The War Room: An eight-mile long Russian convoy has been spotted moving south toward the strategic city of Izyum which the invaders have already taken and may use as a jumping off point for a new effort to take the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

  Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that the Russians under a new commanding general known as “the butcher’ for his work in Syria  are likely to carry out the “same brutal tactics, that same disregard for civilian life and civilian infrastructure.” 

  While anticipating a renewed invasion, the Ukrainians claim to have destroyed a large Russian weapons depot in the Luhansk area, continuing to demonstrate that they are not pushovers.

  Coming away from a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer said he’s not only pessimistic about the prospects for peace but that it’s clear Russia is preparing for another major offensive and that Putin will intensify the brutality of the war. Nehammer said Putin was dismissive of the atrocities his forces have committed so far in Ukraine.

    The new fight in the east will take place on more wide open country than where the Russians were defeated around Kiev. It is closer to the Russian border and the invaders can be fed and supplied through an available network of railroads. “This is going to be a large scale battle with hundreds of tanks and fighting vehicles — it’s going to be extremely brutal,” Franz-Stefan Gady, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, told The NY Times. 

  In his latest video address, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said he fears Russia is on the verge of breaking out its chemical weapons. A Ukrainian unit in Mariupol has claimed on social media that the Russians have already used chemical weapons there, but that’s unverified by any outside sources.

  Zelensky is still calling for western supplies of weapons, even though he’s been getting tons of them. “Unfortunately, we are not getting as much as we need to end this war sooner,” he said.

Econ 101: The march inflation report is expected to show that consumer prices have risen 8.4 percent through the month of March, the fastest rate since 1982, pushed by the cost of gasoline to food and higher rents. The Russian invasion of Ukraine pushed fuel prices to a record high, but stripping out the price of gasoline, the core inflation rate hit 6.6 percent.

  Gas prices have been coming down somewhat and  inflation should ease, economists say. 

  President Biden is expected to announce a plan today to ease the price of gas by allowing the sale this summer of  a blended form of gasoline that uses ethanol, known as E15, a move long resisted by energy and environmental groups.

Moving Target: President Joe Biden yesterday announced new regulations to crack down on the untraceable firearms known as “ghost guns” that are made from individually bought parts or kits that have no serial numbers. Biden would require  background checks before purchase and serial numbers on some of the components.

  The National Rifle Association, as you might expect, is crying foul. “An administration that’s truly sincere and resolute about curbing violent crime rates would do one thing: take violent criminals off the streets immediately,”  NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told Fox News.

China Syndrome: The U.S. State Department ordered all nonemergency US consulate employees and their families to leave Shanghai as China’s zero-tolerance Covid lockdown has made the city of 25 million people unlivable. The State Department’s announcement said China’s zero-tolerance approach “severely impacts travel and access to public services.” Shanghai residents are not allowed to leave their hmes, not even to buy food. They have to depend on government deliveries and services.

The Spin Rack: Thomas Robertson, who was a police officer from Rocky Mount, Virginia when he took part in the January 6^th insurrection, was found guilty of all six charges against him. He’s the second rioter to be convicted in a trial and even a former fellow cop turned witness and testified against him. — With Covid-19 resurging in the city, Philadelphia is reinstating its indoor mask mandate. — A 16-year-old boy in Belleview, Florida, was killed when he and a friend took turns shooting each other while wearing body armor. — Pop star Britney Spears’ 28-year-old fiancé, Sam Asghari, says the 40-year-old is expecting a child with him. The singer of “Baby One More Time” already has 15 and 16 year old sons. 

X Marks the Identity: In the new age of gender shape shifting, American citizens applying for a passport can now select the gender “X” on their applications in addition to the traditional “F” and “M.” The State Department announced it is adding the third gender option after getting sued by an intersex and nonbinary Colorado resident who argued that it was impossible to get a passport that accurately reflected his, her, or X’s gender identity.

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