Italy has historically had a large contingent who support communism and Russia, I remember reading books about it 45 years ago.
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ISW Key Takeaways
Local military commissars are carrying out mobilization orders in a way that suggests a possible disconnect between Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu’s guidelines for partial mobilization and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demands for haste.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely continuing to address systemic issues in Russian senior command by replacing individual senior subordinates.
Russia may be preparing to forcibly mobilize Ukrainian prisoners of war in what may constitute a violation of the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War. [the ISW put this in large font]
Ukrainian forces likely continued to make gains along the Kharkiv-Luhansk Oblast border and northwest of Lyman.
Ukrainian military officials indicated that the continued Ukrainian interdiction campaign in southern Ukraine is degrading Russian combat capabilities.
Russian sources identified three locations where Ukrainian troops conducted ground operations in Kherson Oblast- northern Kherson Oblast, western Kherson Oblast near the Inhulets River, and northwest of Kherson City near the Mykolaiv-Kherson Oblast border.
Russian forces conducted ground attacks around Bakhmut, Donetsk City, and in western Donetsk Oblast.
Russian authorities continue to coerce residents of occupied Ukrainian territory into voting in sham referenda.
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⚡️ New York Times: Putin rejects commanders’ requests to withdraw from Kherson.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been more directly involved in planning Russia’s war in Ukraine, reports New York Times, citing unnamed U.S. officials.
⚡️ Ukrenergo exports over $118 million worth of electricity to EU in 3 months.
⚡️ Zelensky: Around 50 Ukrainian soldiers killed in action every day.
The death rate among Russian soldiers is five times higher than for Ukrainian soldiers, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Ouest-France newspaper
⚡️ Estonia submits ICJ declaration denouncing Russian genocide in Ukraine.
Russia toughens penalty for desertion, surrender, following mobilization of reservists (kyivindependent.com/news-feed/russia-toughens-penalty-for-desertion-surrender-following-mobilization-of-reservists)
On Sept. 24, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin signed into law amendments to the Russian Criminal Code toughening punishment for desertion, looting, and voluntary surrender, as reported by the Russian news agency Interfax.
⚡️Russian media: Russia considers imposing martial law, banning men of draft age from leaving the country from 27 - 30 Sept
According to preliminary information, martial law will be introduced in the border areas.
According to Russian state news agency TASS, Moscow may "annex" Ukraine's partially occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts on Sept. 30, following sham referendums.
⚡️Ukraine calls for UN Security Council emergency meeting over Russia’s sham referendums.
⚡️Russian media: Pro-Kremlin former lawmaker killed in occupied Kherson Oblast.
Pro-Kremlin Zhuravko fled Ukraine in 2015. After Russia launched a full-scale invasion, Zhuravko collaborated with Moscow in the occupied regions.
Governor: Russians claim high turnout at sham referendum in destroyed, depopulated Luhansk Oblast.
(kyivindependent.com/news-feed/governor-russians-claim-high-turnout-at-sham-referendum-in-destroyed-depopulated-luhansk-oblast)
According to Serhiy Haidai, Russians claim turnout in destroyed Sievierodonetsk, Lysychansk, and Rubizhne at 41-46%, despite most people leaving the region amid fighting.
💸 Yesterday the Russians withdrew 132 billion in cash
The demand for cash among Russians after the start of partial mobilization soared 9 times per day - from 14.2 billion rubles. [does anyone know the significance of this?]
‼️ All Ukrainian defenders released from captivity have critical anorexia, says Olena Tolkacheva, head of the Azov patronage service
📌 In Mariupol, the invaders are forcing people to participate in pseudo-referendum for joining Russia, threatening to deprive them from their jobs and wages otherwise
❌ The Russian occupational authorities force Ukrainian prisoners of war to vote in the pseudo referendums. 57 prisoners of war kept in the Olenivka prison were forced to participate in the "referendum", according to the Russian mass media
🚩 The Russian mercenaries are preparing provocations at the border between Belarus and Ukraine, according to Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
⚡️ On Saturday, September 24, the Ukrainian Air Defense units eliminated four planes, five UAVs and a guided missile, reports the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
🗣 "The kid was from the 204th Regiment. He says there were 18 people left alive," the wife tells a soldier of the “LPR” about the losses near Izium and the mobilization of 15-year-old boys from the territories of the so-called LPR
📍 As much as three Russian regional governors have already criticized the military comissariats for drafting all and sundry, including those unfit for military service
📡 Elon Mask is planning to launch Starlink in Iran as protests are expanding in the country
📊 Over 70% of Ukrainians suffered financial damage due to the full-scale war, according to survey data
📣 "Putin's mobilization also directly affects international businesses which remain working in Russia. They are now obliged by law to assist authorities in drafting their employees. The choice is either to become accomplices in Putin's barbaric war or to immediately pull out of Russia," tweeted the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba
🇵🇱 Poland is creating a new unit to reinforce border defense, the Border Defense Component
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4 planes down, apparently in the Lyman area. Reports that the Ru forces there are being encircled as @MMBaranova said. Higher than usual troop losses too.
[two more eggs are showing signs of hatching and the first egg is quietly quacking away quite often]