volcano in the Phlegrean Fields continues to shudder – and localities are training for emergencies. A new documentary shows what a medium-sized eruption can do.
Pozzuoli/Naples – The giant volcano in the Phlegraine fields in southern Italy no longer stops shaking. As of Monday morning, more than 30 tremors had been measured within 24 hours. Both tremors had a magnitude of 1.6, but dozens of people were also reported to have felt weaker quakes.
Disaster Prevention Exercise at Supervolcano – Hundreds of students were brought outdoors
On Monday, four schools with several hundred students in Pozzuoli and the Bagnoli district of Naples were temporarily evacuated as part of a civil protection exercise. It's loud ansa.it about thatTo test the leadership levels in municipal and regional structures that will be called upon if the situation worsens.
Recently, a documentary broadcast on Swiss television shocked the whole of Italy. The documentary simulated how the maximum eruption of the Phlegrean Fields volcano would destroy Naples. The film was based on the largest supervolcanic eruption to date, nearly 40,000 years ago. In this case, the small coastal town of Pozzuoli, located directly in the caldera of the massive volcano, and its neighboring towns would literally explode.
But the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) explained that there are no signs of a huge eruption like the one that last occurred 15,000 years ago. INGV currently fears earthquakes that will be stronger than those that have occurred recently.
A new video shows: Even a moderate-sized volcanic eruption would incinerate the entire area in a cloud of embers
Science Channel Geopop.it It has now also published a documentary about the supervolcano, in which a volcanic eruption in the phlegrain fields was simulated, albeit smaller. The channel's team, led by geologist Andrea Moccia, created a 3D computer simulation of the largest eruption at the giant volcano, which occurred after the last major eruption about 15,000 years ago. After this big explosion, there were about 70 smaller explosions. The largest of these smaller eruptions was the Monte Spina eruption about 4,550 years ago Geopop taken as a model.
But it was also difficult, as you can see in the video. It is run by Moccia together with the head of the Naples News Channel department fanpage.it, Ciro Pellegrino. You can see how the ground in the famous Solvatra crater near Pozzuoli shakes and steams intensely. Lightning then strikes the crater, followed by a violent explosion and the crater spews a huge black cloud. This volcanic cloud has something special: it consists of toxic gases, smaller lava particles and ash, and its temperature is about 500 degrees.
Maradona Stadium will burn with ash reaching 500 degrees
The embers cloud rises 20 to 30 kilometers into the atmosphere and accelerates along the Earth in all directions at a speed of several hundred kilometers per hour. It would immediately burn Pozzuoli and the surrounding towns, but would also push towards the west of Naples. Among other things, the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium is located here Azzurri From SSC Naples. The documentary explains that this 55,000-seat stadium will also swallow this cloud.
However, the seats are empty. The video makers assume there will be time to evacuate the red zone area before such a large eruption occurs. Since the last eruption of Vliegrain in 1538, we know that there are enough warning signs to prevent a major catastrophe until then. In 1538, the ground rose 19 meters as Monte Nuovo erupted, Moccia explains. For comparison, he says: At the current stage, the land in the Bay of Pozzuoli has risen by 80 cm since 2016. Since the 1950s, it has risen by four metres.
No one knows where the giant volcano in southern Italy will erupt next
In addition, there were once much more violent earthquakes than today – up to magnitude 8. The largest earthquake last fall had a magnitude of 4.2. The thermal springs were also more active then than they are now. The eruption of Monte Nuovo was very small compared to the eruption simulated by Geopop – much smaller than the eruption of Monte Spina, the model Geopop simulated. Before the eruption phase, Pozzuoli Bay had risen by 60 metres.
Moccia and Pellegrino show that only three to four out of 70 eruptions in phyllgrain fields over the past 15,000 years had dimensions like the ones they simulated. The state-run INGV institute believes the next eruption will be similar to the small eruption at Monte Nuovo. But the problem is: No one knows where the next volcano in the phyllgrain fields will erupt.
It is densely populated everywhere. Even in distant Naples, the ash cloud will leave a 30-centimetre layer on roofs, which could cause many buildings to collapse. Static investigations of existing buildings are currently underway in Pozzuoli. One problem, according to Pellegrino, is that about 20 percent of the homes are black buildings that are often structurally questionable but where people live. No one can check the coils to see if they can withstand a volcanic eruption.
Recently, a new study caused a stir by identifying a new source of danger in the supervolcano. Other scientists warn that a volcanic eruption at sea could cause a huge tsunami. Scientists also marvel at the Mount Erebus volcano in Antarctica. The Earth's southernmost active volcano emits gold dust into the atmosphere every day.