Ukraine Invasion: Part 30

[MagicFox]

We're now on our 30th thread, thanks as usual to all who contribute.

Happiness ❤thanks for the link

I saw this too and am a bit skeptical. A document like this would be fairly easy for the Ukrainian intelligence services to forge and could be a way to troll the Russians. Also, the document presumes that these payments are being made when there is a lot of information that families are being told that service members are missing, not dead.

On the other hand, it might be perfectly genuine.

Yes, come to think of it, the payments are also not universal across Russia, although maybe it's the service rather than death payments that differ.

Conflict Intelligence Team (who I think are really good) have estimated 21-27k dead, but this includes all pro-Russian fighters, so including LDPR, Warner, Kadyrovites, etc. Plus another 75-80k wounded, in line with British Intelligence recent figures. This was before the start of Ukraine counteroffensive though, there's been some big losses there.

Putting is threatening to stop all oil and gas sales following EU discussions on price caps.

ive only skimmed over, agree with OwlsDance the translations are ok. However I would not call their fallen soldiers “victims” 🤨

also it states that they have used 98% of their allocated budget for compensations of this kind for 2022, shocking, no?

woooo the shill is back!

Things must be going badly for Russia :D

🔗 The Baltic countries have reached a certain agreement on a "significant restriction" of border crossing for Russian citizens with EU Schengen visas, – the head of the Latvian Foreign Ministry.

"Decisions will be made by governments in accordance with national procedures and will take effect at the same time."

🎪 During the Eastern Economic Forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin again recalled his favorite fairy tale that Russia allegedly does not start wars, but ends them. In particular, answering questions about the war in Ukraine, he said that "we have not started anything in terms of military operations, but are only trying to finish it."

💡 Hungary has agreed to support the continuation of sanctions against Russia without lifting the visa ban on three Russian oligarchs Alisher Usmanov, Viktor Rashnikov and Petr Aven, journalist Rikard Jozwiak said

📣 The President of Hungary, Katalin Novák, said Wednesday that the country's goal is to reduce its dependence on energy from Russia
[Uh, what? they have just made it clear they will keep buying!]

🔺 "In the next 3-10 years." Poland needs to prepare for war with Russia – Polish Deputy Minister of Defense
"There is a serious risk of war with Russia, which we will face in the next 3-10 years. We must use this time to re-equip the Polish army as much as possible," Ochepa said.

📍 In 196 days of the war, the Russians have not shelled Mykolaiv for only 27 days — Vitalii Kim, head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration

🖇 The Pentagon is developing a program of cooperation with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including after the war
This is reported by CNN, citing its sources in the U.S. Department of Defense.
According to their information, the Pentagon intends to offer the Armed Forces of Ukraine a long-term cooperation program, which will take into account both the military assistance received by Ukraine and the one that is still planned.
[I do wonder what will happen if a non-NATO president gets elected, or another puppet like Trump. Will this stance change? or will it stay the same?]

📣 The President of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, criticized the approach of the West to the war in Ukraine
"I will not name names, but I will say very frankly that I do not support the approach of the West. It has a foreign policy based on provocation. If you try to settle the war based on provocation, you will not get results," Erdoğan said at a press conference during a visit to Belgrade.
[Nailed his colours up there]

❗️ Residents of the territories adjacent to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant need to evacuate — Iryna Vereshchuk, Minister of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine

📌 The head of the German Minister for Foreign Affairs rebuked Germans, who are more concerned about gas payments than human lives in Ukraine
"We have been using all our diplomatic power these last six months to save lives... We are trying [to bring peace] every minute," said German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock.

⚡️ The Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed a barge with Russian invaders and military equipment — Operational Command “Pivden” (“South”)

⚡️Ukrainian oligarch’s companies exposed in tax evasion scheme. Ukrainian media report that the mentioned businessman is Dmytro Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch who has lived in Austria since 2014 and is charged with corruption by the U.S.

⚡️Zelensky fires two heads of intelligence agency's regional branches.
Yevhen Netuzhylov, head of the Chernihiv Oblast branch of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), was replaced by Oleksiy Lyakh.
In Kherson Oblast, most of which remains under occupation, Artem Borysevych was appointed to replace Serhiy Kryvoruchko.
Kryvoruchko was fired in March for his failure to protect the region from Russian troops at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in February.

⚡️Bild: Germany refuses to send Dingo armored personnel carriers to Ukraine.
Citing a secret document from the German Defense Ministry, Bild reported that the potential delivery of the vehicles was rejected due to Germany's "own needs."
Andriy Melnyk, Ukraine's ambassador to Germany, told Bild that the Dingos would save many lives in the Kherson counteroffensive, where the lack of such vehicles forces Ukrainian soldiers to advance on foot.
Germany has over 500 Dingo infantry mobility vehicles.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been repeatedly accused of blocking arms supplies to Ukraine.

⚡️Official: Russia returns body of British aid worker with signs of torture.
Russia had announced the death in custody of volunteer Paul Urey in July, saying he died "as a result of stress and illness."
Given the clear signs of harsh torture on Urey's body, there was no doubt regarding what he had been through, according to Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament's human rights ombudsman.

newnamenewnew
In relation to an appalling difference between rich and poor, the UK is similar, as are many other countries

It's a funny thing, but this century I haven't seen a dwelling in the UK without inside plumbing. I suppose there may be crofts in the Highlands which lack that amenity, but I don't think those are 20% of the UK housing stock.

www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/04/02/indoor-plumbing-still-a-pipe-dream-for-20-of-russian-households-reports-say-a65049

It's going well.

Any oncoming referenda are now postponed to 4th November

September 15th deadline for full control of the Donetsk region isn't looking too good either.

Today was a very bad day for the Russians on the battlefield.

Ukraine update: A huge day as Ukraine advances in every area

They seem to be losing unit cohesion in multiple locations at once. That's very difficult to recover from when you're under attack.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime , hence Russian soldiers prizing toilets in their looting. But toilets don't work if you have no running water.

...... it's just occurred .. .neither will washing machines, without running water!

You can get running water without sewage system. Septic tanks for example, although in some rural Russia it all just goes into a huge "shit pit".

This was good, from Mike Martin of the truly awful maps.

twitter.com/ThreshedThought/status/1567571443822592000?s=20&t=b9kyk4Z11kFzdofozNkqDQ

⚡️Official: Russia returns body of British aid worker with signs of torture.
Russia had announced the death in custody of volunteer Paul Urey in July, saying he died "as a result of stress and illness."
Given the clear signs of harsh torture on Urey's body, there was no doubt regarding what he had been through, according to Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament's human rights ombudsman.

The savages. Why would the brutes return the body when it is obvious he was tortured to death? Makes me sick.

Perhaps as a warning to anyone else considering volunteering? :(

ISW Key Takeaways

Ukrainian forces are skillfully exploiting Russia’s deployment of forces away from the Izyum-Kharkiv area to retake territory and threaten Russian GLOCs in the area, prompting demoralized responses from Russian milbloggers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attempted to deny the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) September 6 report on the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).

Ukrainian forces continued strikes on Russian logistics nodes, manpower and equipment concentrations, transportation networks, and command and control points in Kherson Oblast.

Russian and Ukrainian sources reported kinetic activity in northern Kherson Oblast and in western Kherson Oblast along the Kherson-Mykolaiv border.

Russian forces conducted ground attacks north of Kharkiv City, northwest of Slovyansk, northeast of Siversk, south and northeast of Bakhmut, and northwest of Donetsk City.

Ukrainian forces gained 400 square kilometers of territory northwest of Izyum on September 6-7 as part of an opportunistic and highly effective counteroffensive in southeastern Kharkiv Oblast.

Russian occupation authorities announced November 4 as the potential date for annexation referenda in occupied areas of Ukraine.

+++

⚡️Dutch minister grants municipalities right to use Russian gas despite sanctions.
Several Dutch cities, including The Hague, were granted an exemption from sanctions to continue their gas contracts with SEFE Energy Ltd, formerly known as Gazprom Germania, according to Energy Minister Rob Jetten.

⚡️General Staff: Ukraine repels 11 Russian attacks, destroys 2 aircraft and 1 helicopter.

⚡️Ukraine to set up coordination headquarters for de-occupied territories.
The Ministry for the Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories said that Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk would head the newly-created government entity that will specialize in reintegrating territories liberated by Ukrainian troops.

⚡️MP from Zelensky's party charged with bribery.
The anti-corruption prosecutor's office said on Sept. 7 that it had charged Oleksandr Trukhin, a lawmaker from the ruling Servant of the People party, with offering a Hr 150,000 ($4,000) bribe to police officers.

SBU's operation targets smugglers.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 24 Ukraine Customs Services employees were fired and four foreign nationals, three Russians and a Romanian, lost their Ukrainian citizenship following an investigation by the State Security Service (SBU). The affected individuals had been involved in illegal activities through affiliated structures and tried to maintain influence over customs officials.

⚡️Mayor: Explosions reported in Russian-occupied Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast that destroyed another Russian proxy's headquarters.

⚡️CNN: Ukrainian official says 2.5 million people have been forcibly deported to Russia. [the numbers vary but it's clear that masss forced deportations are taking place]

⚡️Zelensky: 2023 budget to provide more than trillion hryvnias for security, defense.

🤝 The USA handed over Harpoon anti-ship missiles, mounted on a mobile platform, to Ukraine
The Pentagon reported that "incredible innovations" can be observed in the process of arms supplies to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. [note the 'incredible innovations' - this war will create new doctrine, I think]

🔎 Senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials told reporters that Ukrainian defenders aim to liberate the occupied Kherson region by the end of the year, as they have made progress in the south — CNN

Ye gods, 650 personnel lost plus a lot of equipment. 650! and two planes and two helicopters! These aircraft losses have been confirmed by Ru milbloggers

I was taught proper cartography, and those maps make my eyes ache...

But they are very clear. I'm hoping the Ukrainians can pull off both Izyum and Kherson.🙏

🇺🇳The UN mission, in the coming days, will arrive in Olenivka, where Ukrainian Azov prisoners of war were killed. Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, stated this at a meeting of the UN Security Council.

"In the coming days, a fact-finding mission is set to deploy to Olenivka to probe an incident on 29 July that led to the death of 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war and inured between 75 and 130 others. The head of the mission, General Carlos Alberto de Santos Cruz, is traveling with a team of senior officers and experts. The mission must be able to conduct its work without any interference and have safe, secure and unfettered access to people, places and evidence,” she said.

⚡️ Bloomberg: US ‘quietly’ provides Ukraine with most-accurate artillery shell.
The U.S. Defense Department sent Ukraine its “most-accurate artillery shell,” the GPS-guided Excalibur, reports Bloomberg, citing budget documents that confirm the previously unannounced addition. [someone was looking through those docus with a very keen eye!]
A satellite-guided weapon can reportedly hit within two meters of its target.
The Excalibur was first used to kill al-Qaeda leader Abu Jurah in Iraq in 2007.

Blinken is in Kyiv on unannounced visit

Bloomberg: US ‘quietly’ provides Ukraine with most-accurate artillery shell.
The U.S. Defense Department sent Ukraine its “most-accurate artillery shell,” the GPS-guided Excalibur, reports Bloomberg, citing budget documents that confirm the previously unannounced addition. [someone was looking through those docus with a very keen eye!]
A satellite-guided weapon can reportedly hit within two meters of its target.
The Excalibur was first used to kill al-Qaeda leader Abu Jurah in Iraq in 2007.

This was in the news a month or so ago. I think they received 1000 of them. I suspect that a lot of precision strikes on the Russians that everyone assumed were done by HIMARS were actually Excalibur rounds. These rounds give the UAF a way to conserve HIMARS rounds for targets that require the greater range they offer.

Here's a good article on US efforts to ramp up the production of ammunition and weapons systems (including HIMARS) and developing plans and strategy to support Ukraine in the long run. It also reports that the UAF war gamed the current offensive with the Pentagon before it got started.

US military working on analysis to shape and support Ukraine's military in long term

oh that's good to hear @MissConductUS !

Reports now of a 50km Ukrainian spearhead into Russian held territory in Kharkiv Oblast near Balaklia and 20 settlements liberated.

Mind is on things closer to home right now but ...

⚡️ Ukraine’s navy destroys Russian equipment in Donetsk, Kherson oblasts.
The Ukrainian Naval Forces reported that it destroyed five Russian howitzers, two tanks, an artillery system, two multiple launch rocket systems, and a radar station on Sept. 7. [I didnt think they had much of a navy left!]

Blinken visits Kyiv to announce $2 billion in military aid to several countries including Ukraine.
U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv on Sept. 8 to announce $2 billion in foreign military financing to 19 countries, including Ukraine, at risk of future Russian aggression

⚡️ Governor: Russia amasses forces in Donetsk Oblast, tries to capture Bakhmut.
Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhiy Haidai said in a televised interview on Sept. 8 that Russia is focusing on trying to seize Bakhmut.
As a result, Russian efforts have reportedly eased by comparison in Luhansk Oblast.

⚡️ Official: Over half of Kherson Oblast residents have evacuated.

⚡️Poland, Baltic states to limit entry of Russians with Schengen visas starting Sept. 19.

⚡️Mayor reports explosions at 3 collaborators' houses in Russian-occupied Melitopol. Fedorov also said that the city council took away mandates from seven of its members suspected of treason and asked the government to seize their property.

⚡️General Staff: Ukraine liberates more than 20 settlements in Kharkiv Oblast.
According to Oleksiy Hromov, a top officer at the General Staff, Ukraine's Armed Forces have advanced up to 50 kilometers deep into the Russian-occupied territories in Kharkiv Oblast.

⚡️Norway to send about 160 Hellfire missiles to Ukraine [just the name alone is impressive!]

⚡️Podolyak, an advisor to the head of the Presidential Office, dismisses Berlusconi, Merkel as mediators between Ukraine and Russia.

⚡️General Staff: Ukrainians in occupied territories help Armed Forces track Russian troops movement.
According to Oleksii Hromov, a top officer at the General Staff, the Armed Forces receive data from civilians living in the Russian-occupied territories which helps Ukraine to strike more efficiently.

⚡️Armed Forces hit pontoon bridges, Russian command center in Kherson Oblast.

⚡️Euractiv: Ukraine to receive an invitation to the first summit of the new EU political format
“Invitations will be sent out soon” for the summit, scheduled to take place on 6-7 October in Prague, with leaders of the six Western Balkan countries, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Türkiye, Armenia, Azerbaijan expected to receive them, the EU official told reporters.
The idea for the new forum, a brainchild of French President Emmanuel Macron, is to provide a platform for a political dialogue and cooperation while including countries, aspired to join the EU and those happy remaining outside the bloc.
The main purpose is “to have a political discussion on strategic issues of common interest for the European continent,” the EU official said, adding that the main issues will include Russia’s war against Ukraine, the energy crisis and Europe’s economic situation.
[Interesting and potentially very useful]

📌U.S. Department of Defense: Ramstein-5 meeting participants will discuss long-term support for Ukraine today
The contact group has increased to more than 50 participating members.

📌UNESCO announced the opening of the Cultural Center in Lviv