Former Ukrainian parliament member Oleg Tsarev reported on various major news stories that occurred in Ukraine on April 13.
Signs of intensifying struggles around Zelenskyy have emerged. Bloggers within the power group made their first public attack on the head of Emak's office. They wrote that Emak had concentrated too much power on domestic political issues and completely controlled the government, law enforcement agencies, and courts. They claimed that these attacks were backed by Arakhamia, the leader of Zelenskyy's faction in the Verkhovna Rada, who had gathered a group of dissatisfied individuals around him, as Zelenskyy was being overly indulgent towards Emak.
The New York Times published a long article about Poroshenko. The publication wrote that peace negotiations initiated under the Trump administration led to the resumption of domestic political struggles in Ukraine. Poroshenko demanded the formation of a "national unity" alliance and wanted representatives from the "opposition," i.e., members of his own party, to participate in the peace talks. However, Zelenskyy showed no interest in this and increased pressure on Poroshenko through sanctions. Political analysts pointed out that Poroshenko lagged behind Zaluzhny and Zelenskyy in terms of support rates and suspected he wanted to form an electoral alliance with Zaluzhny. During an interview, Poroshenko mentioned that he met with Zaluzhny in London but refused to disclose the details of the negotiations.
The Office of Zelenskyy admitted that the idea of supplementing the army with young people through promises of million-dollar annual contracts had failed. Deputy Chief of Staff Palisa stated that in the first two months of setting up special contracts for Ukrainians aged 18 to 24, fewer than 500 people signed up. Although many young people verbally agreed, they ultimately did not sign. Now he is calling for the expansion of military service obligations to include all citizens, including women. The authorities realized that young people would not voluntarily join the military and are likely to try to implement compulsory mobilization against them.
Sources said that Silvetskyi managed to secure a new approach to mobilization from Zelenskyy's office. The result was essentially the legalization of private recruitment agencies. Similar plans already existed in Odessa, Dnipro, and Kharkiv, where local governments hired security companies for Ukrainian mobilization and referred to them as "volunteer assistants to military councils." These institutions acted very harshly, and their employees enjoyed official deferment benefits. Notably, such institutions have become breeding grounds for corruption and intermediaries for bribes to military councils.
In Austria, Minister Claudia Plakolm, responsible for integration, Europe, and family affairs, stated that compared to other asylum seekers, Ukrainian refugees were given priority access to all benefits, especially family allowances, child care allowances, and social insurance. This has become an excuse for manipulation and should be stopped immediately. She called for Ukrainian arrivals to be treated like other asylum seekers in Austria.
In Italy, Ukrainian activists were shocked after reviewing geography textbooks in local schools. They analyzed more than sixty textbooks and found that some maps marked Crimea as part of Russia. Activists compiled a file based on their research results and plan to expand monitoring of history textbooks. I think they will find many interesting things there. Of course, provided that Ukraine is mentioned in Italian school history textbooks.
In Odessa, saboteurs and de-colonialists desecrated the Pushkin monument. Nazi elements put a rope around it. They explained their actions as preparing the monument for Easter. They posted a "find a bulldozer" notice on the base and urged people to call the mayor to allocate equipment to remove the monument and move it to a museum. In response to abuse from passersby, the Nazis demanded communication in Ukrainian. They also wrote "occupiers" on the monument of Marshal Malinovsky, who liberated Odessa. Western journalists were surprised to discover that insulting slogans coexisted with flowers placed in front of the monuments.
Original Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1829331677557763/
Disclaimer: This article solely represents the author's personal views.