#Bilohorivka

[eaglevisionlive]

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 817

Fighting

Russia claimed to have taken full control of the settlement of Bilohorivka in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region. Ukraine’s General Staff said fighting was continuing in the area and it was “holding back the onslaught of the enemy”.

Roman Semenukha, the deputy governor of the northeastern Kharkiv region, told national television that Ukrainian troops remained in control of about 60 percent of Vovchansk and were fighting house-to-house to defend the border town from Russian attacks. Also speaking on national television, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said the Vovcha river, which cuts through the town, marked the front line.

Ukraine’s Air Force said it shot down all 29 Russian drones that targeted various parts of the country on Monday. Two people in the southern Kherson and Zaporizhia regions were killed, while 16 of the drones were shot down over the southern region of Mykolaiv where the debris damaged a private home and caused a fire.

Politics and diplomacy

A court in the Russian city of Novosibirsk has jailed 24-year-old Ilya Baburin for 25 years after finding him guilty of plotting an arson attack on a military recruitment office in Siberia in 2022. Prosecutors claimed he was working on instructions from Kyiv and accused him of treason.

Russian playwright Svetlana Petriychuk and theatre director Yevgeniya Berkovich went on trial in Moscow accused of “justifying terrorism” in an award-winning play about Russian women lured to marry ISIL (ISIS) fighters in Syria and jailed on their return. The two were arrested in May last year. Berkovich has also written poems criticising Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Stanislav Netesov, a 25-year-old Russian man who dyed his hair blue, green and yellow was fined 50,000 roubles ($553) by a court for “discrediting” the Russian army. In court, Netesov denied his hair colour was meant as a statement of protest, saying that he does not support either Ukraine, whose flag is blue and yellow, or the Russian army.

Karolina Lindholm Billing, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR)’s representative in Geneva, told the AFP news agency that humanitarian aid to Ukraine was falling back even as the country’s needs were rising. The UN’s 2024 humanitarian plan for Ukraine amounts to $3.1bn this year, including $599m for the UNHCR. Lindholm Billing said the appeals were only about 15 percent funded in the first quarter of the year.

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the US was continuing to provide evidence to the International Criminal Court about war crimes committed in Ukraine.

Weapons

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Reuters news agency in an interview that Western allies were taking too long to make key decisions on military support for Ukraine, and that he was pushing partners to get more directly involved in the war by helping to intercept Russian missiles over Ukraine and allowing Kyiv to use Western weapons against enemy military equipment amassing near the border.

General Charles Q Brown, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and the country’s top general, said the US had no plans to send military trainers into Ukraine.

[captain-price-unofficially]

Bilohorivka, Luhansk Oblast under shelling.

[argumate]

Kadyrov’s threats to transfer his forces to Bakhmut may have blackmailed the Russian military command into allocating ammunition to Wagner mercenaries. Kadyrov published a letter on May 6 asking Russian President Vladimir Putin to order Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Director of the Russian National Guard (Rosgvadia) Viktor Zolotov to authorize the transfer of Chechen “Akhmat” units from “other directions” to assume Wagner’s positions in the Bakhmut direction. Kadyrov’s letter to Putin bypassed the Russian chain of command, and the withdrawal of Chechen forces from other parts of the theater likely posed a risk to Russian defensive lines, a risk that Gerasimov and Shoigu, or Putin, appear to have been unwilling to take. ISW previously observed Akhmat units operating in the Bilohorivka area on the Svatove-Kreminna line and in Zaporizhia Oblast, and their withdrawal from those positions might undermine Russia’s defensive preparations ahead of the planned Ukrainian counteroffensives. Shoigu and Gerasimov, who have been consistently loyal to Putin’s orders, may alternatively have decided to allocate ammunition to Wagner at Putin’s direction. Kadyrov’s and Prigozhin’s apparently successful joint blackmail efforts further indicate that Gerasimov does not actually control all the Russian forces in Ukraine, despite being the nominal theater commander. Gerasimov likely attempted to assume control over all Russian irregular forces over the winter of 2023 but had failed in that endeavor even before losing favor with Putin in the spring.

hilarious

[ukrainenews]

Daily Wrap Up February 27-March 1, 2023

Under the cut:

Ukrainians have reported attacks in the Bilohorivka and Kreminna areas in the eastern Luhansk region of Ukraine."There is constant shelling of our de-occupied settlements along the front line, despite the fact that there are many civilians in some settlements," Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, said. "The enemy is well aware of this and still it shells with heavy caliber weapons." For the past two months, the front lines close to the border of Luhansk and Kharkiv regions have seen heavy exchanges of fire as well as fighting in the forests west of Kreminna, which is held by the Russians.

Russia has lost at least 130 tanks and armoured personnel carriers in a three-week battle in the town of Vuhledar in southern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukrainian officials said the “epic” fight on a plain near Vuhledar produced the biggest tank battle of the war so far and a stinging setback for the Russians, the New York Times reports.

Finland has begun construction of a 200km fence on the Russian border, the country’s border guard has announced. Terrain work would begin today “with forest clearance and will proceed in such a way that road construction and fence installation can be started in March”, the Finnish border guard said in a statement.

Ukrainian forces hung onto their positions in the ruined eastern city of Bakhmut early on Thursday under constant attack from Russian troops amid signs time might be running out. Russia says seizing Bakhmut would open the way to fully controlling the rest of the strategic Donbas industrial region bordering Russia, one of the main objectives of its invasion a year ago on Feb. 24.

Ukrainian air defense is shooting down 80% of Russian missiles, according to Lieutenant General Serhii Naiev, commander of the Ukrainian Joint Forces.

“Ukrainians have reported attacks in the Bilohorivka and Kreminna areas in the eastern Luhansk region of Ukraine.

"There is constant shelling of our de-occupied settlements along the front line, despite the fact that there are many civilians in some settlements," Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, said. "The enemy is well aware of this and still it shells with heavy caliber weapons." For the past two months, the front lines close to the border of Luhansk and Kharkiv regions have seen heavy exchanges of fire as well as fighting in the forests west of Kreminna, which is held by the Russians.

"They also have a lot of Lancet kamikaze drones, and they are trying to use them to search for positions and equipment and to inflict fire," Hayday said.

There has also been heavy fighting east of the town of Kupyansk, which is in the same zone.

The Ukrainian State Border Guard Service released video of aerial reconnaissance in the area, saying that over the past few days 117 drone reconnaissance flights had helped fix artillery fire.

The General Staff said that in the northern region of Kharkiv, several civilians had been wounded in Russian rocket attacks. It reported heavy shelling along the frontline that runs north-south on the Luhansk-Kharkiv border.

Southwest of Donetsk city, "the enemy conducted unsuccessful offensive actions," according to the General Staff.

CNN has geolocated video published by one Ukrainian brigade showing several Russian tanks and fighting vehicles being struck near the town of Avdiivka.

"In the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson directions, the enemy is defending," the General Staff said, but "in some areas, it is trying to create conditions for an offensive."

The General Staff said Russian artillery had fired at more than 40 settlements in the long front line that runs from Donetsk through Zaporizhzhia and into Kherson.”-via CNN

~

“Russia has lost at least 130 tanks and armoured personnel carriers in a three-week battle in the town of Vuhledar in southern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukrainian officials said the “epic” fight on a plain near Vuhledar produced the biggest tank battle of the war so far and a stinging setback for the Russians, the New York Times reports.

Both sides sent tanks into the fray, “with the Russians thrusting forward in columns and the Ukrainians manoeuvring defensively, firing from a distance or from hiding places as Russian columns came into their sights”, the paper writes.

When it was over, not only had Russia failed to capture Vuhledar, but it also had made the same mistake that cost Moscow hundreds of tanks earlier in the war: advancing columns into ambushes.

The remains of the Russian tanks, blown up on mines, hit with artillery or destroyed by anti-tank missiles, now litter farm fields all about the coal mining town, according to Ukrainian military drone footage.

Russian troops also suffered a lack of experienced tank commanders in Vuhledar, and many of the fighters consisted of newly conscripted soldiers who had not been trained in Ukraine’s tactics for ambushing columns, the paper says. Ambushes have been Ukraine’s signature tactic against Russian armoured columns since the early days of the war.

By last week, Russia had lost so many machines to sustained armoured assaults that they had changed tactics and resorted only to infantry attacks, Ukrainian commanders said.”-via The Guardian

~

“Finland has begun construction of a 200km fence on the Russian border, the country’s border guard has announced.

Terrain work would begin today “with forest clearance and will proceed in such a way that road construction and fence installation can be started in March”, the Finnish border guard said in a statement.

The 3km pilot project at the border crossing near Imatra is expected to be completed by the end of June, it added. Construction of a further 70km, mainly in southeastern Finland, will take place between 2023 and 2025.

The fence will be more than 3 metres tall with barbed wire at the top, and particularly sensitive areas will be equipped with night vision cameras, lights and loudspeakers.

Currently, Finland’s borders are secured primarily by light wooden fences, mainly designed to stop livestock.

Although the Finland-Russia border has “worked well” in the past, Brig Gen Jari Tolppanen told AFP in November that the war in Ukraine had changed the security situation “fundamentally” and that a border fence was “indispensable” to stop large-scale illegal entries from Russian territory.”-via The Guardian

~

“Ukrainian forces hung onto their positions in the ruined eastern city of Bakhmut early on Thursday under constant attack from Russian troops amid signs time might be running out.

Russia says seizing Bakhmut would open the way to fully controlling the rest of the strategic Donbas industrial region bordering Russia, one of the main objectives of its invasion a year ago on Feb. 24.

Ukraine says Bakhmut has limited strategic value but has nevertheless put up fierce resistance. Not everyone in Ukraine is convinced that defending Bakhmut can go on indefinitely.

"I would not go as far as to say the situation is critical, but it is threatening," Ukrainian member of parliament Serhiy Rakhmanin said on Ukrainian NV radio on Wednesday night.

"From my standpoint, it is not logical to defend Bakhmut at any cost," Rakhmanin said. "But for the moment, Bakhmut will be defended with several aims - firstly, to inflict as many Russian losses as possible and make Russia use its ammunition and resources."

No lines of defence should be allowed to collapse, Rakhmanin said, and "there are two ways to approach this - an organised retreat or simple flight. And we cannot allow flight to take place under any circumstances."”-via Reuters

~

“Ukrainian air defense is shooting down 80% of Russian missiles, according to Lieutenant General Serhii Naiev, commander of the Ukrainian Joint Forces.

"At the moment, the percentage of missile interceptions has changed significantly and is at 80% or even higher in some cases. Our air defense specialists have become more professional and competent," Naiev said on March 1.

Naiev added that Russia is changing its methods and tactics when it comes to air attacks.

"Therefore, we conduct analysis after each strike," said Naiev. "This analysis is necessary, and the commanders make decisions accordingly to ensure the resilience of the air defense is at the highest level."”-via Kyiv Independent

[ciintusa-blog]

TROPAS RUSAS CAPTURAN BILOHORIVKA Y 100% DE NETAILOVE/ A 1 AÑO DE BAJMUT... BUEN VIDEO VEANLO AMIGOS, AMIGAS

[jcmarchi]

Defenders of Ukraine Started Using Landmines as Hand Grenades - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/defenders-of-ukraine-started-using-landmines-as-hand-grenades-technology-org/

Defenders of Ukraine Started Using Landmines as Hand Grenades - Technology Org

Clearing of enemy dug-in positions usually consists of artillery barrage, throwing grenades into dugouts and slowly moving through the maze of trenches. It is brutal stuff, but something people at war have to do to take enemy positions. Interestingly, in a new video you can see how the defenders of Ukraine use landmines in their trench-clearing operations.

Soviet anti-tank landmine TM-62 is a very common weapon, but is rarely used as a hand grenade. Image credit: RG72 via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Landmines are meant to slow down enemy advances. They are placed in the ground as a form of a trap. However, the war forces people to be creative. For example, the TM-62 is a very common weapon. It is a Soviet anti-tank landmine, featuring the classic pancake shape.

The warehouses of many former Soviet countries are full of these mines, because they were once extremely common, made in huge numbers. And Ukraine, of course, has many of the TM-62 landmines in stock, which they use in a variety of ways. Sometimes they put them in the ground in places where they want to stop the advancement of Russian forces, sometimes they use them as hand grenades, apparently.

To be fair, while Ukraine is very short on ammunition, it probably isn’t short on hand grenades. Missiles and, of course, artillery shells are something the defenders of Ukraine are lacking the most. However, simple regular hand grenades are sometimes just too weak.

An interesting video appeared on the Internet, which shows how Ukraine’s 81st brigade destroyed Russian positions near Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region. Simple, fast and methodical operation is carried out in the middle of the day. The defenders of Ukraine reported that the operation didn’t cost them any casualties. It is interesting that Russian dugouts were destroyed not only by regular hand grenades, but also by modified TM-62 anti-tank mines.

Footage showing Ukrainian servicemen clearing trenches and dugouts using anti-tank TM-62 mines.

Operation of 81st Brigade near Bilohorivka. Source: https://t.co/JPDNIm6FC6

According to the uploader, the positions were taken without losses, one enemy was found dead, two managed… pic.twitter.com/yr05dBhLxI

— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) March 19, 2024

TM-62 landmines were modified for this purpose – they received a long fuse that can be ignited with a simple lighter. The soldier simply lights a fuse and throws the landmine at the Russian positions. A few seconds later, a powerful explosion is heard and the dirt starts raining down on the soldiers’ heads.

The TM-62 anti-tank landmine weighs 9.5 kg and 7.5 kg is the explosive material. By comparison, one hand grenade can contain as little as 60 grams of explosive material. That is why transformed into a bomb TM-62 blows up the entire dugout. It essentially replaces 10 hand grenades.

By the way, larger Ukrainian drones often throw anti-tank mines on the heads of the Russian soldiers as a kind of aerial bomb. Thus, the TM-62 is used not only as a conventional anti-tank landmine, but also as a hand grenade and as a bomb dropped by a drone. Quite many use cases for something that was made just as a simple anti-tank mine.

Written by Povilas M.

Sources: WarTranslated (Dmitri) Twitter, Wikipedia

[ultrajaphunter]

KREMINNA AXIS /1615 UTC 25 JAN/ Ukrainian forces repelled RuZZian attacks at Terny, Makiivka, east of Dibrova, and at Serebryansk forestry. RuZZian air strikes hit Bilohorivka and Serebryansk Forestry.

[kragnir]

A happy end for those orcs and a job well-done by the Ukrainians.

[leontiucmarius]

Război în Ucraina, ziua 372. Rușii bombardează constant mai multe aşezări civile de pe linia frontului

Război în Ucraina, ziua 372. Ucrainenii au raportat mai multe atacuri în zonele Bilohorivka și Kreminna, în estul regiunii Lugansk din Ucraina.

[captain-price-unofficially]

Russian T-72B3M destroyed in Bilohorivka. Turret air time about 7 seconds

[delectablywaywardbeard-blog]

Kiev, si aggrava la situazione a Bilohorivka e Kreminna

(ANSA) – ROMA, 15 FEB – Si “aggrava” la situazione nella regione di Lugansk, nell’Ucraina orientale, dove le forze russe stanno lanciando “ondate” di attacchi nelle direzioni di Bilohorivka e Kreminna con il supporto dell’aviazione: lo scrive su Telegram il governatore della regione, Serhiy Gaidai.    Gaidai specifica che “gli orchi non sono entrati nei confini amministrativi della regione di…

[ukrainenews]

Daily Wrap Up March 7, 2023

Under the cut:

Ukraine and Russia have exchanged prisoners of war in another swap, announced by both sides on Tuesday. Moscow said it had been able to return 90 servicemen from territory controlled by Kyiv, whereas Ukraine said it had been able to bring back 130 of its soldiers from Russian captivity.

Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk region military administration, says the situation "is difficult [in the Luhansk region] but controlled by the Defense Forces of Ukraine." He said on Ukrainian television that "the most difficult areas are Bilohorivka and Kreminna" where there were constant assaults and shelling by Russian troops.

The Ukrainian deputy prime minister told regional media on Tuesday that fewer than 4,000 civilians, including 38 children remain in Bakhmut.

New intelligence reviewed by U.S. officials indicates that a pro-Ukrainian group sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines that carried natural gas from Russia to Europe, but they have found no evidence of Kyiv government involvement in the September 2022 attack, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

“Ukraine and Russia have exchanged prisoners of war in another swap, announced by both sides on Tuesday.

Moscow said it had been able to return 90 servicemen from territory controlled by Kyiv, whereas Ukraine said it had been able to bring back 130 of its soldiers from Russian captivity.

“Another prisoner swap — we managed to bring home 130 of our people — 126 men and 4 women,” the Ukrainian President’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak posted on Telegram on Thursday. “Among them — 87 defenders of Mariupol, 71 of whom are from Azovstal. We are also returning those taken prisoner in the area of Bakhmut and Soledar — 35 people in total from the Donetsk direction.”

“Most of the people we are returning today are seriously injured. As President Volodymyr Zelensky says, the state must take care of each of them. Each of our heroes should feel that the state cares about them,” he added. Russia's Ministry of Defense also said the soldiers it was able to exchange for were in “mortal danger” and said they’d be flown to Moscow for treatment.

“As a result of the negotiation process, 90 Russian servicemen who were in mortal danger have been returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,” it said in a statement on Tuesday. “Airplanes of the military transport aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces will transport the released servicemen to Moscow for treatment and rehabilitation at medical institutions of the Russian Defense Ministry.”

“All those released are being provided with the necessary medical and psychological assistance,” it added.”-via CNN

~

“While most attention is focused on the battle for the city of Bakhmut, fierce battles continue a short distance to the north, according to Ukrainian officials.

Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk region military administration, says the situation "is difficult [in the Luhansk region] but controlled by the Defense Forces of Ukraine."

He said on Ukrainian television that "the most difficult areas are Bilohorivka and Kreminna" where there were constant assaults and shelling by Russian troops.

"They are trying to push out our defenders to reach Stelmakhivka, Nevske, and recapture these settlements."

Stelmakhivka and Nevske are villages on the borders of the Luhansk and Kharkiv regions that were recaptured by Ukrainian forces in September.

"When they [the Russians] lose personnel and their hardware is damaged, they take time to "recover" for about a day, replenish their supplies, and then go on the offensive again," Hayday said.

"There's more shelling now. We can clearly see that they have been given ammunition and supplies recently. That's why the number of attacks with 'heavy' artillery and tank attacks has increased." Hayday said the Russians were regularly changing their tactics. "There were small groups; there were offensives with up to three companies of exclusively infantry; there was an offensive using "armor" with up to two companies supported by "heavy" hardware."

In that way, the Russians were constantly trying to test the strength of Ukrainian defenses, he said.”-via CNN

~

“The Ukrainian deputy prime minister told regional media on Tuesday that fewer than 4,000 civilians, including 38 children remain in Bakhmut.

“Approximately 38 children, as far as we know, remain in Bakhmut today,” AFP quotes Iryna Vereshchuk saying.

The city, the focus of fierce fighting in the Donbas region, had an estimated prewar population of about 70,000 people.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine is committed to defending the embattled city despite a partial encirclement, and there are conflicting reports about the state of the defence of the city.

Jan Gagin, an adviser to the Russian-installed leaders in the occupied portion of Donetsk, has claimed that Russian forces control about half of Bakhmut, while Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner mercenary group whose troops are spearheading the attack, has said that between 12,000 and 20,000 Ukrainian troops remain defending it.

Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said on Tuesday the seizure of Bakhmut would allow Moscow’s forces to mount further offensive operations.”-via The Guardian

~

“New intelligence reviewed by U.S. officials indicates that a pro-Ukrainian group sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines that carried natural gas from Russia to Europe, but they have found no evidence of Kyiv government involvement in the September 2022 attack, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The U.S. and NATO have called the attacks, which occurred seven months into Russia's invasion of Ukraine and destroyed three of the four pipelines running under the Baltic Sea, "an act of sabotage".

Moscow has blamed Ukraine's Western supporters and has called on the U.N. Security Council to independently investigate. Neither side has provided evidence.

Citing U.S. officials, the New York Times said there was no evidence that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy or his top aides were involved in the operation or that the perpetrators were acting at the behest of any Ukrainian government officials.

White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that Washington was waiting for ongoing investigations in Germany, Sweden and Denmark - all in the Baltic region - to conclude, "and only then should we be looking at what follow-on actions might or may not be appropriate".

Responding to the report, senior Zelenskiy adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters that the Kyiv government was "absolutely not involved" in the sabotage strike, and had no information about what had happened.

Russia's deputy United Nations ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told Reuters the report proved Moscow's push for the Security Council to set up an independent inquiry was "very timely" and it would seek a vote on a draft resolution by the end of March.

The Times wrote that the intelligence review suggested those behind the pipeline explosions, which spewed gas into the Baltic, were Ukrainian or Russian nationals, or a combination of the two, who opposed Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But the review did not specify the members of the group or who directed or paid for the operation, it said.

"U.S. officials declined to disclose the nature of the intelligence, how it was obtained or any details of the strength of the evidence. They have said that there were no firm conclusions about it," the Times added.

Built by Russia's state-controlled Gazprom (GAZP.MM), the Nord Stream gas pipelines connected Russia and Germany. Nord Stream 1 was completed in 2011, and Nord Stream 2 in 2021 - over the objections of Ukraine and some of Germany's allies including the U.S. who feared this would allow Moscow to blackmail Berlin by threatening to curb supplies.

Germany ended up halting certification of Nord Stream 2 amid signs that Russia was about to invade Ukraine, and since then Europe has drastically cut energy imports from Russia.

Gazprom representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the New York Times report.”-via Reuters

[cyberbenb]

Governor: Russia trying to storm Luhansk Oblast's Bilohorivka, situation 'really difficult'

Russian troops have been trying to storm the village of Bilohorivka in Luhansk Oblast for three days, but the situation is under Ukraine’s control, Governor Artem Lysohor told Radio Free Europe/Radio Source : kyivindependent.com/governor-…

[watchman-today]

Ukraine’s forces still hold Bilohorivka, last part of Luhansk region – governor http://dlvr.it/ShyNgF

[russiaukrainevladimirputin]

Action And Russia Ukraine Vladimir Putin Nuclear

As the war in Ukraine continues, all eyes are on Russia’s subsequent steps and the country’s ultimate aim behind the invasion. Liberty, democracy, human dignity — these are the forces far more highly effective than concern about russia ukraine vladimir putin nuclear and oppression.

They can't be extinguished by tyrants like Putin and his armies. They can't be erased by folks — from people’s hearts and hopes by any amount of violence about putin russia ukraine conflict and intimidation.

"It depends on many reasons and, sadly, does not rely upon the desire of Ukraine. We create stress as hard as we will politically, but the essential factor about putin russia ukraine news is that our pressure is well-reasoned."

The Prime Minister is subsequently encouraging allies to deploy their deliberate support for 2023 as quickly as attainable to have most influence.

Kherson Oblast Administration Advisor Serhiy Khlan acknowledged on January 18 that Russian occupation authorities gave residents in occupied Ivanivka Hromada, Kherson Oblast, a three-day deadline to submit documentation to reregister houses and land underneath Russian regulation.

He said Medvedev's remarks have been in full accordance with Russia's nuclear doctrine which permits for a nuclear strike after "aggression towards the Russian Federation with typical weapons when the very existence of the state is threatened."

Funding for FRONTLINE is offered via the assist of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Park Foundation; the Heising-Simons Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with main assist from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and extra help from Koo and Patricia Yuen.

South Africa Criticized For Hosting Russian Warships Amid Ukraine Warfare

But these are also the end result of deliberate efforts by these forces which have always sought to undermine our unity. The formula they apply has been recognized from time immemorial – divide and rule. Hence the attempts to play on the ”national question“ and sow discord among folks, the overarching aim being to divide after which to pit the components of a single people towards one another.

With his bombs now falling on Ukraine, Putin has forced them to hear, and he's daring them to respond. We provide evaluation, training, and assets to those working for peace all over the world. Receive updates on publications and events from RUSI straight into your inbox.

How Russias New Commander In Ukraine May Change The War

Longer term, with Putin and the Duma threatening to confiscate any remaining assets of firms that have quickly fled Russia, few overseas investors will return anytime quickly. It is sadly reminiscent of what occurred to the Russian financial system when the Bolsheviks seized power in 1917. Yet a few of Ukraine’s key companions proceed to withstand supplying Kyiv with the weapons it needs to deliver the knockout punch.

Geolocated footage published on January 18 indicates that Russian forces have made marginal advances south of Ploshchanka . Luhansk Oblast Head Serhiy Haidai acknowledged on January 18 that Russian forces attempted to counterattack close to Kreminna however that Russian forces are unlikely to launch a counteroffensive within the space within the near future. Haidai also stated that Russian forces are transferring tools to the opposite facet of the Krasna River, which flows through Kreminna, in preparation for defensive operations and that Russian forces are continuing to maneuver reserves to the Svatove-Kreminna line. Geolocated footage published on January 17 shows Russian forces shifting reserves and military gear near Severodonetsk . The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces repelled a Russian assault near Bilohorivka . Putin continues efforts to reinvigorate Russia’s defense industrial base to support a protracted warfare in Ukraine.Putin visited staff on the Obukhov State Plant—part of the Almaz-Antey Russian state-owned protection industrial company—on January 18.

What Are Moscow’s Calculations Vis-à-vis Europe And The United States?

Hundreds of billions of dollars had been dedicated to modernizing the armed forces under Mr. Putin, but corruption scandals ensnared thousands of officers. One army contractor described frantically hanging enormous patriotic banners to hide the decrepit circumstances at a significant Russian tank base, hoping to idiot a delegation of prime brass. The guests were even prevented from going inside to use the toilet, he mentioned, lest they uncover the ruse. Russian invasion plans, obtained by The New York Times, show that the army expected to sprint hundreds of miles across Ukraine and triumph inside days. Officers were informed to pack their dress uniforms and medals in anticipation of army parades in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

When the top of the C.I.A. traveled to Moscow final year to warn towards invading Ukraine, he discovered a supremely confident Kremlin, with Mr. Putin’s nationwide security adviser boasting that Russia’s cutting-edge armed forces had been robust sufficient to stand up even to the Americans. Of the 60 members of his platoon close to the jap Ukrainian town of Pavlivka that day in late October, about forty have been killed, said Mikhail, talking by phone from a military hospital exterior Moscow. One of the issues we saw in the first couple days of the war was tanks breaking down. We kept seeing autos break down for maintenance points as a outcome of they didn’t have enough fuel, and all these different kinds of mistakes. And that’s basically because they weren’t told they were going to war.

Putin Meets Russian Security Council To Discuss Progress On Ukraine Struggle

“He was in a neck brace,” she told me. “He was covered with dirt—they must have dragged him. When we met on Sunday, at one of those cozy and delicious Moscow restaurants, Yudin nonetheless had a swollen eye and a noticeable scrape on his left temple. Occasionally in Moscow, you may see a clump of police officers in riot gear and a prisoner bus parked on the side of the highway, its engine off—which implies that the folks inside are getting very cold because the bus slowly fills up. In the middle of town, police buses have been parked for days, apparently on reserve in case of a bigger operation. OVDInfo, a corporation that tracks political persecution, has documented about sixty-four hundred detentions since Thursday, in additional than a hundred cities.

Andrey Medvedev, an orphan who joined the Russian military and served time in jail before becoming a member of the mercenary group in July 2022, said he had slipped away after witnessing the killing of captured deserters. He added that Poland was keen to provide tanks if other allies followed swimsuit. It is the primary case in Italy of a Russian with belongings frozen in the nation who has managed to dodge EU sanctions. The move will “recognise the transcontinental menace that Wagner poses, including through its ongoing pattern of serious felony activity”, Reuters cited a senior US official as saying.

Helicopter Crash Kills Ukrainian Minister In Blow To Wartime Leadership

There shall be little that we can do to cease Putin in his tracks, nonetheless. As President Biden said Thursday, “America stands up for freedom,” however Putin is hell bent on standing up for authoritarianism. Make no mistake, this can be a struggle on Ukraine’s democracy and has nothing to do with Russian fears of it one day joining NATO. For Putin, the example of a free, impartial Ukraine on Russia’s border is simply too inspiring a mannequin for his personal people who would possibly ultimately demand something similar at house, and that might mean his ouster. So for him, Ukrainian independence and democracy is an existential threat to his personalistic autocracy. I imagine that Putin’s goal in Ukraine is to deliver about the collapse of the present democratic regime in that country and substitute it with a puppet government sympathetic to Moscow.

The International Criminal Court opened an investigation into crimes towards humanity in Ukraine since 2013, in addition to warfare crimes in the 2022 invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday pleaded with leaders of the European Union to pursue new sanctions towards Russia's nuclear business and energy carriers.

Moscow responded with strikes by artillery, a number of rocket launchers, missiles, tanks and mortars at residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, worsening injury to the power grid.

This is particularly true for an atomized country in which a propaganda machine has supplanted most media.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky stated Moscow desires to make use of the Orthodox Christmas vacation as “cover” to resupply and cease Ukrainian advances in the eastern Donbas region.

The NATO air drive is a lot more powerful than the Russian that NATO would quickly prevail and Russia wouldn't have any chance of profitable the war under these circumstances.

Chancellor Scholz with Singaporean ministers ahead of his speech on Monday. "This could appear very hole to nations that have been under Russian pressure for much of the Cold War period," Kissinger told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, through video link. "Putin might announce a second mobilization wave to broaden his army within the coming days — presumably as early as January 18," analysts on the Institute for the Study of War said Tuesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin could probably be ready to announce another round of mobilization as Russia appears to beef up its armed forces in Ukraine. Twenty-two victims are in hospital, together with 10 children, Klymenko said.

Ukraine War: This Battle Is Just Further Proof That Putin's Russia Is Now A Rogue Energy

Mr. Tinkov, the previous tycoon who founded considered one of Russia’s largest banks, posted on Instagram in April that the warfare was “crazy” and excoriated Mr. Putin in an interview with The Times, thinking he’d set the stage for extra of Russia’s highly effective to comply with go properly with. Intercepted telephone calls from Russian soldiers within the region confirmed their bitterness as they had been coming underneath fire — with much of their anger directed at their commanders. “Wagner nearly at all times fights alone,” he mentioned in an Oct. 14 post on the web page of his catering firm on VK, a Russian social media site.

When he launched airstrikeson Syria in 2015, Putin made the case that Russia was aiding the fight towards terrorists, corresponding to ISIS. But the army intervention started as Russia was struggling beneath Western financial and diplomatic sanctions — a result of its annexation of Crimea and actions in japanese Ukraine. Expertstold FRONTLINEPutin saw Syria as a chance to re-assert Russian influence in the Middle East. Pressuring Ukraine would additionally damage the Euro-Atlantic architecture that has roughly kept the peace on the continent for the previous seven-plus a long time.

Choose Says Desantis Violated 1st Amendment, But Upholds 'woke' Prosecutor's Dismissal

A reporter for Novaya Gazeta, an opposition newspaper in Russia, said that the Russian military leadership paid troopers to resign their commissions and battle in Ukraine within the early summer time of 2014, and then began ordering soldiers into Ukraine. Russian opposition MP Lev Shlosberg made related statements, although he said combatants from his nation are "common Russian troops", disguised as units of the DPR and LPR. On 24 August 2014, Amvrosiivka was occupied by Russian paratroopers, supported by 250 armoured automobiles and artillery pieces. The identical day, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko referred to the operation as Ukraine's "Patriotic War of 2014" and a warfare against exterior aggression. On 25 August, a column of Russian army autos was reported to have crossed into Ukraine close to Novoazovsk on the Azov beach. It appeared headed towards Ukrainian-held Mariupol, in an area that had not seen pro-Russian presence for weeks.

To Putin, even if Russia had failed to stop NATO enlargement, it would yet sow doubt about the alliance’s reliability, undermining faith in America’s support for different states on Russia’s borders, NATO members or not.

The newest deadly Russian strike on a civilian target in the almost 11-month wa r triggered outrage.

With oil revenues fueling Putin’s aggression in opposition to Ukraine, the connection between Russia and OPEC, and particularly with Saudi Arabia because the dominant actor in the cartel, has come into sharper focus.

Putin was visiting his native Saint Petersburg to mark the eightieth anniversary of Soviet forces breaking the siege of Leningrad as the city was recognized at the time.

Russia had not educated its infantry, air and artillery forces to work in concert, move shortly after which do all of it again from a new location, officials stated.

Even the US president Joe Biden’s assertion that Putin should be offered an “off ramp” is a recognition of the desire to solve the Ukraine crisis on these terms. Given the place a lot of the fighting and dying is happening it's simple to suppose that the current European security crisis is primarily about Ukraine. This tendency is strengthened by the fact that Russia and the west are eager to keep the warfare restricted to Ukrainian territory. It remains uncertain whether or when Russia could attain its decreased goal of taking the south and east. Kyiv’s forces have pushed Russian forces back from Kharkiv and are making ready counteroffensives within the south near Kherson. In Luhansk Oblast , Ukraine made Russia pay mightily for each inch of territory, helping to purchase time for crucial western artillery to arrive.

Putin Says No Need For Nuclear Weapons As Russias War On Ukraine Drags On Nationwide

The document states that the Russian president makes the decision to make use of nuclear weapons. The devastation caused by a nuclear weapon may undermine Putin at house although. He offered this conflict to his population on the basis of shared history with Ukraine, creating a possible backlash were he to supervise, by the use of nuclear force, the destruction of cities or the mass killing of Ukrainians, who he has described as "one people" with Russians. Tactical or non-strategic nuclear weapons are meant for more restricted strikes or use on the battlefield over a shorter vary while strategic nuclear weapons typically have greater explosive yields and are supposed to be used against targets farther from the front strains.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley have periodically talked with their Russian counterparts and should now communicate to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and to the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov.

Putin’s technique allows him to duck the explosive political fallout of extra affluent families in Moscow and St Petersburg having to send youngsters with no navy experience to battle on the entrance strains.

However, each analysts played down the danger of an imminent Russian nuclear strike.

The prospect of worldwide nuclear warfare has been a line that neither facet is keen to cross. Amid Russia’s serious battlefield reverses, India and China—both of which have bristled underneath the constraints of the American-led world order—stepped up their warnings that by no means should Putin resort to the nuclear option. The political backlash Russia would face if it deployed its nuclear arms in opposition to Ukraine can also be important. Just final month, India’s Narendra Modi publicly scolded Russia; China has already expressed its concern; and Russia’s other supporters—including Serbia and North Korea—have tried to distance themselves from Moscow’s current actions. All that is already happening now—before Russia had been to cross the nonetheless theoretical nuclear threshold.

Putin Says Ukraine Battle Is Taking Longer Than Expected

MOSCOW -An ally of President Vladimir Putin warned NATO on Thursday that a defeat of Russia in Ukraine could set off a nuclear warfare, whereas the top of the Russian Orthodox Church mentioned the world would finish if the West tried to destroy Russia. U.S. provision of more destructive weapons or actionable intelligence may help Ukraine carry the battle to Russia itself. Again, the danger is escalation of the warfare, as Russia could interpret this as direct U.S. participation in the warfare. But successfully deterring Putin may also require sustaining NATO unity. One of the best weapons in opposition to Russia’s invasion, apart from the Ukrainian individuals, has confirmed to be the alliance’s unity and continued assist for Ukraine in the face of unprovoked aggression.

We don’t know what the probability of nuclear warfare is at any explicit moment.

An professional tells Popular Mechanics he believes the united states authorities and others would detect if Russian forces have been making ready for nuclear action.

It should also be borne in thoughts that the significant synergistic “weight” of anybody peril may differ from daily or even from hour to hour.

But letting their nuclear apprehensions overshadow all the other pursuits at stake in Ukraine makes little sense. Indeed, the one thing extra terrifying than Russian nuclear use may be letting such fears drive and derail Western and Ukrainian strategy. Fear, nonetheless, shouldn't drive the Western response to Russia’s nuclear bluster.

Russia-ukraine Struggle: Vladimir Putins Ultimate Objective

But if he begins to appear to be a loser, then he now not seems infallible. Although elites are invested in him and his system, there may ultimately come some extent where people start saying, “maybe someone else, Vladimir Vladimirovich, maybe someone else would possibly deal with the system better.” It might begin with the hardliners making an attempt to push themselves ahead. For India, this has been a nightmare, frankly, and they’ve been trying to straddle the fence and determine a stability.

And she sees him attempting to get the West to accede to his goals by utilizing messengers like billionaire Elon Musk to propose preparations that may finish the conflict on his phrases.

The Bidens highlighted the work of Denys Monastyrsky, Ukraine's Minister of Internal Affairs, who was killed in the crash along with a quantity of other Ukrainian officers.

The United Nations General Assembly handed a resolution condemning the invasion and demanding a full withdrawal of Russian forces.

Macron, particularly, has repeatedly tried to cause with Putin by way of quite a few phone calls—but with none success.

With the direct involvement of the occupying forces, the Central Rada was overthrown and Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi was delivered to power, proclaiming instead of the UPR the Ukrainian State, which was basically underneath German protectorate.

I suppose they're very, very conscious that they’ve obtained to leave a security valve open as a end result of in any other case there could be extra protests, and more violence in response to the mobilization.

And she sees him making an attempt to get the West to accede to his goals by using messengers like billionaire Elon Musk to suggest preparations that might end the conflict on his terms. LARA SELIGMAN and PAUL MCLEARY U.S. prepping main navy package deal for Ukraine "Friday's announcement is anticipated to incorporate Stryker autos, but not tanks". "Inside the multinational logistics cell coordinating army aid for Ukraine". "US sends more military aid to Ukraine that features ammunition, mines and satellite antennas". "Top American basic says US and allies need to help Ukraine build a complete missile defence system".

Putin Says He Is Ready To "negotiate With Everybody Involved" Relating To Ukraine

Russian attacks on energy stations have left tens of millions without electrical energy, and Zelenskiy said Moscow would purpose to make the previous couple of days of 2022 dark and difficult. The missiles hit an industrial area of the town, and there weren’t any casualties, according to the Ukrainian governor of Donetsk, Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Kyrylenko said that town of Avdiivka was additionally attacked on Sunday with six rounds of shelling, and a girl was wounded there. During a televised address with senior military officials, the Russian president mentioned he continued to see Ukraine as a "brotherly nation".

The offensive continued pushing east and by 2 October, Ukrainian Armed Forces had liberated another key city within the Second Battle of Lyman.

And this is happening in a rustic, as I even have already famous, that may be very advanced when it comes to its territorial, nationwide and linguistic composition, and its history of formation.

Their aim was to not only punish Russia and disrupt President Vladimir Putin’s struggle machine, however there was hope that the resulting financial hardship might persuade odd Russians to insurgent, or prompt a putsch by Kremlin insiders or oligarchs.

In return, Russia, the United Kingdom , and the United States agreed within the Budapest Memorandum to uphold the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

The US government has designated the Russian non-public navy contractor often identified as the Wagner Group as a “transnational criminal group,” giving the infamous mercenary outfit the same standing as worldwide drug cartels and human trafficking organisations beneath US regulation.

A third Russian attack group from Crimea moved northwest and captured bridges over the Dnieper. On 2 March, Russian troops won a battle at Kherson; this was the primary main city to fall to Russian forces within the invasion. On 2 March, Ukrainian forces initiated a counter-offensive on Horlivka, controlled by the DPR since 2014.

How Rich Is Putin And Can Ukraine Sanctions Damage Him? LA Instances

Back in October last year, the Pandora Papers leaks revealed that Zelensky founded a network of offshore corporations back in 2012, two of which had been used to buy expensive properties in London. One of the president's advisers defended this, claiming the offshore corporations have been created to "defend" Zelensky's funds from then-president Viktor Yanukovych, who was overthrown in the course of the Ukrainian Revolution in 2014. Venezuela's money supply has fallen beneath $1 billion (£768m) according toBloomberg, although Credit Suisse has predicted the nation's economic system will grow by 20% before the top of this 12 months. The nation possesses 161.2 tonnes of gold but hasn't been able to promote it because the Bank of England, which holds round a third of its gold reserves, refused Venezuela access amid US sanctions in opposition to the South American country. While it's true that Vladimir Putin has not come close to launching any anti-Semitic holocausts in latest many years, in accordance with many, he reveals indicators of expansionist fanaticism and an obsession to attain whole Russian domination. Born in Leningrad in 1952, the Kremlin leader's reclusive character was fashioned during his childhood, when he needed to develop up in a surrogate family that he had been despatched to by his organic parents.

Putin also has good relations with Malaysia and its then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, in addition to with Bangladesh, signing a nuclear power deal with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

In August 2008, Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili tried to restore control over the breakaway South Ossetia.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan served as mayor of Istanbul and Turkey's prime minister earlier than being elected as the country's president in 2014.

Forty years later, having simply concluded the 2022 NATO Summit in Madrid, we will look back and see many familiar themes in Sir Clive’s phrases – but in addition discover some key differences between then and now.

As per the report by Business Insider, financier Bill Browder believes that Putin “has accumulated $200 billion of ill-gotten features."

Yeah, the relationship between Wagner and the Defense Ministry has been interesting for years.

Now Russia has mobilized, and the Wagner Group is throwing convicts into the struggle. Previously she labored within the London Bureau, overlaying worldwide stories. “If these dangerous actors catch wind early sufficient, they may grab the money and run. That’s the means it works,” stated Schanzer, who is now a senior vp for analysis at the nonprofit Foundation for Defense of Democracies. In 2015, his firm, Polyus, was delisted from the London Stock Exchange during the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Crimea, so Kerimov took measures to insulate his controlling stake within the Russian gold big, by transferring it to his then-20 year-old son, Said. When a reporter from the Swiss media outlet Tamedia, a reporting partner on this project, approached the tattoo artist at his studio, he referred all questions to Studhalter.

Prime Information Tales

Today’s sanctions show that nothing and nobody is off the desk, including Putin’s inner circle.” A assertion on UK Government web site mentioned on Wednesday. The monetary impacts may just be beginning, according to Russian specialists. Usmanov, who was sanctioned by the EU on Monday and might be on an upcoming U.S. list, according to reports, has seen his wealth only fall by $1.7 billion, to $19.5 billion, in accordance with Bloomberg. Russia's richest man on the record, Vladimir Potanin, who has not been sanctioned, has seen a loss of lower than a quarter of his wealth, down to $25 billion.

Vladimir Putin's net price may secretly make him the world's richest man with a £1bn home where the bathroom brushes price £650.

In each those operations, they didn’t assume that a lot resistance.

This bargain allowed the oligarchs to hold up most of their powers, in exchange for his or her explicit support for—and alignment with—Putin's government.

By turns personal — Kerimov rarely gives interviews — and flamboyant, he has been referred to as a “Russian Gatsby” for internet hosting multi-million-dollar events at his large villas on the French Riviera, together with one soiree that reportedly featured a performance by Beyoncé.

In 1995, he managed the legislative election marketing campaign for that celebration, and from 1995 through June 1997, he was the leader of its Saint Petersburg department.

Former intelligence officer and politician Vladimir Putin presided over Russia from 1999 to 2008 and once more from 2012 to the current. According to a quantity of sources, Putin bought an opulent home in 2017, a number of kilometers from Russia's western border, with gold-plated tiles in the swimming pool. However, the Kremlin has always denied that Putin is the proprietor of the property. It accommodates a marble swimming pool with Greek deity sculptures as decorations. Lyudmila, Putin's ex-wife, is in command of accounts value $260,000.