Victorious news of 796th day of war: Russians are fleeing army en masse, Ukrainian forces successfully use drones to target Russian troops

Ukraine's official chatbots on Telegram have resumed work

On the morning of April 29, official Ukrainian chatbots that helped fight Russian aggression resumed their work. The day before, the Telegram app had blocked them. A representative of the platform said it was a mistake.

This was reported by the Reuters news agency, citing an unnamed source in the company.

The Telegram representative said that the bots were "temporarily disabled due to a false positive but have since been reinstated", without providing further details.

Latvia hands over new batch of energy aid to Ukraine

Latvenergo has handed over a package of equipment to Ukraine to help restore its energy infrastructure, Delfi reports.

It is noted that the aid package includes a 250 MVA high-voltage transformer previously used at the Riga HPP, a GR110 compressed air compressor and 60 tonnes of transformer oil.

The State Fire and Rescue Service helped with the delivery to Ukraine. The transport costs were covered by the EU. 

"With the delivery of the high-voltage transformer, oil and compressor, the people of Ukraine will be able to use it for household purposes, as well as for water and heat supply to hospitals, schools and other facilities. Let's be united until Ukraine wins," said Arnis Kurgše, Administrative Director of AS. Latvenergo Administrative Director Arnis Kurgs.

Over 18,000 cases of desertion recorded in Russian army units

Cases of desertion are increasing in the armed formations of the southern military district of the occupying Russian army - in total, more than 18,000 soldiers have left the service without permission

This is reported by the press service of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.

It is noted that the lion's share, about 12,000 fugitives among the Russian military, falls on the 8th Combined Arms Army of the Russian Armed Forces, which the enemy regularly uses in hostilities in eastern Ukraine.

Approximately 10,000 of them were drafted by Moscow through mobilisation, and the remaining 2,000 are contract soldiers. 
 
In addition, the desertion rate in the 58th Combined Arms Army of the Russian Federation, which is also part of the southern district of the aggressor state's army, is about 2,500.

Ukrainian military practised drone strikes on Russian positions in the south

Ukrainian defence forces have fired drones and howitzers at a Russian position in southern Ukraine. The strikes resulted in casualties among Russian forces.

According to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, operators of the 73rd Naval Centre of the Ukrainian Armed Forces named after Kosh Ataman Anton Holovaty discovered the location of the Russians and their ammunition depot during reconnaissance in the southern direction.

The servicemen struck at FPV drones, drones with a drop system, and a 122mm D-30 howitzer. During the strikes, many things were destroyed:

• caponiers with ammunition;
• 3 Russian soldiers. Another 5 were wounded;
• locations of enemy personnel.

Ukraine is preparing for F-16s

Illia Yievlash, spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, said that Ukraine is preparing a set of measures to protect F-16 fighter jets when they are at airfields.

He said this during a telethon.

"There are already a number of developments on how to safely deploy F-16s in Ukraine so that they can effectively perform tasks and protect our airspace," the Air Force spokesman said.

According to him, after Ukraine receives the fighter jets, the Defence Forces will be able to conduct various operations to repel air strikes and engage the enemy.

"But this requires proper preparation of the place where they are based. This is a huge investment, we are talking about underground shelters and bunkers. That is why we are currently developing methods on how they can be deployed," explained Yievlash.

He stressed that it will be a dispersed location on different types of runways, where it will be difficult for Russians to detect Ukrainian aircraft. For this purpose, in particular, a different set of methods will be used to mislead the invading forces.