Ukraine Open Thread 2023-104
Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict.
The current open thread for other issues is here.
Please stick to the topic. Contribute facts. Do not attack other commentators.
Posted by b on May 1, 2023 at 17:11 UTC | Permalink
next page »At what point does the Battle for Bahkmut become the Battle for Chasiv Yar?
Posted by: BroncoBilly | May 1 2023 17:24 utc | 2
@james
I don’t think that they’re doing much thinking.
Besides, I suspect that the Russian strategy is not reactive. Losing a fuel depot stinks, but they keep to the process of destroying military equipment and personnel near the front, making Schrodingers’ counteroffensive even more difficult.
Posted by: Chris | May 1 2023 17:27 utc | 3
In Kiev, Major General Volodymyr Oleinik, who commanded the territorial defense units, was shot dead near his home."
Posted by: Apollyon | Apr 30 2023 21:45 utc | 85
The TD units are packed with the gang pressed cannon fodder conscripts, likely a revenge assasination…
Posted by: Exile | May 1 2023 17:28 utc | 4
If one side controls the narrative then all the the lowly will hear are the sonic boom of their destruction. In parsing that out in my head, not sure that can actually happen. Oh well, Happy May Day
Posted by: Tmike | May 1 2023 17:29 utc | 5
Our source in the OP said that the Office of the President is preparing a headquarters at which a decision will be made to launch a counterattack near Bakhmut. Syrsky is personally at the front and is preparing an operation to begin on May 4-5.All units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Chasov Yar / Konstantinovka / Slavyansk / Seversk are on alert. The General Staff is preparing a counterattack around May 9 in order to recapture Soledar from the enemy and reach Lisichansk.
https://t.me/rezident_ua/17553
Posted by: Down South | May 1 2023 17:32 utc | 6
While the Western media write about the problems of the upcoming counter-offensive, none of them focused on negative scenarios that could happen to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We will give an interesting analogy that everyone can consider from the perspective of history and learn more.The Battle of Kursk during the Second World War, then both armies were waiting for the offensive, and the Soviet army took advantage of the fact that the Germans started first and, having defeated them, received operational space right up to Kyiv. For the Russian army, the preservation of the land corridor to the Crimea is, among other things, the safety of the Kerch bridge, which means that the battle of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will not be for life, but for death.
When the Armed Forces of Ukraine reach the shore of the Sea of Azov, the latter falls under the blow of long-range systems, which is why such a system of defensive structures was erected by the enemy. The command of the Russian army understands that it is the attack on the Crimea that is the main task for Zaluzhny, which the Americans set before us.
That is why you need to be sure that the Russian army is ready to counterattack the Armed Forces of Ukraine when they hit the defensive line. A mistake during the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine can cost Ukraine dearly, according to the models of the General Staff, we can lose all the most trained units, we can lose the Zaporozhye region, and in a negative scenario, the entire front can collapse and the enemy will occupy Kharkov, Donetsk region and go near Poltava.
https://t.me/rezident_ua/17556
Posted by: Down South | May 1 2023 17:34 utc | 7
It seems to some it began to reach that rear rats steal millions, cashing in on the war. We constantly write about them, but the system tries to hush it up - this is now one of the biggest problems in Ukraine.Not to mention the corruption in the Ministry of Defense with gold purchases.
But most of all, the country will be shocked by future facts about arms purchases, which we hope will emerge in the coming year. There, the numbers are in the billions of hryvnia.
https://t.me/legitimniy/15249
Posted by: Down South | May 1 2023 17:37 utc | 8
Kayaks in battle? Hmm....much prefer the Canadian Navy's up armoured Dorys. They are stealthy when fully loaded. With two occupants and all their gear they ride low on the water line, they also have anti wave inhibitors, in the event of a capsize.......
And Russia has no answer for the newly installed FOOLS system, a highly guarded secret of Canada's Navy, although it may have civilian applications ....
Cheers M
...it's been long rumored Canada wants NATO to redesignate the Forward Operating Oar Launching System....semantics!
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | May 1 2023 17:39 utc | 9
Powerful blast of tonight at pavlograd:
https://t.me/intelslava/47322
https://t.me/intelslava/47325
Posted by: Zet | May 1 2023 18:03 utc | 10
OT: May 1st in Paris: https://t.me/Slavyangrad/44126
Posted by: Apollyon | May 1 2023 18:14 utc | 11
The leader of the free world. Everything under control: https://twitter.com/i/status/1652368461975134208
Posted by: Apollyon | May 1 2023 18:16 utc | 12
Ukrainian counteroffensive over before it starts?
https://t.me/bioclandestine/1620
https://t.me/bioclandestine/1621
And the following post in sane Telegram channel.
Posted by: PJB | May 1 2023 18:23 utc | 13
https://t.me/llordofwar/130274
The head of PMC Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced his readiness to speak in the Russian parliament (State Duma) to discuss the situation in Artyomovsk (Bakhmut).“I am ready to speak in the State Duma, in hell, in heaven, in the underpass, wherever you say. In order to change the situation for the better, in order to understand the true situation that is developing today. I believe that the State Duma is certainly the best place for such a dialogue,” he answered to a Russian journalist.
Earlier, Sergey Neverov, Deputy Speaker of the State Duma, suggested to invite Prigozhin to speak in the Russian parliament.
https://t.me/llordofwar/130332
(Prigozhin) Today, Wagner PMC units advanced up to 230 meters in various directions and occupied 58,000 square meters. An area of 2.9 kilometers remains under enemy control in Bakhmut. 99 people of Wagner PMC died".
Posted by: anon2020 | May 1 2023 18:23 utc | 14
Exile @ 4
In Kiev, Major General Volodymyr Oleinik, who commanded the territorial defense units, was shot dead near his home."
RESPONSE: Interesting report. If he was killed for having his hand in pressing conscripts into service and throwing them into the battle without proper support nor training, I would not call this an "assassination".
Maybe his life was taken in blood revenge which does have a rightful place in the laws of Moses.
Posted by: young | May 1 2023 18:26 utc | 15
I'm sure the barrage that hit yesterday will put a dent in some of those Nazis counter offensive plans. Waiting to see if there will be more today. Going to be interesting to see if the counter offensive produces any results, falls flat on its face or doesn't happen at all because you know, all talk no action. You know Russia is just sitting there taunting them, "Bring it bitch!!" My guess it doesn't happen and the list of excuses will be miles long.
Posted by: Watzov | May 1 2023 18:29 utc | 16
Posted by: james | May 1 2023 17:16 utc | 1
“i wnder if the lowly folks stuck in ukraine see any connection with the bombs today and the attack the other day on the oil tank in russia? probably they remain in the dark about these things..”
Hmm, so what you are implying is that if Ukraine would not attack Russian military targets in Ukrainian territory, Russians would go back to pre 2014 borders? Maybe with an apology and reparations?
That is so sweet of you, hope there are people like you on the Russian command, and they let Ukrainians know.
Posted by: Membrum Virile | May 1 2023 18:44 utc | 17
https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/04/30/last-offensive-of-kiev-regime/
A long but very good read. He analyzes upcoming “offensive” and is of the same opinion as I am that NATO, personnel & equipment will be plentiful & will seek a “shock & awe” type of campaign.
I’m not buying the Ukraine scrapping bottom of barrel nonsense.
Russia will be ready. It was be destructive.
“Last Offensive of Kiev” - Strategic Culture, in case link doesn’t work.
Posted by: Trubind1 | May 1 2023 18:48 utc | 18
I saw yesterday that some of the barflies claimed there will be 20-25 mill ukrainians after the war. I found this list in the UA newspaper ZN.UA. They claim that there are 10 mill. pensioners in Ukraine. That means that there will only be 10 mill of younger age.
"
Period Total number of pensioners
4st quarter 2022 10 687 921
1st quarter 2023 10 697 170
Source: SFedU
According to the Pension Fund of Ukraine, before indexation, the average pension in Ukraine reached UAH 4,622. At that time, the pension for men is almost 1.5 times – 45% – higher than the pension for women: UAH 5,701 versus UAH 3,926."
Then we are talking about a destroyed country.
Posted by: Paul from Norway | May 1 2023 18:55 utc | 19
Very good:
"SITREP 5/1/23: Massive Missile Strikes Rock Ukraine"
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-5123-massive-missile-strikes
Posted by: Mikkael | May 1 2023 19:00 utc | 20
@ 3 chris.. thanks.. that is most likely.. i tend to be reactive myself, but i don’t think russian command is..
@ 17. membrm virile.. have a nice nap, lol
Posted by: james | May 1 2023 19:01 utc | 21
@Exile & young
"In Kiev, Major General Volodymyr Oleinik, who commanded the territorial defense units, was shot dead near his home."
Maybe fake news: https://t.me/Slavyangrad/44018
Posted by: Apollyon | May 1 2023 19:02 utc | 22
Posted by: Trubind1 | May 1 2023 18:48 utc | 18
I absolutely hate, loathe, despise, and rebuke the strategic Culture Foundation and I utterly disagree with this analysis. There can be no point to Ukraine telegraphing their upcoming offensive in such a puzzling way unless they have no intention of going through with it. The offensive-talk is meant for exclusively for Western media consumption; it's grift, plain and simple. "Send us your money, send us your weapons, we have this offensive going on, you know." It is a highly cynical ploy.
Ukraine has no army and no air defense. Ukrainian soldiers and NATO mercs will be massacred if the attack. It's never going to happen.
Posted by: Intelligent Dasein | May 1 2023 19:02 utc | 23
Posted by: Paul from Norway | May 1 2023 18:55 utc | 19
From what I've seen, the parts of Ukraine not controlled by Russia has 20-25 million people. Ukraine has lost a lot of people to out-migration, and the people leaving heavily skew toward the younger generation, mainly 20-35 age. Then there's the number of young men killed or badly wounded in combat, maybe a quarter million, or more. 10M pensioners still sounds like a lot, but maybe not. Possibly someone with more knowledge of the data can weigh in. The reality is that a whole generation has been lost in Ukraine.
Posted by: Mike R | May 1 2023 19:05 utc | 24
Some articles of interest:
Ivan Katchanovski: The far right, the Euromaidan, and the Maidan massacre in Ukraine (2020)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337947623_The_far_right_the_Euromaidan_and_the_Maidan_massacre_in_Ukraine
Volodymyr Ishchenko: Far right participation in the Ukrainian Maidan protests: an attempt of systematic estimation (2016)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298422104_Far_right_participation_in_the_Ukrainian_Maidan_protests_an_attempt_of_systematic_estimation
They detail the shaping of events in Ukraine by neo-Nazis and violent nationalists during the overthrow of the Yanukovych government, with material relevant to ethics, criminal justice, political theory, history, perception management and media.
Both articles emphasize the importance of Svoboda and Right Sector (Praviy Sektor or RS). Svoboda, founded by the Social National Party of Ukraine, is now branded as the "Freedom Party." Right Sector now operates as UAF's 67th Mechanized Brigade. The links below provide some additional information. If anyone would like to add to the list below, please do so.
_________
Militaristic and anti-democratic, Ukraine's far-right bides its time (CSM): https://t.ly/OsRz
Hero of Ukraine Dmytro Kotsiubailo killed in action near Bakhmut (Kiev Independent): https://t.ly/_QIS
Right Sector: Structure and Leadership (Gordon M. Hahn): https://t.ly/HF64 [dated but still useful]
Posted by: HeyHeyHey | May 1 2023 19:11 utc | 25
It looks like the Russians are dipping into their missile supplies to disrupt the Ukrainian spring offensive.
It also looks like the loss of AD could be a game-changer for the conflict.
Did any big names in the independent social media ecosystem predict that AFU would run out of missiles this spring before the Pentagon leak? It seems clear that this has been an important change
Posted by: GoFast | May 1 2023 19:12 utc | 26
Exile @ 4
"In Kiev, Major General Volodymyr Oleinik, who commanded the territorial defense units, was shot dead near his home."
If my 16 yr old son had been press-ganged into the army then killed as cannon fodder, his mother would devote the rest of her life to finding and ending those responsible. She is a dead-eye shot with a 9mm and she would not care about the consequences to herself. The mothers and fathers could end the conscription madness. And even when the war is over, those responsible would never be safe from their vengeance.
I struggle to understand why there is not more resistance to this murderous conscription.
As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said:
"What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, polkers, or whatever else was at hand?"
-- The Gulag Archipelago - Part 1 The Prison Industry
Posted by: Thor Odinson | May 1 2023 19:15 utc | 27
"In Kiev, Major General Volodymyr Oleinik, who commanded the territorial defense units, was shot dead near his home."
Just FYI
According to numerous Telegram channels, there is no Major General Volodymyr Oleinik in the Ukrainian Army. This is prank news....
Posted by: JustAMaverick | May 1 2023 19:27 utc | 28
Pavlograd is a sevastopol response, the Russians know more than they do.
A lot of people here at the bar don’t understand that, and not only at the bar in the Russian army, too.
The SMO is, the use of military means for political purposes.
The SMO is Putin, and a diplomacy of first force.(without equal)
Prigogine is close to Putin, he is neither military nor diplomatic.
His role is at the forefront, rolling everyone in the flour to take them off.
Putin does not want to destroy the Ukr or its citizens.
Posted by: la bouteille | May 1 2023 19:28 utc | 29
RE: Posted by: Intelligent Dasein | May 1 2023 19:02 utc | “Ukraine has no army and no air defense. Ukrainian soldiers and NATO mercs will be massacred if the attack. It's never going to happen.”
I don’t know anything about SC grifters etc.-
Your above statement and analysis may well be true. We all may soon see “Ukraine” on the back of page 20 or lining a kitty liter box soon. With Defender23 and when the many other US/UK NATO shenanigans, “dreams & visions” wear off, and they quit the ideas a grand “resurgence”, perhaps it will dud out.
I respect your view point, and what appears obvious. I just keep seeing a more reckless & desperate regime as it’s last gasps approaches is all.
Posted by: Trubind1 | May 1 2023 19:32 utc | 30
@JustAMaverick
"According to numerous Telegram channels, there is no Major General Volodymyr Oleinik in the Ukrainian Army. This is prank news."
See posting #22
Posted by: Apollyon | May 1 2023 19:40 utc | 31
Surprisingly, or not, nobody in the West considers what Ukraine will do after it extends its fantasized salient to, say, the Sea of Azov. Surrounded on both sides, it will be subject to FAB, artillery and missiles. A supply line, with actual supplies, would be needed to support it. The only possible way to maintain such a salient would be to widen it to the point where it could be protected. Does Ukraine have the resources to do that? No air cover, working against layered defense lines using a hodgepodge of heavy armor that, once damaged, will be abandoned on the spot, poorly trained conscripts, and a tenuous supply line. Sounds like a recipe for total destruction of an army.
Posted by: Mike R | May 1 2023 19:49 utc | 32
i'm fairly certain the "lowly folks stuck in ukraine" heard thru the grapevine that putin said Crimea was a red line. (hey that rhymes)
Posted by: annie | May 1 2023 20:02 utc | 33
Posted by: Mike R | May 1 2023 19:49 utc | 32
The UK mod is again making plans to bomb airfields in Crimea in conjunction with their ground attack. Recon aircraft in the Black sea, while they apparently have been curtailed, they will surely come back and indicate the approximate timing of the whole event.
Posted by: unimperator | May 1 2023 20:23 utc | 34
Posted by: la bouteille | May 1 2023 19:28 utc | 29
“Pavlograd is a sevastopol response”
For sure. Russians would stop attacking, if the damn Ukrainians would just give up and die. How unsportsmanlike of Ukrainians to refuse to submit to raping.
Posted by: Membrum Virile | May 1 2023 20:43 utc | 35
Ukraine as an entity has been (brain) dead for long and under complete control of the Pentagram and White house. Neo-nazi thugs run the entire country, even the president has no control whatsoever.
This also includes running the goons kidnapping people on the street, from discos and bars, from the beach and their workplaces. So yes, it doesn't end because Ukraine was slated for depopulation by the WEF. It's entirely lawless, censored, living in the atmosphere of fear and tyranny. The western Ukrainians would rather have all eastern Ukrainians dead. That's why it's such a tragedy.
By the way, the original Nato attack plan envisions a massive first wave of cannon fodder (naturally consisting of Ukrainians). They are supposed to kamikaze banzai a way through defenses so Nato tanks could waltz in through and make a nice photo op and prove US is the best military in the history of the Beltway galaxy.
Posted by: unimperator | May 1 2023 20:55 utc | 36
Posted by: Membrum Febrile | May 1 2023 20:43 utc | 35
Why is it so hard to get it through your febrile mind that Russia is only attacking the territories being used to attack the Russian territories of Crimea, Donbass and Russia itself? If the Ukro-Nato-Nazis would stop shelling those areas including the ones they've been shelling for 9 years now and sit down for good faith peace talks, Russia would stop attacking.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 1 2023 20:57 utc | 37
What would happen if Ukraine makes nuclear bomb?
Is it going to be allowed by the West?
How is Russia going to respond to nuclear attack?
Posted by: Srbin | May 1 2023 21:17 utc | 38
@ Mikkael | May 1 2023 19:00 utc | 20
Prigozhin complaining about indiscipline is rich.
Posted by: John Kennard | May 1 2023 21:22 utc | 39
some "combatant commander/s" is/are on their way over from Washington DC on board BOXER40 C40/B/C.... currently 34k over sw England heading @ 097°
https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104521/c-40bc/
Posted by: AleaJactaEst | May 1 2023 21:27 utc | 40
Membrum Virile, Ukraine didn't get raped in Crimea. Ukraine got raped by the coup and the people in Crimea didn't want the new government, they wanted to be part of Russia again, still do. They are who matter here, the people of Crimea. even before the coup who didn't know Ukraine was one of the most if not the most corrupt countries on the continent? they were done, you can't hold them captive. Who's the rapist?
Posted by: annie | May 1 2023 21:28 utc | 41
Posted by: John Kennard | May 1 2023 21:22 utc | 39
It seems to me Prigozhin is a classic manipulative narcissist. Everything he says has the aim of Prigozhin look good. He says the Ukrainians are disciplined and well armed because that make his victory look better than if he said they were schoolboy conscripts. He says he is not given enough ammo in order to blame others for his defeats. He says the Russian Army are a bunch of losers in order to make himself seem like a hero.
I simply can't understand why he hasn't been arrested and shot for treachery. But Putin knows best.
Posted by: Tim | May 1 2023 21:31 utc | 42
@Srbin, #38, my guess would be that they would have to respond with a nuclear strike on whomever they can determine did attack them with a nuke. Russia would have little choice but to respond with nukes.
More likely than making a nuke, they (Ukraine), would find it easier to purchase one on the black market. If they did manage to make a nuke(s), God help the world.
The USA would have little commentary on the matter, but they would absolutely have little problems with such an attack.
Posted by: Firefly | May 1 2023 21:34 utc | 43
The war in Ukraine and the sanctions attached to same have turned the United States into the BRICS alliance's greatest recruiter. I'm sure Bernard could speak more incisively on this issue than I have:
https://bruceohara.substack.com/p/brics-plus
Posted by: Bruce O'Hara | May 1 2023 21:37 utc | 44
@Posted by: Membrum Virile | May 1 2023 20:43 utc | 35
Hohols will die regardless of whether they give up or not. It's a situation they could have avoided if they had not been stupid, but now it is too late for them. Hoholstan will be toast.
Posted by: FVK | May 1 2023 21:44 utc | 45
https://www.semafor.com/article/04/30/2023/the-murdochs-ukraine-connection
Interesting possibility.
Posted by: Elmer Fudd | May 1 2023 21:53 utc | 46
Posted by: Membrum Virile | May 1 2023 20:43 utc | 35
Well, up is down and black is white in your world. Ukraine 'refuses to submit to raping' by refusing to leave a region whose people have made clear that they want Ukraine out of their lands and prefer being governed by Russia. I guess 9 years of shelling and other abuse from a Kiev government that considers the residents of the Donbass region as subhuman will do that to a people. Is Ukraine being raped because it is being denied the opportunity to crap all over an ethnicity that the Kiev fascists view as untermenschen? Should we all be more considerate of the tender feelings of the Ukronazis?
Posted by: Mike R | May 1 2023 21:55 utc | 47
Darwin awards:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/2-canadians-killed-in-ukraine-s-bloodiest-battle-in-bakhmut-1.6827952
Posted by: Figleaf23 | May 1 2023 21:56 utc | 48
GoFast | May 1 2023 19:12 utc | 26
Did any big names in the independent social media ecosystem predict that AFU would run out of missiles this spring before the Pentagon leak?
Yes.
Brian Berletic. New Atlas yt.
His analysis [and it *is* analysis] extends back many months, certainly into Q3 last year, where he demonstrated that, even with USNATO “resupply”, Ukraine was doomed.
There was also this June 17 2022”Return of Industrial Warfare”
article from a UK think tank that had data showing Ukraine would eventually suffer ammo starvation.
https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/return-industrial-warfare
Both, of course, were mocked stridently.
And here we are.
Posted by: Melaleuca | May 1 2023 22:08 utc | 49
The real news is Turkey’s election, if Erdogan falls the Montreux treaty will be bypassed and the newly elected government will allow Western ships to sail through the Bosphorus.
Perfidious Albion is biting at the bit to get its naval forces through the straits, the potential scenarios are mind boggling.
Posted by: Johnycomelately | May 1 2023 22:12 utc | 50
Alexander Dugin's words on Yevgeny Prigozhin and PMC Wagner (with a link to their motion picture)
One quote: "PMC “Wagner” is not a private military company. The money has nothing to do with it."
https://www.thepostil.com/the-wagner-factor-and-the-fairness-principle/
Courtesy from "The Postil Magazine"
Posted by: Luís Borges | May 1 2023 22:13 utc | 51
Not to mention blocking Russian ships from going to Syria. This will step up the conflict 10 fold.
Posted by: Johnycomelately | May 1 2023 22:14 utc | 52
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/04/28/us-corporations-ukraine-oil-gas/
As Ukraine sells off public assets in a privatization spree, US fossil fuel corporations like ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Halliburton are in talks to run its oil and gas industry, and the IMF is imposing the Washington Consensus.
Which nobody, I mean nobody predicted would happen! Then there's all that great farmland. I'm sure a lot of it has already been sold or seized by the corrupt Ukie gov't for Cargill, Monsanto et. al.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 1 2023 22:16 utc | 53
Prigozhin's bluster and persistence reminds me of Patton's during WW2 as he constantly pleaded for 3rd Army to be the spear tip to the point of insubordination. One wonders how long he would've lasted on either side of the Russian Front, or if he'd been able to reach the rank of general on either side.
Here’s a home security camera or similar, catching an explosion from the latest “arrivals”.
Not sure of location. Possibly Pavlograd. It’s not often you can clearly see the colour of grass at 11pm.
https://files.catbox.moe/k83a1t.mp4
Posted by: Melaleuca | May 1 2023 22:28 utc | 55
Apollyon | May 1 2023 19:02 utc | 22
JustAMaverick | May 1 2023 19:27 utc | 28
>Prank News, the platinum level beyond fake news.
Bar-buddies. Thanks. Came here to post the territorial defence dude doesn’t exist and thus his murder is as fictitious as the Ghost of Kiev.
My prediction: For the rest of this thread, the next 4 threads, and then sporadically into the future… messengers will arrive here breathless with the dispatch. “Yadda yadda murdered”.
We’ll be seeing who bothers to read a thread before posting, (although that’s been obvious for many months now)….
Posted by: Melaleuca | May 1 2023 22:37 utc | 56
Tom_Q_Collins | May 1 2023 22:16 utc | 53
I’m actually genuinely surprised there’s anything left to sell in Ukraine.
The U$ multinationals have been there since before 2014, but certainly after 2014, went on an rampage to buy Ukraine assets for pennies.
Posted by: Melaleuca | May 1 2023 22:42 utc | 57
@Membrum Virile 35
You remind me of someone on Twitter middle of last year. After Melitopol and Popasnaya were liberated I'd pointed out that Elensky could have avoided all this by accepting the Minsk II agreement and quietly, de facto, ceding Crimea which he's in any case never getting back. This person immediately made a frothing mouthed reply that I wanted "Zelensky to kneel before Putin." Well, no, I wanted Elensky to fulfil his legal obligations and prevent the destruction of his country and people. But that person was too stupid to get that.
Are you perchance the same person?
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 1 2023 22:48 utc | 58
Johnycomelately | May 1 2023 22:14 utc | 52
Turkiye certainly is vulnerable to election interference and malfeasance.
What *may* help Erdogan is the failed U$ assassination attempt in 2016.
Surviving, he conducted a thorough cleansing of his military and intel, and U$ assets inside Turkiye.
Agree, that if he goes, the Montreux Convention is abandoned.
Posted by: Melaleuca | May 1 2023 22:49 utc | 59
@Melaleuca 59
I'm pretty sure Erdo will win. In 2019 before the Indian elections it was also taken as a matter of faith that Modi would lose. He won with a bigger majority.
Of course the Imperialist States will do whatever it can to meddle but its colour revolution ability is played out. They've tried to coup Erdo and failed, they've tried to colour revolution him at Gezi Park and failed.
The thing about Turkey is that the liberals of Istanbul, who think they're European, have nothing in common with the Anatolians who vote for Erdo, just like the liberals in India who populate Twitter and the posh urban localities have nothing in common with the factory worker and rural farmer who vote for Modi. Guess whom the opinion polls ask questions to?
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 1 2023 22:54 utc | 60
I simply can't understand why he hasn't been arrested and shot for treachery.
Posted by: Tim @42
Prigozhin only appears to be criticizing the Russian military "bureaucracy" (without giving names). In essence, he states: "Look, my boys, although critically under-supplied and outnumbered, have been kicking ass of the entire NATO establishment. Slowly but surely." And then, when he says that it can't go on forever and he is about to quit, he is essentially urging his rivals to be more active, before it's too late. It's most likely a trap.
Posted by: Nomad | May 1 2023 23:07 utc | 61
james @ 1
Any Ukrainians with any mental activity whatsoever became former Ukrainians a long time ago. Those who remain are either quite old or quite dim-witted. So no one is thinking. Or the only group thinking is the committed Nazis, who are mostly well-off middle class. I don't want to do a thought experiment that involves thinking like a Nazi.
Posted by: oldhippie | May 1 2023 23:10 utc | 62
One cannot, on the one hand, condone an uprising or revolution in Kiev in 2014, whilst on the other hand codemn an uprising or revolution in Crimea.
Its illogical to do so.
Posted by: HERMIUS | May 1 2023 23:15 utc | 63
Biswapriya Purkayast | May 1 2023 22:54 utc | 60
Ten years is a lifetime.
I cannot believe in 2023 I’m actually concerned about Erdogan remaining president.
Ten years ago I loathed him, he who stole Syrian oil with his family.
Funded ISIS proxies along the border, and gloated at the shootdown and death of a Russian pilot.
Like the Saudis, he was already so embedded in the U$ cabal. But the U$ overreached with its assassination attempt.
And here we are.
——-
I am in the camp who believe the U$+Israel attempted to assassinate MSB at Las Vegas in 2017.
I don’t think Trump was behind it. I think it was the Biden cabal. And MSB is now serving a cold dish of revenge.
Posted by: Melaleuca | May 1 2023 23:18 utc | 64
“How unsportsmanlike of Ukrainians to refuse to submit to raping.”
Posted by: Membrum Virile
Is this Nuland-Kagan’s Host of Kiev?
When suffering from retrograde amnesia, read! Below are some key moments in the recent history of Banderism.
Immediately after the victorious 2014 putsch run by Mrs. Nuland-Kagan, the leading Zionist from the US State Department, in collaboration with Andrii Parubyj (the founder of the Ukrainian Nazi Party and c0mmandant of the Nuland-Kagan putsch) and other Banderites, Kiev was visited by the CIA Director Brennan, who instructed Banderites about a “proper” initiation of a civil war in eastern Ukraine. The auto-da-fe in Odessa followed. Remember the smell of the burnt flesh? Your Zionist masters in D. C. were elated.
Along with the Straussians (neo-talmudists) like the Kagans clan, Sullivan, Gershman, et al, there were also active neocon Nazifiers of Ukraine such as Lindsey Graham and his late friend, Tokyo Rose McCain (a traitor). Their strenuous efforts at the Nazification of Ukraine are well documented.
Do you still want to whine about Zio-Nazis' sufferings? Your Jewish Fuehrer Zelensky has become one of the richest persons in the collective west. He was named a Jew Numero One by the Time magazine and the Jerusalem Post. His wife adores shopping in Paris. What is your problem? There are no sufferings among this cohort of jolly war profiteers making fortunes on Ukrainian blood. Does not Melnik’s son prefer to live in comfort in Germany? Also, Zelensky confessed to the Atlantic Council about his dream of turning Ukraine into a “big Israel.” Are you learning Hebrew already?
Banderites, out of rabid Russophobia, became the loyal servants of the rabidly Russophobic ziocons, who firmly prefer to use Ukrainians as cannon fodder in a war against the Russian Federation. This is the true legacy of Stepan Bandera.
Who founded and financed four self-proclaimed Nazi battalions, including the Azov Battalion which is loved by Israelis and the Jewish Lobby? – The President of the Jewish Community of Ukraine, Mr. Kolomojsky. Your White Fuehrers like Biletsky sold Ukraine and Ukrainian youth to American ziocons/neocons and war profiteers. The dishonorable MIC is deeply satisfied with Banderites’ enthusiasm for fighting the Russians to the last Ukrainian. And then what? Begging the US/UK bankers for money and ammunition to restore the Lenin-Stalin borders of Ukraine?
Posted by: Cerena | May 1 2023 23:19 utc | 65
Thanks for rocking my stats, Barflies: The Kagan/“Fuck the EU” Nuland family business is manufacturing consent for continual war:
https://jamesburrillangell.substack.com/p/strange-diplomacy-victoria-fck-the
One wonders how long he would've lasted on either side of the Russian Front, or if he'd been able to reach the rank of general on either side.
Posted by: karlof1 | May 1 2023 22:25 utc | 54
Karl I have a different take on him, that Wagner is not simply a private army but also an arm of Russian internal propaganda. The good cop bad cop routine. I think the "bluster" is 100% state sanctioned. and it appears to be working for the desired outcomes too.
Posted by: K | May 1 2023 23:28 utc | 67
Surprisingly, or not, nobody in the West considers what Ukraine will do after it extends its fantasized salient to, say, the Sea of Azov. Surrounded on both sides, it will be subject to FAB, artillery and missiles. A supply line, with actual supplies, would be needed to support it. The only possible way to maintain such a salient would be to widen it to the point where it could be protected. Does Ukraine have the resources to do that? No air cover, working against layered defense lines using a hodgepodge of heavy armor that, once damaged, will be abandoned on the spot, poorly trained conscripts, and a tenuous supply line. Sounds like a recipe for total destruction of an army.
Posted by: Mike R | May 1 2023 19:49 utc | 32
Yes. And no one ever moots the possibility of a Kiev attack in the south, to the south, being used as the trigger for a massive Allied attack from North of Kiev to Kiev, starting with taking out the Kiev dam.
What? The idea is too ludicrous? Why? Kiev could guard the North and still mount overwhelming attacks to the South? How?
I hear that parts of Kiev are apparently dancing and partying endlessly, living the life of Reilly, apparently unconcerned and even unaware of the reality of their nation's war. What would their reaction be to such a sudden attack? Urge their troops, hundreds of miles to the south to 'forget us, don't worry about us, press on...' ?
The RF celebrated an important anniversary with the missile attack on April 30.
April 30 is the anniversary of Hitler's suicide.
Posted by: Richard Whitney | May 1 2023 23:47 utc | 69
After Melitopol and Popasnaya were liberated I'd pointed out that Elensky could have avoided all this by accepting the Minsk II agreement and quietly, de facto, ceding Crimea which he's in any case never getting back.Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 1 2023 22:48 utc | 58
Which would still have been a strategic defeat for Russia because it would have ensured a permanently hostile and irreversibly separated from the Russian world Ukraine, and one that kept its large population size too. Right in their strategic underbelly.
All the Banderites had to do was to keep things quiet for another 30 years so that nobody pro-Soviet and pro-Russian is left and three generations are raised in an environment completely saturated with Ukrainian nationalist brainwashing.
That would have closed the case and Russia would never get those lands back again.
There are two other examples of how that works (or fails to work) further to the southeast. We have three such pairs of countries:
1. Ukraine and Russia
2. Macedonia and Bulgaria
3. Moldova and Romania.
In which a smaller part of the whole is torn off the other due to various historical circumstances, then it launches on a path towards becoming a real separate nation.
With Macedonia that process is finished -- it started a century ago, and the brainwashing is so complete that they really hate Bulgarians quite thoroughly there, and Bulgaria is never getting it back.
With Moldova there was never that much effort put into it by the Soviets, plus they only got it under their control in 1944, so it looks like it will eventually reunite with Romania.
Ukraine was somewhere in the middle.
But there is a substantial difference here -- Bulgaria and Romania were always too weak to get their lands back militarily. Russia, on the other hand, is a nuclear superpower. So it always had the capability to use force and resolve the issue that way.
Fortunately for the Ukrainians, Russia has for three decades (and really, more like six) been ruled by traitors who had absolutely no interest in such silly ideals such as defending the long-term security of the country, reuniting the Russian world, etc. They were perfectly content to let the Banderites run wild in Ukraine as long as there was no direct threat to them.
So all the Banderites had to do was to not cause too much trouble for another 20-30 years, and Ukraine would have been irreversibly lost to Russia.
And if handing Crimea over would have bought them that time, that would have been a win.
But they just can't help themselves. And now they might lose it all.
Provided that Russia is no longer run by traitors, of course...
Posted by: shadowbanned | May 1 2023 23:53 utc | 70
I think we do not help by letting the US and MSM narrative prevail, if only by error of omission, too lazy to bother correcting it. It all IS a war of propaganda and letting public believe it truly IS 'Russian aggression against Ukraine' just helps continue the slaughter and the madness.
So I've got into the habit of posting this after any of my post on YT channels and opinion sites and whatever and I would urge others to consider doing something similar in the hopes that the truth may begin to seep out...
=====
Don't let the way anyone talks make you think this is 'Russia v Ukraine' because it is NOT.
When he says 'Russian' forces he really means 'Ukrainian And Russian' forces.
DONBAS Ukrainians and Russians.
They fight together, side by side.
The Russians helping the Donbas Ukrainians repel the invading Kiev Ukrainians.
The Kiev Ukrainians (those are the ones the Americans call 'the Ukrainians' and the ones who are the invaders, the aggressors, the extremists and the Nazis, the Stefan Bandera (look him up) worshippers, have been occupying Donbas Ukrainian land since 2014.
When he says 'Ukrainian' he just about always means only the Kiev Ukrainians. This is in line with the lying USA and Kiev narrative which wants you to think there are only two players: Ukraine and Russia. Everyone talks like this. It is a propaganda coup.
No. There are three players:
'North' Ukraine we might call it which is Kiev Ukraine and extremist Ukraine and 'nationalist' Ukraine which is sworn to building a 'pure' Ukrainian State after the style of the Nazis building a 'pure' Aryan German state. The decided to do that by oppressing, re-educating, victimising the Southern, Donbas Ukrainians who traditionally have much Russian connection.
'South' Ukraine we might call it which are the Donbas Ukrainians the North decided to 'ethnically cleanse' and exterminate for the crime of having Russian connections.
And Russia.
Three players. At the centre. And a host of malignant evil manipulators, leeches, provocateurs and profiteers on the side extending from USA to Kiev and encompassing the whole Western world.
Now the Russians are helping the Donbas Ukrainians because someone should and we won't, we ignored them for eight years and longer and because of the Russian connection and because the whole thing is an attack on Russia anyway after the style of putting missiles in Cuba was an 'attack' on the USA and we know what the Americans thought of that: they were willing to have a global nuclear war rather than tolerate it.
So okay? 'Russian' when he says it means 'Donbas Ukrainians and Russian help'
'Ukrainian' when he says it means Kiev Ukrainians ( and USA help and every pusillanimous stinking little lapdog of theirs doing their bidding. )
And the Donbas Ukrainians just don't figure in his narrative generally. But they should. Because that's what started it all.
And the fact that the fighting is ALL ON Donbas land that Kiev/USA has invaded generally doesn't figure either.
The fact that there's not one Russian boot on Ukrainian land where it was not invited and welcomed generally doesn't get a mention either.
Just saying. Because without forewarning listening/watching could give you the impression this is simply 'Ukraine' fighting off 'Russian' aggression.
Which is what the evil empire wants you to think. And which is entirely what it is NOT.
If you want to help Ukraine and Ukrainians help bring it to a STOP. Keep Ukrainians - on BOTH sides - ALIVE.
Kiev and Washington want dead bodies. Let them fight each other. The world will be well rid of them.
donbas people as well as lughansk, crimea, zaphiskoya people have natural right to self determination like the kurds, the chinese on formosa, kosovars, bosnians, croats,purple thumb afghans and sunni iraqis, to name a few of usistan's more recent gambits.
and they say elections in the donbas ukraines are corrupt: like those in the 5 usistan states that could not count the 3 nov 2020 ballots many dead people voting for weeks and the prevented election in indochina in 1954....
the neocons are deplorables as they rule natoistan and usistan!
Posted by: paddy | May 2 2023 0:08 utc | 72
Some videos for today.
RT follows Russian artillery crews on the frontline:
https://odysee.com/@RT:fd/FOLLOWING_RUSSIAN_ARTILLERY_CREWS_0105:9
Russian drones ‘smoke out’ Kiev regime trenches
https://odysee.com/@SputnikInternational:c/29734695934:1
Russian T-72 tank in action:
https://rutube.ru/video/962ea864526ede42690252d2bd0a829c/
Russian howitzer strikes Kiev regime military targets:
https://odysee.com/@RT:fd/giatsint_01:a
Posted by: Nate | May 2 2023 0:25 utc | 73
From the Dugin piece linked earlier https://www.thepostil.com/the-wagner-factor-and-the-fairness-principle/
"What Prigozhin gets away with in Russia’s customary political system, no one could get away with. So, the analysts conclude, either he will soon be punished for his impertinence, or this familiar political system no longer exists, and we are witnessing the emergence of some other, unusual, new system, where values will greatly shift in the direction of justice, honesty, courage, and true front-line brotherhood, exactly what the elites hate."
Putin Medvedev and others in the leadership cirle have made it clear they don't think much of those that fled the country since the start of the SMO. An attitude of good riddance to bad rubbish.
Just one look at Europe, at Russia's nearest neighbors, is enough to know that they will be hostile for years to come. The three Baltic poodles, Poland and Ukraine basing their post soviet culture on hatred for Russia. Old Europe and its gay marriage faggotry.
It is likely Russia will be isolated from Europe and the west for some decades if it is to retain independence, its culture and family values. Putin said at the start of the SMO that Russia can only be destroyed from within.
Dugin's piece is perhaps easier to understand after reading this.
https://patrickarmstrong.ca/2018/06/20/yes-putin-once-dreamed-the-american-dream/
The Prigozhin noise ... two purposes - to keep the Ukrainians and western forces stepping into the meat grinder of Bakhmut and also as Dugin outlined - I am not sure what to call it, but something like a calling to the Russian people that if they want their culture and values to remain they will have to fight for it.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 2 2023 0:29 utc | 74
K | May 1 2023 23:28 utc | 67--
Thanks for your reply and the idea you convey. I share your possibility, which is one of the reasons why I ignore his gibberish--he's similar to a very inconsistent Telegram channel. Soon Bakhmut will be completely liberated and Wagner will be out of the limelight as I would imagine it likely needs R&R.
abrogard | May 1 2023 23:54 utc | 71
They have had referendums and the people of the four regions are no longer Ukrainians. They are Russian, the Donbass since 2014 even though none recognized their referendums at the time. Russia finally recognizing their referendums for independence in February 2022.
Misk II being voted on by the UNSC became international law and would have kept Donbass in Ukraine. The UN did nothing to enforce the4 Minsk agreements so now those territories plus more are part of the Russian Federation.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 2 2023 0:39 utc | 76
Peter AU1 | May 2 2023 0:29 utc | 74--
... a calling to the Russian people that if they want their culture and values to remain they will have to fight for it.
Putin's been expressing that very idea since the SMO began and earlier when it came to defense of Russian values versus those of a failing Liberalism he clearly expressed in 2019. And there're probably earlier instances I could dig up as Woke and Multigenderism surfaced. Nazi Russophobia began to escalate with the Nazi takeover of Ukraine in 2014, but similar things were said earlier in relation to Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine even earlier in 2004. I recall the battle between Yeltsin and Russian democrats and others in 1993 which Yeltsin crushed by calling out the army and used tanks against the Duma's "White House" where traditional values were also seen as being under attack by Godless Capitalism. As has been said by many including Putin, Russians are generally very polite, patient people, but you don't want to risk insulting or inciting them as they will become just as determined and resolute as they were polite and patient. Escobar's comments about the atmosphere he's encountered in Moscow are informative: there's no sense of war or existential threat as life continues normally, although the war is discussed in media daily. He expresses puzzlement and wants to get outside Moscow to see if other regions have the same demeanor. Putin's talks with the governors of frontline regions also provide some insight. As we get closer to V-E Day, more might become noticeable.
karlof1 | May 2 2023 0:38 utc | 75
The what is not so important - Matryoshka - but the why is an interesting question. Wagner have the best of equipment, and to me, they can only do that with the backing of Putin.
Wagner is a workaround of Russian law. That and also somewhat like the French foreign legion.
I had always thought them to be a western Hoax, but it does seem they kicked off in the Donbass in 2014. The sudden turn around of fortunes for the Donbass militias in 2014 which led to Minsk I. The the Debaltseve cauldren and Minsk II in 2015.
The more I look at Wagner, the more inclined I am to believe it is a Putin initiative. With that in mid, I look at the what and why of what the cook states. With that I see two things. 1)Baiting the west to keep sending cannon fodder in and 2) as Dugin wrote, a calling to the Russian people.
I have the feeling Putin is setting up the Russian mind to withstand an extended period of turbulence. Hudson's 2-3 decades of turbulence.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 2 2023 1:01 utc | 78
Prigozhin is something. Nobody can be quite sure what, and I suspect that’s the point. There’s a lot of Russian humor in the stuff he says: dry, dark and sarcastic. But in the end, he’s the pitch man not the brains behind the operation. He’s almost certainly not the funding either. He’s a one man maskirovka show, which isn’t to say he never tells the truth. Just that telling the truth is not necessarily part of his job description.
His brilliance is in his ability to let people see what they want. So Dugin sees the new Russian and the west sees splits in the elite and continued incompetence in the Russian MoD. Putin played this trick on them already and then unveiled a much more powerful military than the west assumed was possible. It’s quite possible that Prigozhin does get over his skies at times, but Putin has a pretty long leash. Peskov says stupid things all the time and always keeps his job.
Posted by: Lex | May 2 2023 1:10 utc | 79
Lex | May 2 2023 1:10 utc | 79
It is interesting How the Russian leadership operates. Putin and Lavrov are very careful in what they say. They are the people that meet their foreign counterparts in face to face meetings. Their spokes people have much more freedom in What they say. Then there is the Likes of Medvedev, Kadyrov, and Prigozhin. Its like freedom of speech gets much freer as you go down through the levels. But they are very much voicing the minds of Putin and Lavrov.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 2 2023 1:17 utc | 80
Karl, you posted your 77 as I was writing @78. I very much agree with what you wrote there.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 2 2023 1:19 utc | 81
Looks like my estimate of Russian casualties matches the US military's estimate. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65451487 Nothing like the predictive power of a correct thesis.
CBC reporting two more Cdn. mercs killed in Ukraine. Say that makes five in total? Seems low given graph I've seen but now can't locate. Anyone.....?
Posted by: Drinky Crow | May 2 2023 1:41 utc | 83
Aaron Lee | May 2 2023 1:39 utc | 82
And bullshit is good for growing Mushrooms. Trolling is obviously low paid work. The west really needs a better class of monkeys.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 2 2023 1:42 utc | 84
@83 Here they are. Looks like they were having fun. For a while.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/2-canadians-killed-ukraines-bloodiest-164838187.html
Posted by: dh | May 2 2023 1:46 utc | 85
@ james 1
' probably they'remain in the dark about these things '
With regard to the Prigozhin political trolling against the Russian army, which is possibly a bid fir political attention, I remembered a story my dad told me about his National Service in Egypt after the Second World War.
He was basically a boffin in Maths and telecommunications, and a deeply honest man. The cables he was laying by day in the desert sand were being pulled out by ' Arabs ' using camels by night.
Something similar happened to me once , working as a subbie electrician one night for the great Carrillion. The story in the office was that ' Gippoes ' were pulling out the cables we were putting in the roadside after we had gone home.
It was perfectly obvious that the cables were being nicked by the the Carrillion team.
The penny has just dropped. It was British Army officers pulling out the cables in Egypt , not Arabs, causing my young dad much moral indignation against Muslims.
As for Carrillion, I think Bobop , Little Weed and the Flower Pot Men know something.
Don't you , children ?
Posted by: Giyane | May 2 2023 1:53 utc | 86
Best video of Pavolgrad explosion. Over 4:30 and still burning when stopped. Note at 47 and 50 sec there are two other impacts to the left of the main one, but no secondary explosion.
Posted by: BroncoBilly | May 2 2023 2:07 utc | 87
The purpose of Prigozhin messaging...?
In the west, joining the military is advertised as a career. Have some fun, go on safari, then retire with all the benefits. A very low risk career.
Lynman - in the pull back from there, contract soldiers on the flanks left their positions without orders and the rear guard was cut off and annihilated. If I remember correctly, it was Putin signed a decree for hash penalties for any soldier leaving their post without orders.
A similar thing occurred recently on Wagner's flank. Contract soldiers left their position and left the Wagner grouping open to attack. A small group, I think four from Wagner headed by an MP that had joined Wagner moved in and held the position until reinforcements arrived. The last dying from his wounds after a larger grouping arrived to hold the position.
Shoigu said in an interview that it is sad that the boldest die. They are the ones the country needs.
But there was a saying when I was flying that there is no such thing as and old bold pilot. Old and bold are incompatible. Like oil and water.
But even that doesn't hold true. So many of those that flew like they were somebodies fairy godmother died. Life is an enigma at times.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 2 2023 2:12 utc | 88
It's simple enough...Prigozhin is a Jewish actor on this largely Jewish stage...
Posted by: John Kennard | May 1 2023 21:22 utc | 39
It seems to me Prigozhin is a classic manipulative narcissist. Everything he says has the aim of Prigozhin look good. He says the Ukrainians are disciplined and well armed because that make his victory look better than if he said they were schoolboy conscripts. He says he is not given enough ammo in order to blame others for his defeats. He says the Russian Army are a bunch of losers in order to make himself seem like a hero.
I simply can't understand why he hasn't been arrested and shot for treachery. But Putin knows best.
Posted by: Tim | May 1 2023 21:31 utc | 42
Posted by: Wokechoke | May 2 2023 2:26 utc | 89
Would Ukraine have sent a drone within 20 miles of Putin without the approval and probably participation of the US? Hard to believe. Earlier, 6 months back, the US wouldn't even give Ukraine long-distance HIMARS. It just seems like this war is entering a new phase where all of western Russia is subject to attack. These attacks seem to be occurring more frequently.
Headline on Topwar: The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine received permission from Zelensky to conduct sabotage operations on Russian territory.... The objects of attack should be thermal power plants, oil depots, airports and enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex....The Office of the President gave the go-ahead for complex operations in the Moscow region on thermal power plants, fuel tanks, airports and military-industrial complex plants.
It seems like NATO keeps pushing the envelope. But attacking Russia itself on a wide scale crosses the reddest of red lines. How will Russia respond? How can they short of nukes?
Posted by: Kellen Cramer | May 2 2023 2:29 utc | 90
@ Posted by: HeyHeyHey | May 1 2023 19:11 utc | 25
Thanks for those references. It sounds like the Right Sector with a number of similar groups and PR professionals together have achieved one of their objectives and they are now in full control of Ukraine like they said they would do some years ago. They are very well organised and Prigozhin certainly knows very well who he is fighting against as much as Putin does.
Posted by: Richard L | May 2 2023 2:47 utc | 91
Wokechoke | May 2 2023 2:26 utc | 89
So many trolls and dumbfucks here with zero understanding of history and the historical point we are at. Small minded idiot boys like ocean going tadpoles. China, an exceptionally old civilization. Russia, a thousand year old civilization that has been tempered in the furnace of war. The johny come lately yanks, new money and all their bullshit.
We watch he global south rising. The global south with traditional values based on nature. Those like you will choke on your wokeness.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 2 2023 2:48 utc | 92
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 2 2023 2:48 utc | 92
This is one of the escapees from UNZ. He managed to get out when one of the mental hospital orderlies fell asleep.
UNZ is one of the last refuges/asylums where simplistic blame-the-other-guy rants are still tolerated. Personally I believe it is the place where those ne'er-do-wells get to vent their anger at everybody else but themselves, and take solace in at least being born to a superior race.
Posted by: littlereddot | May 2 2023 3:00 utc | 93
Posted by: Kellen Cramer | May 2 2023 2:29 utc | 90 "received permission from Zelensky to conduct sabotage operations on Russian territory"
This has been going on for over a year. There is nothing new about it. Well, unless you consider attacks by Ukrainian attack helicopters (Belgorod), ballistic missiles (Millerovo Air Base) and drones (many locations) different.
Posted by: Response2 | May 2 2023 3:04 utc | 94
The elbow room that Prigozhin gets can’t be explained without reference to his ethnicity.
It’s quite possible that the promotion he gets in the western media, as a sort of grim beastly looking tough guy, is designed to position him for power in a post-Putin Russia. A warlord who gets to inherit a great deal of power in Moscow after the much older Putin retires. His Jewish background does him no harm in this regard.
Certainly Zelenskyy has used his ethnicity to give himself distance from Banderite and Nazi elements in Ukraine while he’s also sponsored and patronised Neo Nazi groups like Azov and Right Sector militias.
Blinken, Sullivan and Nuland have ridden their Jewish identities and origins in the Pale to ultimately exercise great influence over European affairs.
Wilfully Ignoring these coincidences when you muse about how Prigozhin escapes punishment from internal rivals is obfuscation.
Posted by: Wokechoke | May 2 2023 3:21 utc | 95
Kellen Cramer @ 90
Would Ukraine have sent a drone within 20 miles of Putin without the approval and probably participation of the US? Hard to believe.
Remember that there be Nazis there. Highly doubt that they need permission to do something ugly/dangerous. And this is why you don't want wars to break out as you shift away from diplomatic action to totally unpredictable murderous action.
Posted by: Seer | May 2 2023 3:37 utc | 96
Old Fat Guys making a Motorcycle Tour celebrating WWII defeat of Fascism starts . German Press reports
Eine Gruppe von Putin-loyalen Motorradfahrern ist von Moskau zu einer Rallye aufgebrochen, die sie bis nach Berlin führen soll. Wie eine Journalistin der Nachrichtenagentur AFP beobachtete, startete die Kolonne am Samstag im Südosten der russischen Hauptstadt. Sie bestand aus Hunderten Mitgliedern des Clubs Nachtwölfe, der Kreml-Chef Wladimir Putin vehement unterstützt.
Mehrere Teilnehmer der Rallye trugen russische und sowjetische Fahnen. Einige hatten auf ihren Motorrädern den Buchstaben Z angebracht, der die vom Kreml offiziell als „militärische Spezialoperation" bezeichnete Offensive in der Ukraine symbolisiert. Die Rallye trägt den Namen „Die Routen des Sieges". Angeführt wird die Rallye von Alexander Saldostanow, dem Chef und Gründer der Nachtwölfe, der sich als „Freund" Putins bezeichnet. Saldostanow ist wegen seiner Unterstützung für Russlands Annexion der ukrainischen Krim-Halbinsel im Jahr 2014 mit westlichen Sanktionen belegt.
Die Rallye soll zunächst nach Wolgograd – dem früheren Stalingrad – führen. Der Sieg der Roten Armee über Hitlers Wehrmacht in der dortigen fast sechsmonatigen Schlacht stellte im Zweiten Weltkrieg einen Wendepunkt im Kampf der Sowjetunion gegen Nazi-Deutschland dar. Am 2. Februar war in Anwesenheit Putins in Wolgograd der 80. Jahrestag dieses Siegs begangen worden.
Die Rallye soll danach in die ostukrainische Region Donezk weiterführen, wo die Teilnehmer humanitäre Hilfe an Zivilisten und russische Soldaten verteilen wollen. Die Rallye soll schließlich am 9. Mai in Berlin enden. Der 9. Mai ist in Russland der Jahrestag des Weltkriegsendes, in Deutschland und anderen europäischen Ländern wird dieser Jahrestag bereits am 8. Mai begangen.
Posted by: Exile | May 2 2023 3:42 utc | 97
The Ukies will struggle to attack toward Azov Sea if they are this vulnerable to their ammunition dumps and transit nodes being attacked by missiles and or bombs. The Brigadiers and Colonels involved in this assault corps of 40,000 men ought to be a little nervous. They are not going to be replaying the successful Croatian assault that drove out Serbs under German tutelage and training.
The Russians have not even started to deploy CBUs yet. Once Ukie Legions start appearing on roads and in fields heading south they will be saturated with Cluster Bombs.
Posted by: Wokechoke | May 2 2023 3:45 utc | 98
Re: Posted by: Johnycomelately | May 1 2023 22:12 utc | 50
The real news is Turkey’s election, if Erdogan falls the Montreux treaty will be bypassed and the newly elected government will allow Western ships to sail through the Bosphorus.Perfidious Albion is biting at the bit to get its naval forces through the straits, the potential scenarios are mind boggling.
This is why Russia is taking it slow in the SMO.
Russia has no concerns about the potential replacement of Erdogan and the possibility of US/UK warships in the Black Sea.
They are in no hurry because such a scenario is something they are quite happy to confront in future.
Posted by: Julian | May 2 2023 3:45 utc | 99
@42 I've been thinking about it, and given the steady progress in bahkmut it seems unlikely they don't have the ammo.
There is also a distinct lack of Ukrainian counter attacks amounting to anything.
This raises the possibility that prigozhin is lying for military purposes.
But why? On the eve of a large victory and larger scale war?
It would have to be seen as revealing weakness so as to lure the Ukrainians into an attack, where presumably they would be destroyed.
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | May 2 2023 3:46 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
i wnder if the lowly folks stuck in ukraine see any connection with the bombs today and the attack the other day on the oil tank in russia? probably they remain in the dark about these things..
Posted by: james | May 1 2023 17:16 utc | 1