POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 07/05/2023
One month after the start of the offensive, and with results that do not correspond to the expectations created by the Zelensky government itself, the Ukrainian troops seem to be adapting their tactics to an apparently stiffer Russian resistance than Kiev expected. Attacks with large armored columns, in which Ukraine suffered significant losses, have disappeared and there has been a relative reduction in fighting on the front lines for several days, which now seems to be picking up again. The objectives remain the same, although secondary directions appear with which Ukraine aspires to disperse the Russian forces in order to achieve some local success to present to its partners next week at the NATO summit.
Original Article: Voennaya Kronika
The Armed Forces of Ukraine have again gone on the offensive on the Zaporozhye front. What can you expect from it? At the moment, their main efforts are concentrated in the direction of the town of Rabodino, where the units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation maintain the defense. However, movements are gradually taking place in other sectors of the front as well.
kyiv cannot stop the offensive on Zaporozhye and south of Donetsk now. Its importance is too high, so all the forces that can be found are moving to this area. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have been attacking for a month now, but activity is likely to increase markedly in the coming days before the start of the NATO summit, which begins on July 11. For the start of the summit, the Ukrainian army needs to show at least minimal results on the battlefield. If this does not happen, the level and parameters of military assistance may be revised and questions will begin to appear for the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the country's authorities.
Despite the heavy losses and the entry into the fight of a significant part of the strategic reserves, there are still around six brigades that the Ukrainian army has not used. Some units have been withdrawn from other areas, such as Krasny Liman, Kherson or Kupyansk.
In parallel with the intensification of hostilities in a number of areas in the Zaporozhye region over the past week, unusual activity by the Armed Forces of Ukraine has also been registered in other sectors of the front. Specifically, there have been attacks with small groups in the Soledar area and an attempt to land on the left bank of the Dnieper river in the area of the Antonovsky bridge [destroyed last summer to make Russian logistics as difficult as possible, which ultimately led to the withdrawal of Russian troops without raising a battle for the city of Kherson- Ed]. There have been several attempts that have not led to substantial changes on the front, but have received attention. Judging by the fact that no large troop movements have been detected in those two directions, it is most likely that both episodes are simply a diversionary maneuver or actions that would only be carried out if they were met with initial success.
The main task of the Ukrainian command may be another, and it is possible that diversionary actions are being carried out along the entire front for this. It is possible that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will risk organizing a raid in the Energodar area and the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. Hence, an important part of the efforts of the Russian troops are dedicated to carrying out simulation maneuvers of military operations [a drill has recently been produced, supposedly for a reaction to the terrorist attack that Zelensky affirms that Russia is preparing against the plant under its control , an imaginary accusation that, at the very least, heralds the resumption of bombardments in the area- Ed ] to initiate an operation whose principle requires secrecy.
https://slavyangrad.es/2023/07/05/notas ... more-27667
Google Translator
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Chronicle of the special military operation for July 4, 2023
July 4, 2023
Rybar
This morning, Ukrainian formations again used drones to attack the Moscow agglomeration . Russian air defense crews and electronic warfare units neutralized all devices: no damage or casualties.
At the same time, the enemy continues to make attempts to break through the Russian defenses in several sectors of the front: during today, the most fierce battles took place in the Soledar and Zaporozhye directions .
In addition, in the afternoon, the RF Armed Forces attacked Pervomaisky in the Kharkiv region : a rocket hit the place where the personnel of the national battalion "Kraken" mustered to hold a commemoration for a member of the unit, Oleg Fadeenko. At the moment, the number of liquidated militants is unknown.
In turn, the Ukrainian formations dealt a massive blow to the front-line settlements of Russia: according to the latest information, two civilians were killed and 15 more were injured.
At night, the enemy fired rockets from the HIMARS MLRS at the Chervonogvardeisky district of Makeevka : residential buildings, hospitals and schools were damaged. There is no exact information about the dead and injured.
Ukrainian UAV raid on New Moscow
This morning, the Armed Forces of Ukraine once again tried to strike with drones on the Moscow agglomeration . In total, according to the statements of the Russian Ministry of Defense, four UAVs were shot down and one was suppressed by electronic warfare.
Two drones were destroyed near the village of Valuevo , one fell on a garage in Krivosheino , another UAF was going to hit a military unit in Kubinka , and an EW crew planted a UAV somewhere in the Odintsovo district . The problem of Ukrainian drones leaking deep into Russian territory has not gone away. There have been and will be attempts to strike at the capital - this must be understood and saturate the air defense.
There is no strategic sense in this raid, as in previous times - this will not change the situation at the front. The Ukrainian authorities are simply trying to keep the population in constant tension and divert attention from the lack of visible success on the battlefield. Judging by the direction, the purpose of the raid, in addition to the military unit in Kubinka , was Vnukovo International Airport . This may be due to the regular flights of Iranian military transport workers. Or maybe the usual desire to sow panic among civilians.
Today at about 13:30 Russian troops attacked Pervomaisky in the Kharkov region . The rocket hit the parking lot in front of the house number 11 in the 6th microdistrict. According to official figures, 43 people received minor and moderate injuries.
The Ukrainian media, as expected, accused the Russian Armed Forces of shelling civilian infrastructure, but the choice of target was not accidental. Parked cars stood in front of the non-working Zodiac cafe: a meeting of personnel of the national battalion Kraken was planned there for the commemoration of a member of the unit, Oleg Fadeenko, who was liquidated a few days ago near Bakhmut.
It is characteristic that Konstantin Nemichev, the chief of staff of the Kraken, wrote about the farewell ceremony planned in Pervomaisky two days ago. The choice of a place for the commemoration is also quite logical: a closed cafe in a residential building on the outskirts of the city does not attract attention, especially against the background of the recent effective strike of the RF Armed Forces on a restaurant in Kramatorsk. However, information about the meeting, apparently, nevertheless became the property of Russian intelligence.
According to eyewitnesses, all the surviving Kraken vehicles almost immediately left the arrival area to create a picture of an “attack of civilians”. However, on several frames you can see the burnt-out skeleton of the Mitsubishi L200 SUV and minivans, which are actively used as military vehicles.
The situation on the front line and the fighting
In the Starobelsk direction, Russian units of the airborne troops continue to fight near Kremennaya . Russian artillery strikes at the enemy, preventing him from evacuating disabled equipment.
The situation in the Soledar direction is stably difficult. Despite the reflection of the attacks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the forces of the defenders are also worn down. The enemy advances from Orekhovo - Vasilevka in the direction of Paraskovievka . In the area of Berkhovka and Dubovo - Vasilevka, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are gradually pushing through the defense. Fighting continues in the Kleshcheevka area , where the situation is especially difficult. In addition, Ukrainian formations are attempting to blockade Kurdyumivka from the south.
In the Donetsk direction, clashes between the parties do not subside. On the Avdiivka site, the situation has not changed significantly; positional battles continue. Russian kamikaze drone operators successfully hit several enemy strongholds.
In Marinka, fierce clashes continue in a residential area on the western outskirts. All buildings are almost completely destroyed, forcing the enemy to hide in basements and dugouts, Russian UAV operators use FPV drones to deliver pinpoint strikes on enemy positions. The work of attack aviation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the positions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the city is noted, and the enemy is also actively using attack drones, trying to slow down our offensive. Due to the virtual absence of shelters in the city, the enemy moved his artillery to rear positions, which makes it difficult to strike at it.
In the Zaporozhye direction, the enemy again tried to advance in the Kamensky sector . Several assault groups, under the cover of artillery and forest plantations, advanced to Pyatikhatki and Zherebyanki from Lobkove . Formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to go from the north to Zherebyanki, supporting the strike from the east along the road from Pyatikhatki. At the same time, as in previous times, the Ukrainian formations operated without armored vehicles. The attack was repulsed.
Artillery works along the front line. The Russian Armed Forces are hitting enemy concentration areas and observation posts, disrupting potential offensive operations. Counter-battery work is underway, FPV drones are being used against enemy armored vehicles.
In addition, a Russian air defense crew intercepted a Storm Shadow cruise missile in the Zaporozhye region. The surviving parts of the downed ammunition were found and handed over to specialists for study.
In the Kherson direction, the Ukrainian command continues to send landing groups to the area of the Antonovsky bridge . The enemy was hit by guided bombs, rocket artillery is operating, preventing the enemy from re-creating a stable foothold on the left bank of the Dnieper, and FPV drones are attacking enemy watercraft, destroying enemy personnel.
Shelling of rear territories and residential areas
For the second day in a row, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are shelling the border Sudzhansky district of the Kursk region : shells hit the border checkpoint " Sudzha ", as well as the outskirts of the villages of Guevo and Gornal . Residential buildings and roads were damaged. Civilians were not hurt.
Ukrainian formations continue to strike at the border areas of the Belgorod region . In the Graivoronsky urban district, the villages of Dronovka and Novostroevka - Vtoraya were shelled : one of the shells hit a residential building, power lines and a gas pipeline were also damaged. In addition, the enemy fired ammunition at the village of Grafovka in the Shebekinsky city district : at the moment there is no information about the presence of damage and casualties. Over the past day, at least 130 arrivals were recorded in the entire region : residential buildings were damaged, civilians were not injured. At night, Russian air defense systems also worked over Belgorodand the area: according to preliminary data, there were no casualties or damage.
Throughout the day, Ukrainian formations have been attacking the civilian infrastructure of the Donetsk agglomeration . Residential buildings in Petrovsky , Kirovsky , Kievsky and Kuibyshev regions were damaged in the capital of the republic . In addition, the Armed Forces of Ukraine shelled Gorlovka , Shirokaya Balka, Aleksandrovka and Makeyevka . According to the latest data, two people were killed, nine more , including a child, were injured.
In addition, at night there was a powerful explosion in Makiivka , over the place of which a huge column of black smoke rose. Local residents reported that windows were shattered in several houses from the blast. Hospital and school buildings were also damaged. The trembling of the earth was felt at a considerable distance from the scene.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to fire at civilian objects in the settlements of the Zaporozhye region . Around 8 am, the enemy fired ammunition from the Grad MLRS at Vasilievka : two civilians were injured - both were hospitalized. Two hours later, Akimovka was under fire : shells hit the medical warehouse, four volunteers were injured, two of them are in serious condition.
Ukrainian formations continue the targeted destruction of civilian infrastructure on the left bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson region . During the night, the enemy fired over thirty shells at Novaya Kakhovka , Solontsy , Kakhovka and Peschanovka .
Political events
On the situation around the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra
A commission of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine came to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra to seal the buildings in the lower Lavra. A total of five constructions must be sealed. By order of the court, the monks must leave the shrine until tomorrow, this time the believers are unlikely to be able to defend it. The Belarusian diocese of the ROC MP has already declared its readiness to accept them.
On the supply of F-16s for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
The head of the NATO military committee, Admiral Rob Bauer , said that pilot training for US fighters, as well as the preparation of maintenance areas and training of personnel, will take longer than previously expected, so the planes will not be able to help Ukraine in a widely publicized “counteroffensive”.
In turn, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba pointed out that despite the assurances of Western partners, Ukrainian pilots did not start training on the F-16 in June. This will shift the delivery dates from the beginning of 2024 to a later period.
https://rybar.ru/hronika-speczialnoj-vo ... 2023-goda/
Google Translator
(Other images at link.)
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What are the Russians saying?
July 4, 2023
What you will not read in today’s New York Times but need to know before heading for a bomb shelter
Yesterday I had the pleasure of chatting for some 20 minutes with Natali Morris, who hosts an interview program called “Redacted” that is widely viewed on youtube.com. The starting point for our virtual meeting was her recent discovery of my 2015 book Does Russia Have a Future?, which surprised her for the prescience of some of the essays in the book warning about a U.S.-NATO confrontation with Russia such as is now playing out before our eyes.
I explained to Natali, and now to you, that I never sought to take the mantle of Cassandra, that over the past eight years I have not been walking the streets wearing a sign-board declaring that “the end of the world is nigh.” However, at moments that I have considered critical, I have periodically sounded the alarm. We are in the midst of such a critical moment, as you know.
When the interview is posted, I will add a link to the bottom of this essay.
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Russian state television does not broadcast news worth repeating on this platform every day. And for that reason I do not take the time of readers until and unless there is something they should know. Today is such a day. What I am about to share is news and analysis that I harvested on the morning edition of Sixty Minutes (there is also an early evening edition) and on the 14.00 o’clock Vesti program.
One featured item was the latest news from the front lines about the status of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, which has become very active in recent days and is likely to further increase in intensity in the course of the week remaining before the start of the NATO gathering in Vilnius on the 12th. Kiev’s receiving further substantial military and financial aid from its Western sponsors depends directly on the regime’s ability to demonstrate that the investment made so far has paid off handsomely and that it can push the Russians out of the territory they occupy if given sufficient resources.
As reported today, the Ukrainian forces continue to gain no ground and to lose enormous numbers of personnel and military hardware. They are now going well beyond exploratory moves of small number of troops such as characterized the first two weeks of their counter-offensive and are fielding at least on one location of the front in the south of Donbas a force numbering 6,000.
The Russian fighters interviewed by state television war correspondents and backed up by video footage explain that they are able to repel all Ukrainian efforts to achieve a breakthrough on their lines thanks to heavy support from artillery and now from fighter jets. We were shown clips of these jets hugging the terrain at a height of 25 meters off the ground while flying at 1,000 km per hour, delivering lethal strikes against armored personnel carriers, tanks and trenches occupied by Ukrainian infantry. The results of their work are recorded by reconnaissance drones. In sum, the Russians maintain that the loss ratio for Ukraine is an order of magnitude higher, meaning 10 times higher on the Ukrainian side in the present fighting.
They claim to have destroyed all of the Leopard-2 tanks delivered in recent weeks to Ukraine by Portugal and Finland. And, the Russian journalists comment that replacement tanks from Germany, announced yesterday by Minister of Defense Pistorius, will be of a still older and less capable generation, the Leopard 1. They will fall easy prey to Russian artillery and tanks in the field.
This being the case , the Russians see no possibility that the Ukrainians can win anything remotely described as military gains on the battlefield to show off in Vilnius next week or in the weeks that follow. And this is precisely why things could soon get out of hand, as Kiev tries to achieve by terrorism what it cannot achieve by conventional warfare.
Even today Ukrainian “terrorism” was denounced by Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. Five drones were shot down or disoriented by electronic means in the greater Moscow metropolitan area today. Vnukovo airport was clearly their assigned target area and the airport’s operations this morning had to be suspended for security considerations. I am not surprised: it was just a question of time before the Ukrainians would start targeting such infrastructure and putting air passengers in danger. Vnukovo is the air base used by a number of foreign carriers, including Turkish Airlines and Egypt Air. An attack on the airport can thus easily become an international scandal and/or catastrophe.
But, of course, the greater threat remains a Ukrainian missile strike on the Zaporozhie nuclear power plant, which Kiev would claim to have been perpetrated by the Russians. The logic of such a strike would be to create a threat of nuclear contamination reaching into Western Europe and justifying NATO intervention in the war.
The Russians have publicly and loudly denounced such a pending false flag operation, but in this hour of near desperation the Kiev authorities cannot be trusted to play by normal rules or normal logic.
If this or something similarly dastardly is perpetrated by the Zelensky regime in the coming days before the NATO summit, then indeed you should look for a bomb shelter. The Russian response to risk of imminent NATO attack “in retaliation” for the false flag tragedy may be an escalation that will shock us all.
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Happily, today’s harvest of news on Russian television was not entirely grim. The other featured news item was today’s summit meeting of member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This periodic event was coordinated from New Delhi and was held in virtual format.
Indian Prime Minister Indira Modi appeared to be in top form and clearly enjoyed his privileged position as “host.” Watching his performance and his proposal that the SCO be further strengthened to combat terrorism we may conclude that the hope of US Secretary of State Blinken to wrest India away from its close relations with SCO founding member Russia is purely delusional.
Vladimir Putin used his time before the camera primarily to persuade fellow member states that Russia is rock solid, that its society has consolidated behind the constitutional order and that the threat posed by the armed rebellion of the Wagner Group has been entirely neutralized.
President Xi of China had some topics of broader interest to put on the table. He suggested that the SCO members should cooperate in support of a world order based on international law, that they should oppose imposition of unilateral sanctions against any member states and that they should trade in national currencies. If I may be permitted to decode these points by the Chinese leader, they all are directed against the United States and its bullying foreign policy which seeks to enforce a ‘rules based order’ that it alone dictates.
This SCO summit was notable for the first time presence of Iran as a fully qualified member. Meanwhile we are told that Egypt has put its hat in the ring as a potential future member, which would mark the first expansion of the SCO beyond the Eurasian land mass, where its members now account for more than two-thirds of the territory and for one half of the world’s total population. Another 14 countries are said to have put their names on the list as candidates for future admission to the club.
On the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, Russian state television tells us that Russian-Chinese trade is now being conducted in yuan and rubles at the level of 85%.
Russia’s senior delegate to the SCO, appearing on Sixty Minutes, said that pending its expansion the Organization is in need of reforms to its charter. These might include raising the powers and the visibility of its general director so that he can interact more effectively with other institutions of global governance and also creating a permanent body to coordinate the fight against narcotics trafficking.
One hour ago, I had an opportunity to discuss the aforementioned aspects of the SCO summit during a brief interview on India’s WION television channel. When the link becomes available, I will post it below as s postscript.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2023
https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2023/07/04/ ... ns-saying/
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Boxes returned
July 4, 15:00
1. St. Petersburg media report that Prigozhin was returned 10 billion rubles in cash, which were seized during the searches.
Iosif Prigozhin's claims for money from the Gazelle did not pass.
2. Part of Prigozhin's structures will continue to fulfill government contracts. Some reorganizations and a formal change of leadership are possible.
3. The reason for the preservation is simple - over many years of work, Prigozhin's structures have become so rooted in the state fabric that cutting them out at once without serious damage to the state is fraught with serious problems. That is, you can cut it, but the consequences will be serious.
4. Therefore, Prigozhin's opportunities were seriously limited (the Patriot media group was liquidated, problems began at Concorde, etc.), but they were not nullified.
5. PMC "Wagner" continues to busily settle in Belarus. According to a number of reports, the process of training the Belarusian military and the transfer of combat experience gained by Wagner on the battlefields has already begun.
6. Damage to the road transport system of Rostov as a result of Prigozhin's actions amounted to 92.5 million rubles.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/8468015.html
Ukrainian boxing champion captured
July 5, 9:59 am
Ukrainian boxing champion captured
The Russian military, located in the zone of the special military operation, captured the boxing champion of Ukraine Andriy Prikhodko, who fought in the Kraken unit. The athlete was taken prisoner in the Artyomovsky direction, when the fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine went on the offensive from the village of Chasov Yar. A video with the interrogation of a Ukrainian athlete was published on the RIA Novosti Telegram channel.
Prikhodko said that he is the champion of Ukraine and the champion of the Ukrainian Cup. The boxer is also a master of sports. According to him, he went to serve after a misunderstanding with the coach. He noted that in order to get a decent job in Ukraine, you need to have a military ID.
“From Chasov Yar we transferred to the BMP-1 - 4 vehicles - and arrived directly at the Russian positions. We landed, and in the first minutes of the landing, they killed my squad leader, and we began to roll back, moved away from the positions, since the area was open. We spent the night in the bushes, and as a result wounded our combat medic. We spent the night under shelling, under firefights, and the next morning we moved to the evacuation group,” Prikhodko said.
Prikhodko said that the Ukrainian militants again went to the positions of the Russian Armed Forces after they got lost. According to the boxer, during the battle with the Russian troops, he was wounded and taken prisoner.
“We have three - 200 (killed) at the place where I was taken prisoner, one - the 300th (wounded), but he came out. I don’t know where the rest of the guys are, ”added the prisoner.
https://www.gazeta.ru/sport/news/2023/0 ... 9766.shtml - zinc
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/8469989.html
Google Translator
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From the Telegram account of Slavyangrad:
Slavyangrad
The enemy is preparing for an offensive on the morning of 5 July.
According to the latest information, the enemy is transferring forces from the 116th brigade of up to a tank battalion to the area of Stepnogorsk to attack our positions in the area of the defence line of the 19th Motorized Rifle Division at about 5 am on July 5.
At the same time the enemy forces started to eliminate mine-bombs on the line between Kopani and Rabotino, which indirectly indicates the intention of the enemy to start offensive actions in this direction.
Thus, as we pointed out earlier, the enemy is expected to launch a large-scale offensive in the direction of the main strike at Stepovoye-Zherebyanki, and a flank strike at Novodanilovka-Rabotino.
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Slavyangrad
The price of the counteroffensive: 2 brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost 60% of their personnel, - KhodakovskyDeputy Head of the Russian Guard for the DPR on preparing an enemy offensive on the Vremevsky ledge at the junction of Zaporozhye and the DPR:
"As an illustration of my previous publication: two brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which since the beginning of the counteroffensive, have torpedoed our sector, are being withdrawn for replenishment. According to information, no more than forty percent of the personnel remained in one of them. Of course, those who were caught on streets. Here it is the price of the counteroffensive and the result of our difficult perseverance. Yes, we also get it - but what I said works: if we fight, we don’t run, the enemy dies."
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Slavyangrad
#контрнахрюкSumming up the results of the counter-oink for the month, from June 5 to July 5, 2023.
The map shows a powerful blow to the Sea of Azov. Joking aside, the biggest advance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was on the Vremevsky ledge, the advance was about 8 km, while the average advance is 1.5 km.
In fact, we withdrew our units from the advanced positions. For a month of fighting, the Armed Forces of Ukraine could not reach the first line of the "Surovikin defense", which they cheerfully overcame at the training grounds in May.
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Slavyangrad
Ukraine will not receive an invitation to NATO at the upcoming summit, but the result will not "disappoint" it, the Lithuanian president said in an interview with BNS.
According to him, security guarantees from individual countries will be announced to Ukraine and the Ukraine-NATO Council will be created.
“President Zelensky, I hope when he arrives in Vilnius, he may not get everything he hopes for in his maximum plans, but he will definitely get a lot,” Gitanas Nauseda said.
“And, well, I feel that we will still find those formulations that will not disappoint the Ukrainians and will say more than we are used to saying,” the president added.
“Yes, the doors of NATO are open, but for some countries they open very quickly, while others cannot find these doors at all, and I think that Ukrainians are quite right to ask why they are not yet members of NATO today,” he said. Nauseda.
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Slavyangrad
Ukrainian channel Strana:
Defense Minister Reznikov called Ukraine "the best testing ground" for testing Western weapons.
In an interview with the FT, he said that in Ukraine, Western allies "can actually see if their weapons work, how well they work, and if they need to be upgraded."
“You can’t imagine a better training ground for the military industry of the world,” he added.
Zin Note: Testing Western toys, and all it costs is the lives of men on both sides...
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Slavyangrad
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has admitted that Russian electronic warfare (EWC) systems can suppress GPS-guided munitions and HIMARS MLRS - Financial Times
He also lamented that China's special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, did not believe that the Patriot system was able to intercept the Kingzhal and left without waiting for evidence from Kiev.
https://t.me/s/Slavyangrad
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Western Media Prepping Nuclear False Flag… and Thermonuclear War
Finian Cunningham
July 5, 2023
For rolling days, just turn off CNN, Fox, BBC, New York Times, Guardian, Times, and so on.
Western media are conditioning the public for a false-flag attack on the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP) to blame Russia. That would then provide the United States and NATO a pretext to directly intervene in their proxy war to support the Kiev regime.
The Kiev regime’s month-old counteroffensive is failing miserably to push back Russian defense lines. Indeed, if anything, it seems that Russian forces are turning the tables to gain more territory in eastern Ukraine. The military situation is becoming a fiasco for the NATO-backed regime in Kiev.
Months of much-hyped counteroffensive are delivering nothing but defeat for the Ukrainian forces despite massive supplies of weapons from the U.S. and its NATO allies. Western governments and media can barely hide the reality that NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine against Russia is turning into a historic debacle. How long can the charade continue before the American and European public demand answers and accountability?
With a major NATO summit due to take place next week in Latvia on July 11-12, the battlefield disaster for the alliance’s Kiev proxy will be potentially an acute embarrassment. There will be severe political repercussions for Washington and the European Union which has funneled close to $200 billion in military support to the Kiev regime since the conflict erupted in February last year.
Blowing up the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant is one way of dramatically shifting the narrative – albeit an act of criminal desperation. The power station is Europe’s largest civilian nuclear installation. The radioactive fallout from a fatal missile strike on the ZNPP would engulf large swathes of Europe, including Russia, with potentially deadly contamination.
Russian forces took over the ZNPP last March, days after launching their special military operation in Ukraine on February 24. Since then, the power station has been routinely fired on by the Kiev regime using U.S. and NATO-supplied rockets. Moscow has presented categorical evidence of NATO missile fragments recovered from air strikes on the plant’s cooling ponds. The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has visited the ZNPP multiple times and will surely know from where the missiles are being fired, yet the IAEA is conspicuously reluctant to publicly identify the perpetrators. It confines itself to making vague statements expressing concern about security and public safety.
The Western media have shamelessly spun the Kiev regime’s narrative claiming that the ZNPP is being shelled by Russian forces despite the absurdity of such claims given that the Russian military controls the nuclear plant.
The situation is a repeat of the sabotage on the Kakhovka Hydro-electric Power Plant. The dam was blown up last month by the Kiev regime using U.S.-supplied HIMARS rockets. Yet the Western media immediately blamed and continue to blame Russia for that sabotage even though Moscow had been warning the United Nations Security Council for months that the Kiev regime was planning to strike the dam. And even though Russian forces were in control of the dam.
Incredibly, given that obvious precedent, a false-flag attack on the Zaporozhye nuclear plant is now being intensively prepped. The Kiev regime has stepped up public warnings that Russian forces have mined the ZNPP and are going to blow it up. Of concern is that Western media are amplifying these claims regardless of the fact that the IAEA inspectors have said they see no evidence that Russia has mined the nuclear station.
The British Times newspaper this week claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing a “perilous moment” of internal dissent within Russia due to alleged war losses in Ukraine and the thwarted mutiny by private military boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. The Times is sowing the notion that “Putin might blow up the ZNPP to bolster his frayed authority”.
In that event, the Times urges, NATO should intervene directly with troops on the ground in Ukraine. “That would be the quickest way to end the cruel war and neutralize Putin’s corrupt regime,” intoned the newspaper with hypocritical reasoning.
The Western media propaganda machine is once again turning reality on its head. The Prigozhin mutiny on June 24 was an abject failure because the Russian armed forces and the Russian public resolutely spurned the half-baked plot, remaining loyal to President Putin’s leadership. There is strong evidence that the plot was a Western-intelligence-backed coup attempt orchestrated by Britain’s MI6, as Scott Ritter has comprehensively analyzed.
Having failed to destabilize Russia and overthrow Putin’s government, the CIA and Britain’s MI6 through their reliable Western media outlets are resorting to a consolation narrative that Putin’s authority is now facing a “perilous moment”. This is fabricating a prelude to blowing up the ZNPP.
But it won’t be Russia bombing a nuclear plant where its forces are stationed. It will be the Kiev regime using NATO munitions and U.S. and British targeting intelligence – as was the case in the sabotage of the Kakhovka dam on June 6.
The Kiev regime is ordering civilians to evacuate from areas near the ZNPP, while its intelligence and military chiefs are outlining “contingency plans” on how to deal with the fallout from an alleged Russian strike. All this is a tad too theatric, indicating orchestration.
The Western media have continually covered up or not reported on the Kiev regime’s habitual air strikes on the ZNPP over the past year. Instead, the media have audaciously twisted the narrative to implicate Russia. Now the Western media are prepping the coming false flag by trying to convince the public that Russia is losing the war in Ukraine and that Putin is losing authority among ordinary Russians.
Gaslighting the public is what the Western media do best, not “reporting”. That’s been the way for decades but never has the media function been so blatant than during the U.S.-led proxy war in Ukraine against Russia.
The shockingly corrupt Neo-Nazi Kiev regime is desperate to keep the war racket going at all costs as is the Western weapons industry and its bought-and-paid-for politicians. (Whether Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, they are all War Party.)
The NATO ideologues are desperate to hide their debacle, which is in effect funded by impoverishing the Western public. Putin isn’t the one who is desperate. It’s the United States and its European satraps who are like the rats in a corner.
If these desperados blow up the Zaporozhye nuclear plant that’s tantamount to NATO dropping a dirty bomb on Russia.
And all the gaslighting by the Western media is unleashing thermonuclear catastrophe.
Here’s a proposal, just one among other possibilities: an antiwar campaign might consider the Western public avowedly and en masse turning off their TVs and toxic media channels. For rolling days, just turn off CNN, Fox, BBC, New York Times, Guardian, Times, and so on. In a concerted, synchronized protest. Turn it off! Before these crazies turn off the entire planet.
https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023 ... clear-war/
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THE DEFENSE THINK TANKS THAT DOMINATE THE DEBATE ON UKRAINE IN THE US
Jul 4, 2023 , 4:51 p.m.
Brookings Institution is considered one of the most influential think tanks in Washington (Photo: File)
The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft , a Washington-based think tank that advocates for restraint in US foreign policy, has produced a report outlining how think tanks influence public opinion.
Likewise, it refers to how the defense contractors sponsor these groups that define the narrative of the war in Ukraine, as well as the analysis and everything that is commented on it, an influence that can include censorship, both self-censorship and the most direct censorship of the unfavorable work for a funder, and direct research payment agreements with funders.
The group reflects on how the United States came to approve close to 50 billion dollars in military spending without questioning that this escalation could directly involve the country in the conflict. "Few think tanks have critically examined this record amount of US military assistance," he notes.
In his analysis, he offers details about the way in which the Department of Defense and its contractors finance think tanks , which in turn benefits them with military spending as the necessary war discourse manages to permeate society and the public. decision makers within the US government.
Here is a list of think tanks that have been funded by the Department of Defense, its contractors, or US foreign policy:
1.Brookings Institution
2.Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
3.Center for Strategic and International Studies
4.Wilson Center (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars)
5.RAND Corporation
6.Atlantic Council
7.Council on Foreign Relations
8.Center for American Progress
9.Center for a New American Security
10.Hudson Institute
11.Foreign Policy Research Institute
12.Chicago Council on Global Affairs
13.Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments
14.Asia Society Policy Institute
15.American Enterprise Institute
16.Belfer Center for Science and International Relations
17.Inter-American Dialogue
18.Stimson Center
19.Pacific Council on International Policy
20.Middle East Institute
21.Institute for Science and International Security
22.German Marshall Fund of the United States
It is worth noting that several of these think tanks also play a fundamental role in US political decisions on Venezuela, such as the Wilson Center, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Atlantic Council. They have also been a reference source for the media about what has been said against the country.
https://misionverdad.com/los-think-tank ... ia-en-eeuu
Google Translator
The astute will note that some of these outfits are contributors and supporters of npr, the news source for people who think they are smart.
Move along, nothing to see here...
The slip came out, compromising evidence on the face
The Armed Forces of Ukraine fired twice at the Kuibyshevsky district of Donetsk in ten minutes, firing a total of 12 shells of 155 mm caliber
33 mech. brigade
142 Kleshcheevka
June 10 was involved 1/3 (past infographic) 
Accordingly, at the moment, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have involved about 1/2 of the new brigades. 
