Russia's Invasion of Ukraine - Consolidated Thread

[J.J.Gibbs]

Bakhmut "Practically Surrounded" As Wagner Chief Urges Zelensky Surrender His Forces 'To Save Lives'

BY TYLER DURDEN

FRIDAY, MAR 03, 2023 - 11:05 AM

Wagner Group is heavily involved in fighting to capture the eastern city of Bakhmut, and its head, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has said at this point the strategic city on Donetsk Oblast is "practically surrounded".



Prigozhin issued a video message to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday. Donned in military fatigues, he urged for the order be given for Ukrainian forces to retreat in order to save soldiers' lives. "Units of the private military company Wagner have practically surrounded Bakhmut. Only one route (out) is left," he said. "The pincers are closing."

Wagner has further claimed that the Ukrainians have destroyed the majority of bridges leading in and out of the city center.



Commenting on the aforementioned video by Wagner's leader, Reuters describes another scene as follows:



The camera panned to show three captured Ukrainians – a grey-bearded older man and two boys – asking to be allowed to go home. From visible buildings, Reuters determined the footage was filmed in Paraskoviivka, a village 7 km (4.3 miles) north of the centre of Bakhmut.



As we reported earlier this week, Zelensky and his top aides have lately issued statements appearing to pave the way for a 'strategic withdrawal' - or in reality a retreat - as better-armed and numerically superior Russian forces have the city almost completely encircled.



Russian firepower has also been relentless and reportedly greater in supply with Volodymyr Nazarenko, a deputy commander in the National Guard of Ukraine, telling a public radio station in a fresh statement that fighting has been occurring "round the clock".



"They take no account of their losses in trying to take the city by assault. The task of our forces in Bakhmut is to inflict as many losses on the enemy as possible. Every meter of Ukrainian land costs hundreds of lives to the enemy," he said.



Kiev has used the devastating scenes out of Bakhmut to press its Western backers for more artillery shells and heavier weaponry immediately. "We need as much ammunition as possible. There are many more Russians here than we have ammunition to destroy them," Nazarenko said.



In a Pentagon briefing Thursday, Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters the US is still seeing "intense fighting near Bakhmut."

"Russian forces and Wagner [Group] mercenaries continue to press their attacks around Bakhmut, and Ukrainian forces continue to hold the line," Ryder said. "It remains a very fluid situation."



But again, all signs are pointing to a likely retreat already being in progress. The below unverified footage was first published on Thursday...

On Tuesday for the first time the Ukrainian presidency's office began significantly shifting its rhetoric. "So far they’ve held the city, but if need be, they will strategically pull back because we’re not going to sacrifice all of our people just for nothing," Zelensky aide Alexander Rodnyansky conceded earlier.



Since then, Zelensky has admitted the extreme difficulty of the situation, as he's likely moment by moment mulling giving the order for withdrawal. The Kremlin will see in Bakhmut one of the single and most strategic victories of the war so far, and it will likely open up momentum and will be a key logistics hub for pacifying all of the Donbas.



And yet for now, Ukraine's military is still sending signals it's trying to hold out its positions...

But without doubt the overwhelming momentum is in Moscow forces' favor at this late stage.



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[bloodbought]

Blown to kingdom come: Column of advancing Russian tanks and armoured vehicles is obliterated by Ukrainian artillery

The video shows several Russian military vehicles attempting to advance across the battlefield

At least one of them appears to explode in a giant fireball

By JAMES CALLERY FOR MAILONLINE



PUBLISHED: 05:47 EST, 3 March 2023 | UPDATED: 08:47 EST, 3 March 2023


Footage has emerged showing a column of advancing Russian tanks and armoured vehicles destroyed by Ukrainian artillery.



The undated video shows several Russian military vehicles attempting to advance across the battlefield in the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region. They are unsuccessful as they are repeatedly hit by Ukrainian ordnance.



At least one of them appears to explode in a giant fireball, with smoke billowing into the sky.



The images were obtained yesterday from the 53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, named after Volodymyr Monomakh of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, along with a statement.



The statement said: 'Our warriors are our heroes! Our people are our heroes! Glory to Ukraine!'

The images and statement were also relayed by Operational Command East of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.



Russian troops and mercenaries were closing off the last access routes to the besieged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Friday.



The head of Russia's Wagner private army said the city, which has been blasted to ruins, was now almost completely surrounded, with only one route out left open for Ukraine's troops.



The commander of a Ukrainian drone unit inside the city for months told Reuters he had been ordered to withdraw.



Victory in Bakhmut, with a pre-war population of about 70,000, would give Russia the first major prize of a costly winter offensive after it called up hundreds of thousands of reservists last year.



Moscow said it would be a stepping stone to capturing the surrounding Donbas region, a major war aim.



Ukraine, which recaptured swathes of territory in the second half of 2022 but whose forces have been on the defensive for three months, said the city has little strategic value but huge losses there could determine the course of the war.



In a video filmed on a rooftop in an undisclosed location, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, dressed in a combat uniform, said he was calling on President Volodymyr Zelensky to order the evacuation of Bakhmut to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.

'Units of the private military company Wagner have practically surrounded Bakhmut. Only one route (out) is left,' he said. 'The pincers are closing.'



The camera then panned to show three captured Ukrainians - an older man and two young boys - who looked frightened and asked to be allowed to go home, in what appeared to be a choreographed appearance under extreme stress.



Prigozhin's men have spearheaded the assault in eastern Ukraine for months.



Both sides say they have inflicted devastating losses in Bakhmut. Kyiv has insisted its forces are still holding out there, while acknowledging that the situation has deteriorated this week.



Russia said on Friday it would take measures to prevent new border incursions, a day after accusing Ukraine-backed nationalists of killing two people in a cross-border raid in southern Russia.



President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia had been hit by a 'terrorist attack' in the southern Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, and vowed to crush what he said was a Ukrainian sabotage group that had fired at civilians.



A Ukrainian presidential adviser accused Russia of staging the incident as a false 'provocation' to justify aggression against Ukraine.



Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that additional measures were being taken to protect the border.



'Of course, yesterday's terrorist attack will be investigated and measures will be taken to prevent similar events in the future,' he said.



The FSB security service released video and photos of Thursday's incident showing two shot-up cars with their drivers slumped dead inside.

Continued with pictures and video at link

[Midnight]

Where Are Iran’s Kamikaze Drones In Ukraine?



ByMaya Carlin
Published2 days ago


A lack of Iranian-made kamikaze drones has been spotted in Ukraine since mid-February, the UK Defense Ministry assessed this week. Russian Forces have blown through the stockpile of precision-guided missiles and other munitions since the onset of the Ukraine invasion, making the possibility that its once fruitful arsenal of lethal drones may be suffering from a similar shortage.



The Defense Ministry’s report noted that Ukrainian Forces took out at least two dozen Iranian-designed Shahed-137 UAVs in the first half of February, indicating these killer drones remain a weapon of choice for Russian troops. While there may be a cessation in drone use currently, the Kremlin will likely secure a resupply of weapons from its authoritarian friends in Iran soon.



How Did Iranian-Made Drones Get to Russia?

Western intelligence and the Ukrainian government have confirmed the sale, delivery, training, and use of various Iranian-produced lethal drones by Russian Forces. Over the summer, the White House released footage depicting a Russian delegation visiting Iran’s primary drone airfield.



The satellite imagery clearly showcased a meeting between the delegation and its Iranian counterparts viewing Shahed-191 and Shahed-129 UAVs. Within a month, U.S. officials shared that Russian Forces began to undergo training to use these drones.



The introduction of these lethal weapons into the invasion has likely contributed to prolonging warfare. Although UAVs have dominated the skies over Ukraine since the onset of the conflict, the delivery of Iranian drones has single-handedly sustained Moscow’s dwindling aerial capabilities.



Why Kamikaze UAVs are so Powerful

Kamikaze drones, also known as suicide drones, are aerial weapons. Often referred to as “loitering munitions,” kamikaze drones are able to loiter in an area for some time and only attack once an enemy target is identified and located.



These drones are true assets in combat since they allow for quicker reaction times against hard-to-find targets that are often hidden from view. In addition to being small and easily launched, kamikaze drones are disposable weapons.



Unlike other sophisticated military drones that return to position once an attack is carried out, kamikaze drones are designed to self-destruct via detonation as it strikes a target.



An Assessment of Russia’s Go-To Suicide Drones

The Shahed family of lethal UAVs has provided Russia’s Air Force with the long-range strike capabilities it had been sorely missing. A prominently used variant of this drone family in Ukraine is the Shahed-136.



Referred to by Russian Forces as the Geranium-2, the drone is powered by a Chinese-made MD550 engine and has a range of a few thousand kilometers. Sporting explosives in a warhead on its nose, the Shahed-136 is a deadly addition to Moscow’s kamikaze drone arsenal.



Russia has used the Shahed-136 in frequent barrages targeting both military and civilian sites in Ukraine since the country acquired its first deliveries of Shahed-family drones in late summer.



Moscow has been largely directing its drones to attack Ukraine’s energy sector since the fall, hoping to force citizens and troops to go without warmth during the brutally cold winter months.



In December, Ukraine’s armed forces said it had been hit by at least 180 strikes over the span of a day, including by kamikaze UAVs. A U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency report released mid-February provided visual comparisons of Iranian drones and the UAVs used by Russia in Ukraine, confirming the frequency and ferocity of barrages carried out in recent months.



A cessation of Iranian-made UAV attacks may serve as a much-needed reprieve for Ukrainian forces. However, considering the strengthening relationship between the Kremlin and the Iranian regime, future shipments meant to replenish Moscow’s dwindling stock of kamikaze drones is likely imminent.



In fact, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that a joint Iranian-Russian drone factory could already be in the works.


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[Pink Rose]

Russian missiles caused 'significant' risk of a Chernobyl-like disaster at Europe's biggest nuclear plant, EU warns after Putin's blitz left its safety systems relying on back-up generators


Power to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power was lost today

This was due to a barrage of 81 pre-dawn Russian missile strikes across Ukraine

By CHRIS JEWERS FOR MAILONLINE and HARRIET ALEXANDER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM



PUBLISHED: 00:46 EST, 9 March 2023 | UPDATED: 11:57 EST, 9 March 2023


The European Union's top diplomat said Thursday that the Russian strikes in Ukraine, which caused the disconnection of the Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant from the grid, was a 'serious breach' of nuclear safety.



The interruption of the power supply, which was restored by midday on Thursday but meant that emergency diesel generators had to be used to cool the plant, had 'significantly' increased the risk of a nuclear accident, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.



'This is a serious breach to the nuclear safety, caused by Russia,' Borrell told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting the EU's development ministers in Stockholm.



'Zaporizhzhia is the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe... and Russia is putting in danger the entirety of our joint European continent, Russia included,' he added.



The strike on the plant came during a fresh wave of Russian attacks across Ukraine which killed at least nine people and led to power outages across the country.


KYIV: Russia unleashed a massive missile barrage across Ukraine on Thursday hitting residential buildings and killing at least nine people in the largest such attack in three weeks, officials said. Pictured: Emergency workers at the site of a Russian missile, March 9


Earlier, Ukrainian officials warned that fuel for the backup safety systems lasts for just ten days, at which point Europe would be facing a nuclear disaster.



'The countdown has begun,' state energy company Energoatom said. 'If it is impossible to restore external power to the plant during this time, an accident with radiation consequences for the whole world may occur.'



The chief of the IAEA - the UN's nuclear watchdog - issued an urgent appeal for a protection zone to be placed around the plant, saying he was 'astonished by the complacency' around the issue. 'This cannot go on,' he said.



Vladimir Putin's forces launched 81 missiles on Ukraine as people slept on Thursday morning, striking 10 of the country's 27 regions. Moscow's Ministry of Defence claimed the coordinated attack was revenge for 'terrorist attacks' in Russia last week.



The ministry was referring to claims that Ukrainian nationalists crossed into the southern Bryansk region and killed two civilians, which Kyiv dismissed as a provocation by the Kremlin.



President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed Moscow for the strikes. 'The enemy fired 81 missiles in an attempt to intimidate Ukrainians again, returning to their miserable tactics. The occupiers can only terrorise civilians,' he said in a statement online.

Continued at the link

[Pink Rose]

Man's best friend... to the end: Heartbroken dog curls up amid the rubble of its home in Ukraine after its owners were killed by Russian missile blitz


The dog was found in Lviv where five people were killed today in Russian strikes

Footage showed the pup, called Elsa, limping and searching the destroyed home

By CHRIS JEWERS and ELENA SALVONI FOR MAILONLINE



PUBLISHED: 09:45 EST, 9 March 2023 | UPDATED: 11:59 EST, 9 March 2023


A heartbroken dog was found curled up amid the rubble of its home in Ukraine this morning, after its owners were killed in a merciless Russian missile blitz.



The images have been said to speak to the heartache felt by many across the country today, with the dog's owners among at least nine people killed in airstrikes by Vladimir Putin's forces.





Photographs show the little dog, called Elsa, curled up and whimpering on dust-covered bedding in the ruins of her family's home, which was completely destroyed in the pre-dawn 'revenge' strikes.



Three men and two women were killed in the Lviv region after a missile struck a residential area - the first deaths in the far-western city in many months as a result of Russia's ongoing invasion of the Ukraine.



It was there, in a village in the Zolochevsky district, that the devastated pooch was discovered by locals, appearing to mourn the loss of its people.

The full story with pictures and video is at the link   Please pray for this sweet baby.

[Pink Rose]

'We're being sent to certain death... one man blew his brains out': New mutiny sees Putin's cannon fodder troops refuse to go to the frontline - as comrades commit suicide to avoid war


Reservists said most of their battalion has been wiped out in senseless assaults

There are instances of mobilised troops committing suicide rather than fighting

By WILL STEWART



PUBLISHED: 04:13 EST, 9 March 2023 | UPDATED: 04:23 EST, 9 March 2023


A new mutiny by Vladimir Putin's 'cannon fodder' troops has seen mobilised men claim they are being sent 'to the slaughter' and that their comrades are committing suicide instead of going to fight.



The reservists allege their officers openly call them 'meat', and say huge numbers of their compatriots have been wiped out in senseless assaults with no support.



In one clip, a group of troops from Kaliningrad harangue their commander and question the whole point of Putin's war in a showdown meeting.



'We are sent to certain death,' they say. 'For who, for what?'



It is just the latest in a long line of Russian troops refusing to obey orders and fight as stormtroopers at the frontline for the pro-Kremlin forces of the Donetsk People's Republic.


In one clip, a group of mobilised troops from Kaliningrad harangue their commander and question the whole point of Putin's war in a showdown meeting


Ukrainian servicemen fire with a 105mm howitzer towards Russian positions near the city of Bakhmut, on March 8, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine


The Kaliningrad reservists, who were recruited from a Russian exclave that borders Poland and is further west than Ukraine, taunted their commander in a dark, cramped room.


'You don't want us to refuse [to fight]…? We better go to ****ing jail. Put everyone in jail, we'll stay there.



'No-one will go there [to the frontline]. How long is it [in jail]? 5, 7 years? 10?



'We don't give a ****. At least we'll be alive and not throwing the rest of our lives away.'



They made it clear they would not refuse to fight to defend Russian territory, as they were drafted to be territorial defence troops. But they declared they would refuse to assault Ukrainian villages.



A 'whole company' of their comrades had died in a week, they said, as they told how men are killing themselves rather than go to the frontline.



'One man went outside, sat on a bench, pointed the gun and blew his brains out,' the commander was told.



'He was walking, saying 'I'm ****ing sick of it, ****ing sick of it. Have you seen that pool of blood?



'He wouldn't go into assault [on the frontline]…and instead pulled the trigger. Is that normal?'



They revealed some refusenik comrades had been thrown into improvised jails - pits dug in the ground - for refusing to fight.



The commander was heard saying they were under orders from the Defence Ministry and their complaints were like a 'bone in the throat' of the Russian war effort.



Multiple video appeals to Putin - including from wives and mothers in Kaliningrad - to return their men safely have all been ignored.

Full story at the link

[schwartzie]

Death Toll Rises As Ukraine Ramps Up Attacks On Russian Border Towns

BY TYLER DURDEN

SUNDAY, APR 30, 2023 - 07:00 PM


Casualties have risen after intense shelling of a Russian village in the Bryansk region near the Ukrainian border, an attack which happened Saturday, with emergency responders initially citing two killed.



The casualty count as been revised as rescuers comb through rubble of a residential building. Four civilians have died and another two wounded "as a result of the actions by Ukrainian nationalists," governor Aleksandr Bogomaz announced Sunday.


Authorities declared a state of emergency in the village of Suzemka, where the strike took place. It lies a mere 10km from Ukraine.



The governor further said the wave of Ukrainian strikes hit a residential area, according to CNN:



Unverified video posted on Bogomaz’s Telegram channel shows people emerging from a damaged building at night.



A person can be heard on the video saying, "They pulled a woman out. They’re still checking for a kid. Not sure. Horrible."



Attacks, including with drones, on Russian territory have increased of late as Ukrainian forces are reportedly preparing for a spring counteroffensive.



The biggest weekend attack was deep inside Crimea. Multiple drones hit a fuel depot early Saturday, unleashing a huge multiple-hours long blaze which could be seen for miles.


Suzemka

It appeared a retaliation strike in response to Friday's major Russian cruise missile and drone attacks against several Ukrainian cities, particularly in the central part of the country.



Additionally, international reports indicate over the weekend cited Moscow-installed officials in eastern Ukraine who said "Ukrainian shelling had killed nine people, including an eight-year-old girl in the city of Donetsk."

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[ExquisiteGerbil]

RADIOACTIVE PANIC: Russians Missiles Hit Ukrainian Ammunition Depot in Khmelnytsky Causing Massive Explosion – Cache of British Depleted Uranium Tank Shells Destroyed – Gamma Radiation Spikes in the Region’s Atmosphere

By Paul Serran
May. 14, 2023 3:35 pm



The West’s proxy war against Russia in the Ukraine has led to progressively more deadly weapons systems and ammunition to be delivered to Zelensky’s Nazi regime.



Possibly, the most controversial of these deliveries are the deadly radioactive shells for Challenger 2 tanks that the British government has given Ukraine.



Robert F. Kennedy Jr commented on Instagram:



“In another reckless escalation, Britain has confirmed delivery of depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine. DU munitions should be banned. They partially vaporize on impact, poisoning the environment with uranium dust that causes cancer and horrific birth defects.”


Conservatives Are Looking For Ways To Boycott and Move Spending Away From Woke Corporations -- Here Is One Way To Do It



On Saturday, during a massive air and missile raid on Ukraine, Russian forces hit a ammunition depot in Khmelnytsky, in the western part of the country, causing gigantic explosions in the site.



Intel Slava reported:



“It is worth noting that panic reports are spreading in Ukrainian social networks that during the detonation of an ammunition depot in Khmelnytsky, a large batch of British tank ammunition with depleted uranium, which was recently brought to Ukraine along with Storm Shadow missiles, was also destroyed. As a result of a huge explosion, particles of depleted uranium could be dispersed on the territory of the Khmelnytsky region, which, taking into account the experience of Yugoslavia and Iraq, could lead to an outbreak of cancer in the medium term.”


It didn’t take long for the results of the impact to be measurable scientifically.







Slavyangrad on Telegram:



“A clear spike in gamma radiation was detected in Khmelnitsky on or about May 12th, with emission continuing to rise the following day and remaining at the elevated level thereafter.



Considering how little gamma radiation comes from depleted uranium, this clear spike in gamma radiation in Khmelnitsky indicates that there was very large stockpile of the DU munitions that was destroyed, raising the uranium dust into the air.



By comparison, the towns of Ternopol, Khmilnik, and Novaya Ushitsa remained at their apparent regular, base levels. This indicates that the Khmelnitsky anomaly is indeed a spike and corroborates the claim that the stockpile in Khmelnitsky contained DU munitions.”



While the UK authorities dismissed the danger posed by this kinds of shells, the experience in Yugoslavia and Iraq has shown how deadly in the medium term these vaporized depleted uranium shells can be.

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[maybetoday]

Russia’s Wagner Chief Claims Victory in Bakhmut, Yet Ukraine Denies Defeat


KURT ZINDULKA
20 May 2023

Russia’s mercenary Wagner chief claimed on Saturday that his forces had fully captured the key Donbas city of Bakhmut, however, Ukrainian defence officials have refused to concede defeat and said that fighting continues.



While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is on the other side of the world attempting to sure up Western support for his war effort at the G7 meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, a key Ukrainian holdout may be falling.



According to the bellicose boss of Russia’s private army Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the city of Bakmut fell to his forces on Saturday after one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the war in Ukraine, with fighting in the area starting over 200 days ago.



“Today at noon, Bakhmut was fully captured,” Prigozhin said in a video published on his Telegram channel, as translated by Russian state-media RT.



“We’ve taken the whole city – every building – so that nobody could say that we didn’t capture some small part of it,” he declared.

Prigozhin said that his group of Wagner mercenary fighters would remain in the city until Thursday before handing over control of Bakhmut to the Russian Ministry of Defence. He added that his soldiers would then take a period of rest and recuperation after months of heavy fighting in what he dubbed the “Bakhmut meat-grinder”.



The Wagner boss went on to personally address Ukrainian President Zelensky, saying “without sarcasm” that the Ukrainian soldiers had “fought bravely, fought well” to defend the city.



“Today, when you see Biden, kiss him on the top of his head and tell him that I said ‘hi,’” he Prigozhin joked in reference to the G7 meeting in Japan that Zelensky is currently attending alongside U.S. President Joe Biden.

However, despite the definitive claims of victory from the Wagner boss, Ukrainian officials have so far denied that their forces were fully defeated in Bakhmut.



“Heavy battles are ongoing in Bakhmut. The situation is critical. At the same time, our troops hold the defense in the Litak district,” Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Defence Hanna Maliar said according to state media Ukrinform.



Speaking to the Associated Press, Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern command, also denied Prigozhin’s claims, saying that it “is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut.”



Ahead of the declaration from the Wagner chief, there were indications from British intelligence that Russia was planning on doubling down on its push to capture the city, after reportedly being forced into an embarrassing retreat earlier this month during which Prigozhin had complained of lack of ammunition and even suggested abandoning the battle.



According to the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD), it is believed that over the past four days Russia redeployed several betalians to reinforce their efforts in Bakhmut.



“With Russia likely maintaining relatively few uncommitted combat units in Ukraine, the redeployment represents a notable commitment by the Russian command. Russia’s leadership likely continue to see capturing Bakhmut as the key immediate war aim which would allow them to claim some degree of success in the conflict,” the MoD said.

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[Shoshanna]

Fog of War: Zelensky Says Russia ‘Razed’ Ukraine City but It Isn’t Lost

SIMON KENT
21 May 2023

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that Russian troops weren’t occupying Bakhmut even though they may have “razed it” to the ground and it is no longer in full possession of Kyiv’s forces.



That assertion made in Hiroshima, Japan, where Zelensky is meeting members of the G7 at their annual conference directly contradicts Moscow’s claims the eastern Ukrainian city has fallen.



On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated mercenaries from the Wagner organisation and regular units for the operation to “liberate” the town.



Responding to a reporter’s question about the status of the city, Zelenskyy maintained: “Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today.”

This appeared to contradict the president’s response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut which was interpreted by many as saying the city had indeed fallen to Russian forces, AP reports.



“For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing in this place,” Zelensky said in those earlier comments, adding the fight had left nothing in Bakhmut but a lot of “dead Russians.”



Zelensky’s press secretary also later walked back those comments while the spokesman for Ukraine’s Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut.




“The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult.



“Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the southwestern part of the city. Heavy fighting is underway,” he said.


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[shalom]

Russia: Warship guarding Black Sea pipelines attacked by unmanned Ukraine craft

The ministry cited the attack as a justification for Russia expanding defensive measures.

By REUTERS Published: MAY 24, 2023 17:13

Updated: MAY 24, 2023 18:05


Russia's Defence Ministry said on Wednesday that the Russian warship Ivan Hurs had been attacked unsuccessfully by three Ukrainian uncrewed speedboats in the Black Sea, on the approaches to the Bosphorus strait.



In a statement posted on Telegram, the ministry said the warship had been protecting the TurkStream and Blue Stream gas pipelines - which carry gas from Russia to Turkey, partly across the Black Sea - and "continues to fulfill its tasks."



No comment was immediately available from Kyiv.



The ministry cited the attack as a justification for Russia expanding defensive measures. Explosions last September damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines bringing gas from Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany.



Rising tensions in the Black Sea

The Russian statement appeared likely to raise tensions in the Black Sea, where Russia only agreed last week, one day before deadline, to extend a deal allowing Ukraine to export grain safely from its seaports.


TurkStream carries gas from Russia's Taman peninsula west across the width of the Black Sea to a point west of the Bosphorus.



Blue Stream, however, crosses the eastern Black Sea from north to south, making landfall more than 700 km east of the Bosphorus.



"All enemy boats were destroyed by fire from the standard armament of a Russian ship 140 km northeast of the Bosphorus," the statement added.



The Ivan Hurs is a medium reconnaissance ship launched in 2013.


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[maybetoday]

Russia Claims it has Repelled a ‘Large-Scale Offensive’ by Ukraine


OLIVER JJ LANE5
Jun 2023

Russia stopped a “large-scale offensive” by Ukrainian forces from Sunday morning which continued through to Monday, they say, claiming to have killed many soldiers and tanks in doing so.



Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of having launched assaults on each other in the Donetsk region on Sunday, with Moscow, in particular, saying they had foiled a “large-scale offensive”. As reported in The Times of London, the scale of the fighting Russia claims to be engaged in — defensively, they say — has triggered speculation over whether the long-discussed Ukrainian Spring counteroffensive is beginning.

According to Russia’s own account of developments on the ground, one Ukrainian mechanised brigade “lost “over 300 troops” 16 tanks, and 26 armoured vehicles, and 14 other vehicles. The wire on the fighting from Russia’s state propaganda arm claimed three of the vehicles destroyed were American-made Bradley IFV.



The Ukrainian forces “failed to achieve its goals”, a Russian general speaking for the Kremlin boasted. Nevertheless, according to Moscow’s own account the “fighting continues” in the area and “the Ukrainian military continue firing at Russian positions in these areas and building up forces”.



The Ukrainians have gone public with their own account of the fighting in the Donetsk region of the past 48 hours, saying far from launching an assault, they had been the victim of attacks by Russian forces. Moscow is trying to “completely capture Luhansk and Donetsk regions”, says Kyiv, and on Sunday “enemy forces carried out seven missile and 25 air strikes and about 20 attacks involving multiple rocket launchers on the positions of Ukraine’s Defense Forces and populated areas”.



The Ukrainian air force was active in the defence against these attacks, they said, noting they had launched 15 strikes against “enemy personnel clusters” from the air.



Otherwise, Ukraine has refused to comment on whether the much-discussed counter-offensive is coming, and has posted on social media encouraging silence on the matter.

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[ExquisiteGerbil]

BREAKING NEWS: IT HAS BEGUN! DAM BLOWN! INVASION on All Fronts, Russian Medias Dire Prediction

The war between NATO and Russia has begun its being called a "counteroffensive".

[ExquisiteGerbil]

EMERGENCY UPDATE! Dam DESTROYED, NUCLEAR Plant ALERT, CRIMEA Cut off, Evacuations Underway

[shalom]

Ukraine advancing in the south - military chiefs


By REUTERS Published: JUNE 17, 2023 01:36

Ukrainian forces are advancing in southern sectors of their counter-offensive against Russian occupation troops, Ukrainian military officials said on Friday.



The latest report on the counter-offensive, as well as an account of "desperate resistance" by Russian troops in the east, was issued as President Volodymyr Zelensky said movement in the counter-offensive was "the most important thing".



"Every soldier, every new step we take, every metre of Ukrainian land freed from the enemy is of utmost importance," Zelensky said in his nightly video message.



Reuters could not verify the battlefield situation. Russia has not officially acknowledged Ukrainian advances in the early stages of a counteroffensive, and said it had inflicted heavy losses on Kyiv's forces in the previous 24 hours.



Where is Ukraine concentrating their efforts?

Deputy Ukrainian Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on the Telegram messaging app that troops were "engaged in active moves to advance in several directions at once.



Ukrainian servicemen ride atop of a tank on a road to the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine May 12, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova/File Photo)Ukrainian servicemen ride atop of a tank on a road to the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine May 12, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova/File Photo)

"Practically in all sectors where our units are attacking in the south, they have registered tactical successes," Maliar said. "They are gradually moving forward. At the moment, the advance is up to 2 km (1.3 miles) in each direction."



In Ukraine's east, Maliar said Russia forces were trying to dislodge Ukrainian forces from established positions.



Ukrainian forces around the devastated city of Bakhmut, captured by Russia last month, were trying to push Russian forces out from the outskirts of the town.



Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who is in charge of Ukrainian ground forces, had earlier described the situation in the east as tense, with Russia bringing its best divisions into the Bakhmut sector with backup from artillery and aircraft.



"We continue to conduct offensive actions in separate directions, occupying dominant heights, and strips of forest with the aim of forcing the enemy gradually out of the outskirts of Bakhmut. Realizing this, the enemy units put up desperate resistance," Syrskyi said on Telegram.



Bakhmut has seen some of the fiercest fighting since Russia's February 2022 invasion. The Ukrainian military said last week it had begun pushing back Russian forces near Bakhmut.



Kyiv said on Thursday it had regained control of about 100 square km (38 square miles) of territory in just over a week of its counteroffensive.



Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of Ukrainian troops in the southern Tavriia sector, said there had been 36 combat engagements and 578 attacks in the past 24 hours in the sector.



"The enemy's losses in killed and wounded amounted to more than four companies," he wrote on Telegram. A company typically consists of 100–250 soldiers.



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[maybetoday]

Ukraine’s Faltering Offensive is Completely Lost on General Milley and Secretary of Defense Austin

By Larry Johnson
Jun. 16, 2023 2:50 pm8


Ukraine’s faltering offensive is completely lost on General Milley and Secretary of Defense Austin. Milley and Austin, put that face on full display Thursday as they briefed reporters on the results of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels.



The problem with the NATO plan for Ukraine’s faltering offensive is encapsulated in the following quote (it starts at the 8:51 mark in the video below):



More than six thousand Ukrainians are being trained right now at 40 different locations (sic) training locations in 65 courses in 33 Nations on three continents. That is all happening right now today






Let me give you some facts. If you join the U.S. Army and want to learn to crew a M1 Abram tank, you are looking at a minimum of 6 months training. And that is just learning how drive the tank and fire shells. But that is only the beginning. Soldiers are not given their own personal tank to tool around the base. Once a soldier and his crew learn how to start, steer, shoot and stop, the team must then learn how to operate in a coordinated fashion with a company (150 soldiers ), a battalion (800 to 1000 soldiers), a brigade (5000 soldiers) and a Division (10,000 to 15,000 soldiers).



Instruction starts with the simple and proceeds to the complex. Effectively operating a tank as part of a Division is the most complicated task and mission. Guess what? To learn to do this requires at least two years of training. There are no shortcuts. I spoke the other day with a young Army Captain who remarked how difficult it was to train U.S. troops to carry out brigade level tank maneuvers even after two years of training.



With that as background do you now appreciate the stupidity of Milley’s comment? The Ukrainians are not being taken to one location in one country and asked to master two or three courses of instruction. Nope. They are in 40 different locations in 33 different countries and 6000 Ukrainian troops are being fed a firehose of 65 courses. Do the math. That works out to about 93 soldiers per course. And the instructors most likely do not speak Ukrainian, so the soldiers are getting translated lessons in English, French, German, Polish and Italian. This is a veritable tower of Babel.



Beef Company CEO: “I’ll Shut Down the Company Before We Ship a Single Bag With mRNA-Injected Meat”



So let’s entertain the assumption that these 6000 souls are really fast learners and magically complete the training. How do you integrate 6000 soldiers that have been in 33 countries and being trained to different standards? Short answer — you don’t. It is impossible.



But then consider this. During just one week of combat against Russian forces, the Ukrainians lost 7500 men (killed and wounded). All of those trained soldiers erased in the flash of an artillery shell, a mortar or a glide bomb. Again, do the math. If Ukraine is losing 6000 men a week, then the training pipeline better have at least 80,000 Ukrainians attending these courses. Otherwise, NATO training cannot keep pace with Ukrainian casualties.



What we are witnessing is military malpractice on a colossal scale. I find it hard to believe that Milley, Austin and their NATO compatriots are really this stupid in touting this training regimen as something responsible and wise. It is madness. The cynical part of me believes that Ukraine is just being used as a pretext to juice the Western defense industries. After years of neglect and outsourcing, the U.S. and its NATO partners have discovered that they no longer have the factories and materials necessary to supply an industrial scale war.



The hard truth it this — Ukraine does not have the manpower and NATO does not have the luxury of time required to ensure the Ukrainian soldiers have minimal levels of competence in the military arts they are trying to learn in a veritable crash course. Keep this in mind as Russian grinds the Ukrainian Army into dust. All of that money for training men whose life expectancy is counted in weeks, if not days. Who will be held accountable?


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[shalom]

Ukraine destroys ammunition depot in Russian-occupied Kherson - official


Ukrainian official Serhiy Bratchuk: "There was a very significant ammunition depot. It was destroyed."

By REUTERS Published: JUNE 18, 2023 08:31

Updated: JUNE 18, 2023 08:35


Ukrainian forces destroyed a "significant" ammunition depot near the Russian-occupied port city of Henichesk in the southern region of Kherson, Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa military administration, said on Sunday.



"Our armed forces dealt a good blow in the morning - and a very loud one - in the village of Rykove, Henichesk district, in the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson region," Bratchuk said in a morning video message on Sunday.



"There was a very significant ammunition depot. It was destroyed."



Ukraine destroys "very significant" Russian ammunition depot

Reuters could not independently verify the information. There was no immediate comment from Russia on the alleged attack.



Ukrainian media posted videos showing a vast plume of smoke rising far on the horizon with sounds of blasts.


Rykove is about 20km (12 miles) from Henichesk, a port city along the Sea of Azov in southern Ukraine, which has been occupied by Kremlin forces since the early days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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[schwartzie]

Ukraine Has ‘Highly Likely’ Retaken Territory Occupied by Russia Since 2014 For First Time: UK Intel


OLIVER JJ LANE
27 Jun 2023

Ukrainian forces are now pushing over the defacto border established in the 2014 Russian invasion, taking back long-occupied territory in the Donbas region for the first time, the United Kingdom says.



There have been “small advances” — which is on trend for the progress of the counter-offensive so far, per reports — around Krasnohorivka near Donetsk city, an area that has been occupied by Russian and pro-Kremlin forces for nearly a decade.



While the international community never stopped recognising Ukraine’s legal borders, a de-facto “Line of Control” emerged after the 2014 Donbas war.



Now, it is “highly likely” that Ukrainian territory held since 2014 is being taken back by Kyiv for the first time as the counter-offensive pushes east, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence.



Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 27 June 2023.



Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: t.co/iU0vcqpCWm



🇺 #StandWithUkraine 🇺 pic.twitter.com/AYcLZdIOZ7



— Ministry of Defence (@defencehq) June 27, 2023



Ukraine, for its part, claims that they have been under regular artillery attacks in the region from Russian forces in recent days.



The “small advances” cited by the MoD are in line with the Ukrainian experience of the counter-offensive so far, which according to some sources is going slowly as their newly trained and equipped armed forces engage in probing sorties first, preparing for a later, larger main offensive.



Yet, despite the claims the slow walk is by design, Ukrainian President Zelensky himself has conceded things are not going as quickly as hoped.



Nevertheless, Zelensky criticised those abroad saying things should speed up, declaring that Ukraine would not be pressured into trying to run faster than it believed is optimal for itself. He blamed preconceptions among some in the West that wars can be fought quickly on Hollywood films, which he said have skewed perspectives.



Ukraine Claims First Counteroffensive Advances With Villages Retakenhttps://t.co/7YtlSaAHRZ



— Breitbart London (@breitbartlondon) June 12, 2023



Underlining the current lack of speedy progress, Ukraine revealed on Monday through an official statement that in the southern area of operations — the push towards Crimea — they had only retaken 50 square miles of territory in the three weeks of the counter-offensive, an area smaller than the size of Staten Island.



The cautious approach of slow, probing attacks has not come without cost. There were some high-profile losses of heavy western armour — German-made Leopard II Main Battle Tanks — in the early days. While such losses of frontline tanks do not appear to have been repeated since there has been appreciable attrition of lighter armour, including the U.S.-made Bradley Armoured Fighting Vehicle.



Per a report in the New York Times, Ukraine has already lost some 15 per cent of the Bradleys donated to it by the U.S. in the past three weeks in this exploratory, probing stage. This may be a reflection of the important role played by light, fast armour in reconnaissance missions.



The Russian Armed Forces reportedly launched their largest series of missile strikes against Ukraine in recent months on Saturday, despite the alleged rebellion against the Kremlin by the Wagner mercenary group. t.co/BzVcuP6H4O



— Breitbart News (@breitbartnews) June 25, 2023

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[shalom]

Ukrainian forces advance 'slowly but surely' at front -official


Officers also say they are gaining ground along the flanks of Bakhmut, captured by Russian forces last month after protracted battles all but reduced it to rubble.

By REUTERS Published: JUNE 29, 2023 01:46

Updated: JUNE 29, 2023 01:49

Ukrainian forces are advancing "slowly but surely" on the front lines in the east and southeast of the country as well as around the longstanding flashpoint of Bakhmut, senior military officials said on Wednesday.



Since launching an anticipated counter-offensive this month, nearly 16 months into the war, Ukraine says it has reasserted control over clusters of villages in the southeast.



Officers also say they are gaining ground along the flanks of Bakhmut, captured by Russian forces last month after protracted battles all but reduced it to rubble.



Succeeding in seizing the strategic initiative

Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief General Valery Zaluzhniy told Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley that the that his forces had "succeeded in seizing the strategic initiative."



"Ukraine's defense forces are proceeding with their offensive action and we have made advances. The enemy is offering strong resistance, while sustaining considerable losses," Zaluzhniy wrote on Telegram.


He told Milley about weapons needed by Ukrainian forces as well as demining equipment -- Ukrainian officials have cited large tracts of mined territory as an impediment to any advance.



Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, in an interview with the Financial Times published on Wednesday, said the liberation of a group of villages was "not the main event" in the offensive.



But President Voldoymyr Zelensky told the BBC last week that the counter-offensive was proceeding more slowly than hoped.



Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar, speaking on national television on Wednesday, noted advances in sectors in the south designated by two occupied towns -- Berdiansk and Mariupol.



"Every day, there is an advance," Maliar said. "Yes, the advances are slow, but they are sure."



She cited the recapture this week of the village of Rivnopol in the southeast, saying "mopping up operations were complete" and that the army was now well dug in.



The Russian military, she said, were diverting forces both to the southern front and to Bakhmut, where Ukrainian forces had gained ground in areas around the town.



"They are redirected their paratroops and assault brigades to both the south and the east," she said. "They are bringing in their best reserves now."



Maliar said heavy fighting was continuing in the east, where Russia has concentrated its forces for months as part of a drive to secure full control Donetsk and Luhansk regions.



Ukrainian military analyst Oleksander Musiyenko said Ukrainian gains on the fringes of Bakhmut were probably a prelude for plans to recapture other areas, including the long-contested towns of Aviivka and Maryinka.



"It makes no sense to enter Bakhmut itself now. The risk is too great," he told Ukrainian NV Radio "But in the east, Ukraine has gradually taken over the initiative. Ukraine has improved its tactical positions without sending in significant reserves."


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[Honoria]

Russian Missile Strike in Kramatorsk, Ukraine Kills DOZENS of Ukrainian Officers and Soldiers, And as Many as TWENTY Mercenaries From NATO Countries

By Paul Serran Jun. 29, 2023 12:15 pm5


On June 27th, a Russian missile attack struck the Ukrainian rear, in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Republic (Ex-Ukraine). Unlike most attacks in this war, this one quickly yielded a great amount of videos and pictures.



Ukrainians protested the ‘attack on civilian targets’ – but it soon surfaced that foreign mercenaries fighting for the Armed Forces of Ukraine are mainly based in Kramatorsk, and that the strike targeted the temporary location of Ukraine’s 56th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade in Kramatorsk.



Let’s try to follow the events as told by Russian Telegram channels.



Watch video: (At link below)

“The first minutes after the missile attack on Kramatorsk. Among the victims are foreigners.


‘Foreigners’ in Kramatorsk close to the frontline where there are arrivals on a daily basis…



And some ‘foreigners’ decided to go to there, close to the frontlines and look, video of them represented as victims…



Very rare to find video of arrivals but somehow videos from the arrivals in Kramatorsk appeared today.”



Columnist Boris Rozhin wrote:



“According to unverified reports, a group of Ukrainian officers in Kramatorsk was targeted in a rocket attack near the Kramatorsk hotel. There are suspicions of the presence of foreign mercenaries, but this information requires confirmation. […] On social media, there is a growing concern (slight hysteria) regarding the source of the leaked information about the meeting.”


“In Kramatorsk, English-speaking ‘tourists’ are found outside the building that came under fire. Judging by the tattoo, one of them is a veteran of the US Army’s 3rd Ranger Battalion.”



“Increased activity by US army aircraft in Romanian airspace is observed. Preparations for the evacuation of wounded mercenaries in Kramatorsk are not ruled out.”


Another suspected mercenary.

“Attack on ‘residential buildings‘ in Kramatorsk…


[…] In his Instagram, the mercenary Alex Galant, howling on the side of the AFU, posted a story in which he lamented the destruction of their daily lunch place.”



Slaviangrad channel comes to a conclusion: “It’s now clear why so many Ukrainian military personnel were thrown in to clear the rubble – it’s the bosses who have been hit!”



“Mercs [mercenaries] are a walking target for any army. As a journalist, unless you are embedded into their unit, you generally wouldn’t be eating with them.”


“‘Look what these bastards are doing to the country. There are soldiers under the rubble all around’.



In Kramatorsk, an English speaker is reporting from the place of the missile strike on foreign mercenaries.



Apparently the ‘tourist’ is stating the quiet part out loud…and forgot about the camera recording him…



[…] Apparently the Brits forgot to be told that there were only babies there.”



Soon the Russian authorities weighed in on the attack:



“The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that as a result of yesterday’s powerful missile attack on Kramatorsk, the stationing point of the commanders of the 56th motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was destroyed. According to various reports from the field, several dozen officers died plus an unspecified number of foreign mercenaries.”







Australian pro-Russia journalist Aussie Cossack has an interesting take on the tragedy:



“Take a moment to appreciate that Russians are humane and do not conduct a 2nd follow up missile strike on survivors as the Ukrainian regime has been doing for the past 9 years against civilians in Donbass.”



Also, the claim that civilians were targeted is disputed by the following reasoning:



“In the videos, only Ukrainian and English can be heard. Not Russian. […] Kramatorsk locals simply do not speak Ukrainian. This is a Russian-speaking city and always has been. Draw your conclusions.”


In an interview with Garland Nixon, the former UN inspector for weapons of mass destruction and ex-US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter confirmed that Russian troops eliminated the American mercenaries who arrived there.



“The target that was hit in Kramatorsk. […] Garland, there was a whole bunch of American military personnel there, a huge amount.”



Ritter stated that among the Americans liquidated by the Russian Aerospace Forces were both military advisers and combatants.



And the estimated number of targeted soldiers was finally divulged by Russian MoD:



“According to a statement from the Russian Defence Ministry, a pizzeria in Kramatorsk near the Kramatorsk hotel on a strike on 27 June were destroyed: 2 AFU generals/Up to 50 officers of the AFU/Up to 20 foreign mercenaries and advisers.”


Videos at link

[shalom]

Russia launches overnight drone attack on Ukrainian president's hometown


Russia launched an overnight drone strike on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's hometown, Kryvyi Rih, which damaged buildings and injured one man.

By REUTERS Published: JULY 14, 2023 10:28

A 56-year-old man was injured in an overnight Russian drone strike on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's hometown, the central city of Kryvyi Rih, the regional governor said on Friday.



The attack damaged a number of buildings in Kryvyi Rih but Ukraine's air force said 16 of the 17 Iranian-made Shahed attack drones launched by Russia overnight had been shot down in southern and eastern areas of the country.



Falling debris damaged a municipal enterprise, two residential buildings and a transport company in Kryvyi Rih, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said on the Telegram messaging app.


Destruction in Kyiv and Kryvyi Rih

City mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said windows had been blown out in apartment blocks and private houses, hospitals and schools.



The drone launches were the latest in a series of attacks in which the capital Kyiv came under attack on three successive nights this week. Russia did not comment on the attacks, and denies deliberately targeting civilians.


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[schwartzie]

A Bridge Too Far: As the Ukraine Grain Deal Runs Out, a Water Drone Attack Damages Crimea Bridge Killing 2 Civilians and Wounding a Child – Russian Officials Call for Hard Retaliations

By Paul Serran
Jul. 17, 2023 8:15 am


At 3am Moscow time of this Monday, a suspected surface water drone filled with explosives hit the Crimea bridge. The ’emergency’ led to the closing of the passage.



Eyewitnesses report on the Russian Telegram channels that, at the time of the attack, the sounds of explosions were heard. Powerful explosions thundered at 3:04 and 3:20. At the same time, the movement of cars stopped. Footage shows the drivers leaving the vehicles.







The Ministry of Transport of Russia stated that from the side of the Republic of Crimea there is damage to the roadway on the spans of the Crimean bridge.



One span of roadbed is known to have been destroyed


The span structures themselves are on their supports . The survey of the condition of the bridge is ongoing.



VIDEO: This is how the Crimean bridge looked in the morning – a column of smoke rose from the side of one of the supports. (At link below)


The Ukrainian commander of the ground forces of the Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, hinted in advance to the attack on the Crimean bridge.



A post appeared on his Telegram channel the day before, which said that a ‘lullaby’ was being prepared for the ‘occupiers’.



The strike hit a civilian infrastructure seems to be a diversion of the attention from the defeats at the front, both in the Kupyansky and Zaporozhye directions, where events for the Armed Forces of Ukraine are going badly.



The Ministry of Health of the Krasnodar Territory confirmed that as a result of an emergency on the Crimean bridge, two people died and a minor girl was injured


A 14-year old girl is hospitalized in a critical condition and both her parents are dead. The father was a truck driver and the mother was a council worker from Belgorod.



Russians immediately started demanding retaliation online.



Ukrainian lawmaker Alexey Goncharuk called the attack a ‘victory for Ukraine’, and seeks to award everyone involved in the terror attack.



Russia’s NAC (National Anti-Terrorism Committee) qualified the incident as a terrorist attack, where two Ukrainian surface drones damaged the motorway part of the bridge.



The railway line was not affected by the attack.



This is the second attack on the Crimean bridge: last October, Ukrainian security services staged an explosion on the bridge, collapsing two spans and killing four civilians.



The deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, has reacted to the explosion on the Crimean bridge:



“The world and our own experience show that terrorists cannot be fought with international sanctions, intimidation or exhortation. They only understand the language of force. Only personal and totally inhuman methods.



That is why it is necessary to blow up their own homes and those of their relatives. To search for and liquidate their accomplices, to abandon the mundane idea of their trial. But the main thing is to destroy the top leadership of terrorist formations, wherever these insects hide.



It is difficult, but it is possible.”



Sputnik reported:



“Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on the Crimean Bridge terror attack:



▪The Kremlin has no illusions about the West’s possible involvement in the terrorist attack on the bridge;



▪The attack on Crimean Bridge didn’t affect the grain deal’s extension;



▪The Kremlin knows who is behind the attack, and is aware of Kiev’s insidious nature;



▪President Putin handed down instructions to start repairs and restoration work on the Crimean Bridge;



▪The response to the Crimean Bridge terror attack will be the fulfillment of all the objectives of the special operation still in progress



▪Vladimir Putin will hold a video conference around 19:00 (Moscow time) to discuss the Crimean Bridge terror incident. The Crimean government will report on the situation from the scene;



▪Russia does not seek to develop relations with the West but maintains channels of dialogue because they are necessary;



▪As far as tourism security in Crimea goes, authorities must remain vigilant and take all necessary measures”



Russian lawmaker Volodin: the Crimean Bridge terrorist attack may have been carried out using the safe passage of the now defunct Black Sea grain corridor.



This is a developing story.

Video at link

[leilani]

Russian Soldiers Flee as Ukraine's U.S.-Supplied Cluster Bombs Work Perfectly

BY RICK MORAN 3:48 PM ON JULY 22, 2023


The White House announced that the U.S.-supplied cluster munitions have already been used on the battlefield and are working “effectively,” according to national security advisor John Kirby.



“They are using them appropriately,” Kirby said. “They’re using them effectively and they are actually having an impact on Russia’s defensive formations and Russia’s defensive maneuvering. I think I can leave it at that.”



The video shows dozens of bomblets exploding over Russian positions and soldiers fleeing the blast zone.






While Ukraine was raining cluster bombs down on Russian soldiers, Russia was raining missiles down on Ukrainian civilians. Missiles struck the port city of Odessa for the third day. Moscow says it was in response to the heavy damage inflicted on the Kerch Bridge — the only bridge connecting Crimea with Russia — during a drone strike last week. While Russia was able to partially reopen the bridge, Moscow closed it again after a strike on a nearby ammo dump.



Both sides have already used cluster munitions, and you have to wonder how thousands of cluster bombs arrived in Ukraine less than a week after it was announced that Ukraine was getting them.



Perhaps they were already there.



Washington Post:



While Russia has used cluster munitions far more extensively, Ukraine has also allegedly deployed these weapons during the war, using Soviet-era stocks or shells obtained from other countries. A Human Rights Watch report released earlier this month said Ukraine’s use of the weapons “caused numerous deaths and serious injuries to civilians” in attacks in the city of Izyum and other locations in 2022. Ukraine has denied using the munitions.



Most of Washington’s NATO allies have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a compact that bans their use and production, but the United States, Russia and Ukraine never signed the treaty.



This week, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan pushed back on the idea that sending the munitions called U.S. moral authority into question.



“Our moral authority and Ukraine’s moral authority in this conflict comes from the fact that we are supporting a country under a brutal, vicious attack by its neighbor with missiles and bombs raining down in its cities, killing its civilians, destroying its schools, its churches, its hospitals,” Sullivan said. “And the idea that providing Ukraine with a weapon in order for them to be able to defend their homeland, protect their civilians, is somehow a challenge to our moral authority — I find questionable.”



When 100 countries — including most U.S. allies — have forbidden the use of cluster munitions because they kill civilians indiscriminately and for years after a conflict is over, it’s perfectly legitimate to question our moral authority to use them — if the U.S. had any moral authority left in the first place.



The open-source intelligence website OSINTdefender posted a video of an attack in the Donetsk region where it was reported that a prominent Russian war blogger was killed.

Since Ukraine was already using cluster munitions, perhaps it’s best to stop jabbering about “moral authority” and work to end the war.

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[schwartzie]

Russia Preparing to ‘Enforce Blockade on Ukraine’ With Warships, Says UK


OLIVER JJ LANE
26 Jul 2023

Russia has redeployed its warships in the Black Sea and there is a “realistic possibility” that it will deploy a task force to intercept civilian ships heading to and from Ukraine’s ports as part of a blockade, a British intelligence digest says.



The Black Sea Grain Initiative collapsing last week, meaning there is no longer a safe corridor for Ukrainian grain exports by sea, has seen a shift in Russian military posture says the United Kingdom, predicting the coming of a full-on blockade.



Noting the redeployment of a modern Russian corvette to the southern Black Sea, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence digest that: “Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has altered its posture since Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI), in preparedness to enforce a blockade on Ukraine… There is a realistic possibility that it will form part of a task group to intercept commercial vessels Russia believes are heading to Ukraine.”



Without the Grain Initiative moderating behaviour in the Black Sea and providing a corridor for exports, there is now “the potential for the intensity and scope of violence in the area to increase”, the MOD said. Russia has already massively stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s port infrastructure, regularly bombing Odessa for over a week.

The consequences of the collapse of the grain deal are potentially considerable, given Ukraine’s status as a major exporter in the world food market, and the fact a lot of their exports have traditionally gone to less wealthy countries. As previously reported, a sudden spike in grain prices causes fresh waves of emigration from the developing world, sparking new migrant crises in Europe.



It is claimed the collapse of the grain deal will see global grain prices spike by up to 15 per cent. While Ukraine has a considerable land border with Europe, simply switching from maritime to overland shipping for grain is extremely difficult given the enormous bulk of the commodity, the typical destinations for the product, and the lack of infrastructure.



Exporting by the Danube is being explored. Ukraine says Russia is deliberately targeting its grain exporting infrastructure, with Ukrainian Agrarian Council Denys Marchuk remarking: “Russia understands that Ukrainian grain is one of the key directions of Ukraine’s potential export, which gives money, and they really don’t want to see Ukrainian grain. In fact today, by blocking the Black Sea, they are artificially raising the price of grain in the world so that later offer their grain to poor countries, and at high prices”.



Marchuk said if European countries didn’t want to see fresh waves of migration from poor nations, it should give Ukraine more weapons more quickly.



Given the importance of grain exports from Ukraine to the rest of the world, even if just indirectly for developed nations wanting to reduce push-factors for global mass migration, there may be pressure for the West to do more to defend merchant shipping in the Black Sea. This could take the form of more equipment donations to Ukraine, but as has been previously suggested, could be more direct, risking direct conflict between NATO and Russia.

[Midnight]

LANDLOCKED: After Taking All Azov Sea Coastal Areas in the Start of the War, Russian Forces Now Are Blocking, Mining and Destroying the Infrastructure of All Ukrainian Black Sea Ports

By Paul Serran
Jul. 27, 2023 2:50 pm



If there’s one aspect of the war in the Ukraine that cuts through the fog of war and the NATO propaganda with maximum efficiency is the question of access to sea ports.



Having already lost the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, Ukraine also was driven out of all the coastal areas of the Sea of Azov in the first phase of the Russian military operation, which culminated in the conquest of Mariupol.



And in the last 10 days, ever since Russia bowed out of the Turkish-brokered Grain Deal, daily heavy bombardment of all the major Black Sea ports, coupled with a heavy naval blockade and even sea-mining of said ports has, for all practical purposes, transformed Ukraine into a landlocked country.



This will make economic problems even more acute than they already are, since grain is one of Ukraine’s major exports, and land transport of it may be impractical and economically unfeasible.



As Central Banks Stockpile Gold, a Christian Company Helps Americans Get Ahead of the “Retirement Bubble”



The daily combined-arms ordeal inflicted in the Black Sea coastal areas is filled with missiles like Onyxes, Khinzal-22s, Calibers, and Iskanders – as well as the by-now famed Iranian Geranium (Shahed) drones.



Watch: Iranian-made Geranium drones deployed Russian hit Reni port, right on the border of Romania. This was filmed from the Romanian side, literally a stone-throw away.



Video at link


Reuters reported:



“Russian forces struck port infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odessa region in an overnight missile attack, killing a security guard and damaging a cargo terminal, the region’s governor said on Thursday.



Odessa’s ports have been regular targets for Russian attacks since Moscow withdrew on July 17 from a U.N.-brokered deal that allowed Ukrainian grain to be exported via the Black Sea.



Before the latest attack, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said Russian air strikes had damaged 26 port infrastructure facilities and five civilian vessels in the previous nine days. He gave no further details of the damage.”


Fueal, ammo and also grain storages have suffered heavy losses.

Russian media recalled lately the information gathered from Pulitzer prize winner Seymour Hersh in the beginning of the year.



TASS reported:



“Ukraine exploited the grain deal to smuggle narcotics and oil through Odessa, US publicist, Pulitzer Prize laureate Seymour Hersh says in his article, published on the Substack platform.



‘Odessa’s exports included illegal stuff like drugs and the oil that Ukraine was getting from Russia’, Hersh quotes a source in the US intelligence community as saying.”





Port infrastructure was heavily targeted.


By patrolling the Black Sea, Russia claims to be preventing terrorist attacks in Crimea and in the Crimean bridge.



Sputnik reported:



“Russia’s Federal Security Service has identified another foreign civilian vessel that could previously have been used to deliver explosives to Ukraine



Traces of TNT and dinitrotoluene were found in the hold and on the surface of the boat of the foreign dry cargo ship BMO River, en route from the Sinop, Turkiye to Rostov, the security service said.



This ship called at the Ukrainian port of Reni twice in June and July. Russia’s Federal Security Service added that a decision has been made to ban the passage of the vessel through the Kerch Strait.”



It is of note that the relentless bombing of the ports was carried even in Reni, that is a few hundred meters of the NATO-member Romanian border.



Russia never struck Ukrainian facilities so close to the territory of the military alliance.