Geopolitical situation
Yesterday, the World Health Organisation announced that COVID-19 is no longer considered a global emergency. More than three years after the WHO declared coronavirus an international crisis, this announcement marks the end of the pandemic. It has caused great fear, suspicion, division and closure around the world, and the economic consequences are still being felt today.
Thousands of people are still dying every week from the virus and millions are still suffering the debilitating long-term effects, but the pandemic is contained, the WHO says.
"It is with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "This does not mean that COVID-19 is over as a global health emergency," he said, cautioning that new variants may yet emerge. Tedros noted that while the official death toll from COVID-19 is 7 million, the real figure is at least 20 million.
He lamented the damage COVID-19 has caused to the global community, saying the pandemic has disrupted business, exacerbated political divisions, fostered the spread of misinformation and pushed millions of people into poverty.
But the WHO itself has contributed to compounding that damage. And while in January 2020 the WHO publicly praised China for its supposedly swift and transparent response, privately top officials were frustrated by the lack of Chinese cooperation. In addition, with the virus rampant, the WHO recommended against wearing masks for several months, which many health officials say has cost lives.
Many scientists have also criticised the WHO's reluctance to acknowledge that COVID-19 spreads through the air and through people who do not show symptoms, and have criticised the agency's failure to issue strong recommendations on how to prevent such exposures.
Humanity has certainly succeeded, at least in part, in dealing with a virus that is invisible to the naked eye, but there is no way to prevent the daily horrors that people's hands create. The violence, aggression, armed conflicts, Russia's war crimes in Ukraine, the global impact on nature and the associated warming and disruptive climate change are signs of the spiritual and moral backwardness of humanity everywhere.
Significant developments
After nine months of the war's meat grinder at Bakhmut, the apartment thief and recidivist Prigozhin declared that his hired killers and rapists were going to withdraw from the war in Ukraine. Prior to this, Prigozhin said that it was only thanks to his thugs that Russia had seized the Donetsk region, including the important salt-mining town of Soledar, and accused the Russian Ministry of Defence of failing to provide his thugs with enough ammunition to take over Bakhmut. This was the reason he gave on Friday for threatening to "withdraw".
We do not believe that this, like Prigozhin's previous statements, is out of line with Moscow. All the Kremlin's criminals are in the same boat waiting to sail in The Hague, so even a genuine retreat should be seen as a pre-planned military deception by terrorists.
The US estimates that there are around 50 000 Wagner soldiers fighting in Ukraine, of whom around 40 000 are prisoners. Almost half of the 20 000 so-called Russian soldiers who have died in Ukraine since December were Wagner marauders in the fighting for Bakhmut.
The US estimates that Wagner "costs" Putin's chef around 100 million dollars a month. We have no doubt that Prigozhin receives this money directly from the terrorist Russian budget.
The Russian Ministry of War Crimes has changed its priorities on the battlefield, shifting its operational focus from the seizure of Bakhmut to the preparation of the Ukrainian counter-offensive. This was stated on 5 May. A report by the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on 5 May. It notes that this shift in focus by the Russian army puts Prigozhin's mercenaries in a potentially difficult situation.
The analysts note that the mercenaries have not stopped trying to take Bakhmut completely, despite limited access to ammunition. "Wagner's continued persistence in Bakhmut is at odds with the general slowdown in Russian offensive operations elsewhere in Ukraine, as the regular Russian army appears to be shifting its focus substantially to prepare for the long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive," the report says.
Experts note that Wagner's losses in Bakhmut and the likely de-prioritisation of the Russian Ministry of Defence's efforts could put Prigozhin and his marauders in a particularly bad position.
Briefly
Today, the United Kingdom will celebrate the coronation of Charles III. The pomp, ceremony and symbolism go back more than 1 000 years, and much of the coronation ceremony remains unchanged since William the Conqueror was crowned in Westminster Abbey in 1066.
Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, former deputy to the war criminal and terrorist Shoigu, has been appointed deputy commander of Wagner. In two videos on his Telegram channel, Mr Mizintsev is seen in Wagner drapes visiting a training camp and inspecting Russian positions in Bakhmut. We hope that he will shake his cloven hooves today.
The US will provide Poland with Apache attack helicopters to be deployed in the east of the country, Poland's defence minister said.
The Ukrainian counter-offensive could begin in the coming days or hours, the "head" of the occupation administration of Zaporizhzhya region said, announcing the "voluntary" evacuation of 18 settlements in the area.
Denmark will hand over 80 Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine together with Germany, said Troels Lund Poulsen, Acting Danish Minister of Defence.
Lithuania
Frost will bite at night over the weekend and parliamentarians, exhausted by days of meetings, will prepare questions for next week's grilling of the DSS Director.
The main one is why the security of our village is taking care of the security of our village!
Now that is a serious question. And if it is not serious, what else is there to do?
Are you going to take care of Lithuania's security yourself? That is not the job of a parliamentarian. It is much more interesting to lurk around a "hot" topic that turns out to be a corpse. And in the headlines - look who will take it, and put their name on it. There is always one more voter's vote in the purges.
Photo shows Ukrainian border guard storm troops training for a counter-attack (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue).
Special thanks to our regular sponsor "DT Artelė" and the Lithuanian Brewers' Guild. The support of all of you is crucial for the continuation of our work: https://tinyurl.com/noriuparemti
We offer active training: https://tinyurl.com/f352n3uw
