Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
May 7, 2023
Ukraine Open Thread 2023-109

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.

Comments

The head of Wagner will get his weapons. Was it all theatrics?

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | May 7 2023 14:00 utc | 1

The head of Wagner will get his weapons. Was it all theatrics?

No, it was not all theatrics. I think Prigozhin is simply venting the concerns that many of us feel, viz. that Moscow’s refusal up the operational tempo and support the fighters is coming across like they aren’t taking this altogether seriously, and in this case Moscow felt the pressure and bowed to it.
This needed to happen. If the SloMo Operation doesn’t shift into gear soon, the world will lose respect for Russia’s concerns. It’s about effing time for Mr. Putin to finally “start something.”

Posted by: Intelligent Dasein | May 7 2023 14:10 utc | 2

Our source says that Zelensky is afraid to launch offensives because of the consequences that could follow. So they constantly endure offensives, trying to accumulate strength in the rear. But the Bakhmut meat grinder burns a lot of people and equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Zelensky’s attempts to knock out a quick supply of aviation and other related offensive equipment from the European lobby have so far failed. The United States also publicly stated that they gave Kyiv everything for the offensive. At the same time, the Western press is already forming accusatory messages against Zelensky, removing their governments from responsibility, which gave Kyiv little weapons.
Time is playing against Kyiv – source.
Timing: until the end of October. If there is no large-scale territorial success, or again Russia does not leave on its own, then in 2024 there will be a reduction in the supply of weapons and funding.
The only chance that will give hope for continued financing/deliveries of weapons is a global tragedy/catastrophe on the territory of Ukraine, which can be organized even by “unknowns”, but blamed on the Russian Federation.

https://t.me/legitimniy/15285

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 14:11 utc | 3

Colleagues write about a new serious problem for the authorities, Ukrainians trust the media less and less, and they are skeptical about the main news tracks: the activities of the authorities / corruption / information from the front.
Yes, the authorities, in an attempt to monopoly television, launched the United News marathon, but it actually “killed” TV and is losing its audience, because. turned out to be just a platform for PR OP.
However, Ukrainians do not have much confidence in the rest of the media either. According to a study conducted by the Active Group, 45.7% of citizens “rather or completely distrust” Ukrainian media.
Least of all, Ukrainians trust news about the activities of the authorities (49.4%), military news (39.3%), as well as information about corruption and the fight against it (39.3%) – i.e., the most topical topics in warring country.
It is noteworthy that due to “distrust” 15.2% of the polled Ukrainians ALWAYS check the facts they see in the media, 26.8% – IN MOST CASES, and 16.8% – IN HALF OF THE CASES.
And all this is very entertaining, especially against the backdrop of discussions about the benefits of social networks and the reliability of information in them. That is why Ukrainians, trying to get information about the objective state of affairs in the country, are increasingly choosing social networks and instant messengers (in particular, Telegram).

https://t.me/rezident_ua/17643

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 14:14 utc | 4

The IMF demands to increase taxes and reduce subsidies to the population. The period of preferential lending is over, and now Ukraine must build the economy based on reality, and not on hopes for Western assistance or frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank.
Keeping payments to the security forces, even with a freeze on the indexation of salaries for state employees, was an unacceptable format for the IMF, which we found out about before signing the loan. The Office of the President is forced to agree to such unpopular conditions in order to maintain the stability of the Ukrainian economy.
The International Fund gave us an ultimatum, or we agree with all the requirements (increased housing and communal services tariffs / increased taxes / canceled payments to the security forces and reduced social programs) or we should prepare to lift the moratorium on paying interest on debts, which will completely ruin the economy that is already breathing its last.

https://t.me/rezident_ua/17644

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 14:15 utc | 5

Political telegram channels wrote that the General Staff simulated a counteroffensive and there were too many dark spots, while the possibility of a negative scenario gets used to 50%, and in the absence of a blitzkrieg increases to 70%.
The Washington Post writes that now the situation is radically different from the autumn, when the Armed Forces of Ukraine advanced near Kharkov and liberated Kherson.
“In Kharkiv, the Ukrainians had an advantage when they surprised the Russian troops, which weakened the defense. Many who remained simply fled without a fight. And in Kherson in the south, Ukraine had a great geographical advantage,” the newspaper reports.
“Now Russia may have a geographical advantage and stronger numbers. According to Reznikov, about 500,000 Russian troops are currently concentrated against Ukraine, of which at least 300,000 are on the territory of Ukraine,” the article says. Recall that British intelligence transmitted this data to Bankovaya last week.
Zelensky told the publication that Ukraine would be ready to launch an assault “as soon as weapons are delivered, which were agreed with our partners.” Reznikov added that the Ukrainian “first assault formation” is more than 90 percent complete, but some units are still finishing their training abroad.
WP also draws four scenarios of Ukrainian strikes, according to military experts:
1. Ukraine may try to capture the city of Melitopol and then move forward trying to cut the land bridge to Crimea.
2. Ukraine can also attack Crimea from the sea. Satellite images show extensive trenches dug by Russian troops on the shore.
3. Ukrainians can attack in the east through Bakhmut or from Kupyansk, trying to cut off the Lugansk region.
4. And there may be an attack through Ugledar in the direction of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov.

https://t.me/rezident_ua/17646

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 14:17 utc | 6

Posted by: Intelligent Dasein | May 7 2023 14:10 utc | 2
Not really. For “Meat Grinding”. operations, this is the way to go. See Larry Johnson’s excellent analysis. It doesn’t matter what you think, the Chechens are coming, and the Wagnerian’s are to be rotated for well deserved R&R.
https://sonar21.com/evgeny-prigozhin-truth-teller-mad-man-or-maskirovka/

Posted by: KitaySupporter | May 7 2023 14:18 utc | 7

🇷🇺🇺🇦 “Bakhmut is on fire, May 6th. They screwed up our boys here, ” the Khokhols shows the road of death for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to Bakhmut through Ivanovskoye (Krasnoe).
A lot of destroyed APU equipment got into the frame: a BTS-4 tractor, a T-64BV tank, an MT-LB armored personnel carrier, three armored vehicles and a lot of vehicles.

https://t.me/intelslava/47462

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 14:20 utc | 8

Timeline
Prigozhin denounces russian mod over weapons
Prigozhin announces withdrawal
Russian mod lays on a big incinderiary fire show – see here’s weapons as opposed to before
Prigozhin announces he’ll stay with more weapons.
So, ok, he was getting his squeaky wheel greased now, because before he wasn’t getting proper support.
Seems consistent with his claims of being ammo starved to me.

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | May 7 2023 14:20 utc | 9

⚡️🇷🇺 🇺🇦 About the massive Raid of Ukrainian UAVs on the Crimean Peninsula⚡️
🗓 Last night (6 to 7 May 2023), Ukrainian formations once again tried to launch a drone strike on important military and civilian infrastructure facilities in #Crimea and #Sevastopol.
The AFU launched 23 drones (22 Mugin-5 type and one jet Tu-141 “Strizh”) in 3 groups of an average of seven UAVs from the #Shkolny airfield in #Odessa and the Hydroport on the northwestern outskirts of the city.
As a result of the active work of the air defence means of the 31st Air Defence Division, the Black Sea Fleet and Signals Intelligence units, all UAVs were hit and planted near #Sevastopol and the Guards, there is no damage. One of the UAVs fell into a field near the Monastery highway.
Over the past two days, this is the second attempt to strike the Crimean peninsula. On 6 May Ukrainian formations 👉 launched from the OTRK “Grom-2” from the positional area in #Zaporozhye. The rocket landed in a field near the village of #Privetnoye in the Kirovsky district.
The frequent raids of Ukrainian drones and tactical missiles on the Crimean peninsula are direct evidence of preparations for the offensive. It is the southern direction that is of strategic interest for the AFU.
According to characteristic signs, preparations are underway in the #Odessa region for another UAV launch, despite the night strike of the RF Armed Forces on the School. Attempts of raids by drones and OTRK should be expected both today and tomorrow on the eve of Victory Day on 9 May.
Night strikes allow you to maintain the desired degree of tension in the situation on the peninsula. And at this stage, the main goal of the AFU is to calculate the air defense positional areas before a more massive UAV launch.

https://t.me/sitreports/8312

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 14:22 utc | 10

KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine on Saturday hailed the return of 45 Azov battalion fighters captured during the battle for Mariupol while Russia said three of its pilots had been released by Kyiv, but neither side gave a full account of the apparent prisoner swap.
The freed Ukrainian prisoners included 42 men and three women from the Azov battalion, said Andriy Yermak, the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office.
“>https://www.reuters.com/article/ukraine-crisis-prisoners-exchange-idCAKBN2WX0A7

Welcome back! Now off to the front with you.

Posted by: Apollyon | May 7 2023 14:29 utc | 11

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 14:22 utc | 10
Thanks for all the anecdotal BS. Keep Hopium Alive!

Posted by: Longhorn | May 7 2023 14:29 utc | 12

@1 and 2:
General Mizintsev is the Victor of Mariupol and was from September last year the Russian army logistics commander. His sudden sacking was surprising since he was even according to Prigozhin making sure Wagner got enough shells and ammunition. Right after that three things happened:
1. Prigozhin made his videos attacking Shoigu and Gerasimov by name.
2. Mizintsev reappeared as Wagner “deputy” commander (he’s a Colonel General and outranks everyone in Wagner and most generals in the regular army so I don’t know what kind of “deputy” he is).
3. Wagner is suddenly given back its ammunition and operational freedom.
Only now Mizintsev will be coordinating with Surovikin and it will be an army operation using Wagner.
It’s almost as though the whole thing was engineered to compel Prigozhin to cede full control of Wagner to the military.

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 7 2023 14:30 utc | 13

@ Neofeudalfuture | May 7 2023 14:20 utc | 9

The Prigozhin show was louder than the toy drone crashing into the Kremlin Senate’s roof. What distraction will they they think of next?

Posted by: too scents | May 7 2023 14:33 utc | 14

It’s almost as though the whole thing was engineered to compel Prigozhin to cede full control of Wagner to the military.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 7 2023 14:30 utc | 13

There was no “engineering” about any of this. There is no reason to get all meta and think that everything that happens must be happening “according to plan” instead of just according to nature.
The fact that so many people are still, at this late date, speculating about all sorts of elaborate ruses and charades just goes to show you how little the war is really affecting them. History does not flow in the channels of such mental nonsense. It flows by real people doing real things.

Posted by: Intelligent Dasein | May 7 2023 14:46 utc | 15

Mark Sloboda (from Skeptic) provides an insightful summary of the situation. That’s pretty much how I see it myself … from far away. Whoever has sponsored the takeover of Ukraine by radical groups wanted to create a lot of chaos and destruction. It might take years and longer to restore peace if the radicas continue to be fed by the West. That is the key to resolving the impasse In my view.

Posted by: Richard L | May 7 2023 14:58 utc | 16

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | May 7 2023 14:00 utc | 1

Was it all theatrics?

Maskirova.
Over and over again.
And they fall for it every time.
But you can call it “theatrics” if you like.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 7 2023 15:10 utc | 17

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 7 2023 14:30 utc | 13

It’s almost as though the whole thing was engineered to compel Prigozhin to cede full control of Wagner to the military.

Prigozin doesn’t control Wagner.
Neither is he it’s founder or owner.
He is a civilian with zero military rank.
Wagner is an organ of the Russian State.
Always has been.
Prigozin is merely “head of sales and marketing” in the corporate sense of the term …

Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 7 2023 15:16 utc | 18

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 14:17 utc | 6
The Washington Post article omits, due to either deliberate of feigned ignorance, the central question: given the element of surprise, the benefit of terrain, out-numbering the Russians 8:1 and deploying some of their most capable units, why did the Ukrainians perform so badly in their Kharkov offensive? Once that question is answered the idea of any significant Ukrainian operational success, in any of the increasingly fantastical scenarios listed, is moot really, given the operational situation they now face.
http://armchairgeneral.com/tactics-101-037-transitions.htm
An excellent set of articles, this one is especially useful to see why the planned Ukrainian offensive could easily be a complete disaster as a Russians counter, timed to hit the the Ukrainians as they reach their collective culmination point, could easily collapse the entire front the offensive was launched from. Any attempt to breakthrough against forces with a numerical parity, whilst possessing little to none of the military prime-requisites for success, only means the culmination point is reached more quickly and more violently, and thus the collapse is itself quicker and more violent. I wonder if the Ukrainian General Staff feel ‘sick to their stomachs’ when they think of the impending D-Day?

Posted by: Milites | May 7 2023 15:22 utc | 19

A poster on the previous thread suggested that the British were planning an attack on the ZNPP POWER STATION by the Ukrainian forces.
There are a number of nuclear power station in the UK.
We accept that our Government and Leaders in the UK are the scum of the earth, but we would prefer that they do not push the Russians to take forceful action to deter the actions of war which Britain is inflicting on the Russian Federation.
Russia cannot continue to allow such open and cowardly aggression. Russia needs to give the UK the War it so desperately seeks.

Posted by: CitizenSmith | May 7 2023 15:27 utc | 20

Arch Bungle no. 17
That’s a better word for it. Good one.

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | May 7 2023 15:33 utc | 21

From an internet post today:
“Day 437 | Why Does Kiev Still Have Electricity?
Day 437 | Why Does Kiev Still Have A Functioning Government?
Russia has more than 35 times the firepower of Ukraine”*
*the destruction throughout contested east Ukraine is becoming mind-boggling.

Posted by: Elmagnostic | May 7 2023 15:45 utc | 22

something is not right in the Russian narrative, electricity bridges Ukrainian railways continue to operate carrying military equipment to the front and that such actions contribute to death and destruction among the Russian people,
another incongruity is continuing to keep European and American economies alive with supplies of uranium hydrocarbons and raw materials that use these supplies to produce and supply weapons to the Ukronazi regime which in turn uses them to kill Russians.
perhaps that perhaps all the criticisms of the Russian administration are not unsubstantiated

Posted by: A.cagliostro | May 7 2023 16:18 utc | 23

@22
“Day 437 | Why Does Kiev Still Have Electricity?
Day 437 | Why Does Kiev Still Have A Functioning Government?
Russia has more than 35 times the firepower of Ukraine”*
*the destruction throughout contested east Ukraine is becoming mind-boggling.
//////////////////////
Russia wants to destroy Western efforts and resources very slowly by showing them who is in charge.

Posted by: AI | May 7 2023 16:25 utc | 24

From Southfront, in an interview on May 7, Turkish foreign minister said that the US asked Turkey to give its S-400 AD missiles to Ukraine, which was refused by Turkey. According to the article, Turkey was suspended from the F-35 program shortly after receiving the first shipment of Russian missiles, and was never refunded it’s $1.4 billion down payment. But, give Zelensky your AD system. Just another day of NATO diplomacy.
https://southfront.org/u-s-asked-turkey-to-hand-over-s-400-air-defense-system-to-ukraine-foreign-minister/

Posted by: Mike R | May 7 2023 16:26 utc | 25

Posted by: A.cagliostro | May 7 2023 16:18 utc | 23

Sure. Here is an interesting take on “something is not right”. The article suggests that we are witnessing a controlled remaking of the “new world order”.
Primus Inter Pares
“The plan is for a controlled distribution of . . . control, among the three. With the rest of the world subordinated to the three. And the Anglo-Saxons as the Primus inter pares. First among equals.”

Posted by: Dacian | May 7 2023 16:35 utc | 26

On the flow of history

@Intelligent Dasein | May 7 2023 14:46 utc | 15
History does not flow in the channels of such mental nonsense. It flows by real people doing real things.

For over 10 years I have been documenting history, or more precisely, the present. I thought it was important to get the truth out.
I no longer care. I have become a Truth-Tankie. There is no need to write anything. History rolls forward on its own caterpillar tracks. Or as Otto von Bismarck famously said, “the great questions of the day will be decided by iron and blood.”

Posted by: Petri Krohn | May 7 2023 16:38 utc | 27

https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/61106

☢️ IAEA Issues Warning Over Europe’s Largest Nuclear Power Plant …

https://t.me/CyberspecNews/29953

🇹🇷 US made offer to Turkey to send S-400s to Ukraine, but Ankara refused – Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/61119

The combat capability of PMC “Wagner” is much higher than most armies of European countries. Given their unprecedented combat experience, it can be stated that this is a very dangerous force. And we must understand this, – French Admiral, Chief of the General Staff of the French Armed Forces Edouard Guyot

https://t.me/Slavyangrad/44962

The use by the AFU unit of American light corrected APKWS missiles mounted on the chassis of the HMMWV armored car.

Posted by: anon2020 | May 7 2023 16:38 utc | 28

What is in the mind’s of Putin and the Russian general staff. What is the actual military condition of Russia’s ground forces. These are the question I would like answered. I’ve heard all the theories and speculation but in truth I don’t believe anyone knows. When it comes to the war, Russia is an informational black hole
I don’t believe this drama with Prigozhin was just theatrics. It shows that all is not right in the house of Russia. But given this world and the flaws we as humans all exhibit, how could it be. I am sure there was quite a lot of graft and corruption within the Russian military pre-invasion. How much still exists and how well trained and prepared are their ground pounders is up for debate.
I think there is a reason why Washington went all in on the military side of things when their economic sanctions showed they were failing. I believe Washington truly did feel Russia’s military was not up to the task. I think they were wrong. But what is in the minds of Putin and the rest…will they stop the war at the first opportunity or roll the tanks right up to the Polish border. It’s anybody’s guess.

Posted by: JustAMaverick | May 7 2023 16:39 utc | 29

I can just imagine the US lackeys frothing at their mouths thinking about how they will get their fingers on some S-400.
Not that any would reach Ukraine, oh no.
Some would be disassembled and studied. Most would be installed around the white house.

Posted by: kspr | May 7 2023 16:44 utc | 30

Why are people still listening to Prighozin? Honestly it’s beyond me… he is completely unreliable and pretty unstable too. nothing of what he says can be taken at face value.
Anyway, he has to go: the sooner the better. What he did, his tantrums, are unseemly and no Army in the world can afford to have such a clown insult the military leadership while at war. It’s a kind of insubordination that he is getting away with only because, formally, Wagner is not part of the Russian Military, but civilians in Russia have been jailed for much less.

Posted by: Leonardo | May 7 2023 16:45 utc | 31

perhaps that perhaps all the criticisms of the Russian administration are not unsubstantiated
Posted by: A.cagliostro | May 7 2023 16:18 utc | 23

In order to understand how that is possible, notice Budanov’s recent comments about how he will be killing Russians all over the world.
But here’s the thing — Budanov is Russian himself. His real name isn’t really “Kyrylo Budanov” but “Kiril Budanov”, and he was born and grew up in a Russian-speaking family. Just as the other figure openly calling for Russian genocide — “Oleksiy Danilov” is really “Aleksey Danilov” and was born and raised in Lugansk region, and “Volodymyr Zelenskyy” is of course “Vladimir Zelensky”, Russian speaking Jew from the Russian-speaking city of Krivoy Rog (I am willing to bet serious money that it’s the Russian versions of these names that featured in these people’s birth certificates).
Zaluzhny is Russian too, and in general, if you see names ending in -ov and -sky, that’s mostly from the south and the east, and they are Russian. It’s names like Kuleba, Bandera, Melnyk, Kravchuk, etc. that are more typical to Western Ukraine (and even there the first names were not in the current bastardized Ukrainian form until the 2000s). In between in Central Ukraine is the land of the -enkos (Shevchenko, Poroshenko, etc.), whose identity is mixed and flexible.
So we have some of the most fanatical and openly genocidal figures in the current regime, who are ethnic Russians. And Azov originally came from Kharkov, a 100% Russian city.
How is that possible and how did it happen?
It happened because there is a very deeply running tradition of self-hatred in Russia, which generates a lot of outright traitors and many more various other people who don’t like the fact that they are Russian. Then the USSR collapsed, and that resulted in an unprecedented loss of faith in themselves in the population, and a general loss of direction. And for those left in Ukraine, joining that self hatred with the cool new thing that was the resurgent Ukrainian nationalism was a way out of that loss of identity and purpose.
To the point where they are willing to destroy what they originally belonged to.
It’s an analogous situation in Russia itself — for decades it has not been cool to be a communist or a Russian patriot, what has been cool is to have a lot of money, display conspicuous wealth, and be “Western”. Thus no shortage of traitors, at all levels.
There are obvious elements of that even in Putin himself with his Germanophilia — it is one reason why he built NS2 a Germany’s request even after Merkel played him with Minsk I and Minsk II (of course he knew they deceived him the moment those agreements were signed).

Posted by: shadowbanned | May 7 2023 16:48 utc | 32

@ Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 14:22 utc | 10
Thank you so much for compiling the updates that make this thread worth reading.
And this suggests the Ukrainian ineptness. Striking at targets in an area you can only hope to reach in your wildest dreams over attacking the first 20 Km of the counteroffensive routes.
As I have said before, like Hitler switching to London when he had the RAF on the ropes and barely holding on.

Posted by: BroncoBilly | May 7 2023 16:54 utc | 33

Like on clue, here is the long waited proof of the long time collusion between the Cold War participants.
This is big in consequences:
BIG: The Fake Moon Landing – Top Russian Official

Posted by: Dacian | May 7 2023 16:57 utc | 34

“Why are people still listening to Prighozin? Honestly it’s beyond me… he is completely unreliable and pretty unstable too. nothing of what he says can be taken at face value.”
Gor the same reason people watch Kim Kardasian tiktok vids. Its junkfood for the brain

Posted by: Comandante | May 7 2023 17:00 utc | 35

re: Dacian | May 7 2023 16:57 utc | 34
Your link has nothing to do with a moon landing, don’t waste our time.

Posted by: Perimetr | May 7 2023 17:02 utc | 36

looks like the trolls have arrived in force. Yesterday’s MoA Ukraine thread became hard to read with all the BS troll posts full of obscenities and assholes masquerading as regular posters. This is unfortunate.

Posted by: Perimetr | May 7 2023 17:04 utc | 37

Where is Zelly?
He hasn’t come back to Ukraine, I believe.

Posted by: kludt | May 7 2023 17:12 utc | 38

Thanks to Deep South for your continued postings of information. Your work is one of the few things I read here besides Karlof1 and james.
I for one am looking forward to the Ukrainian offensive when it comes. Not only will the ‘army’ of luckless conscripts be decimated, they will be put to good use by forcing them back through their own minefields at the line of conflict. This will clear the mines from these areas and allow the allied forces to make good time in flanking the remainder of the junta army at the front.

Posted by: Quid Me Vexare | May 7 2023 17:12 utc | 39

Posted by: Perimetr | May 7 2023 17:04 utc | 38
One man’s troll is another man’s truth teller. You are literally arguing for an echo chamber of group think, slaves also exhibit that characteristic.

Posted by: Longhorn | May 7 2023 17:12 utc | 40

@ Longhorn, §41:
True. It´s good to have the occasional Langley recruit like you here, just to see what their latest lies and delusions are.
But the mindless swearing or downright abuse is a bit tiresome – even for you I think?
Or is it Langley´s purpose to use any and all means to disrupt reasoned debate on anything? Probably: they try the same on the climate scam, the gender lunacy, the confetti dollar and all the rest.

Posted by: John Marks | May 7 2023 17:18 utc | 41

The IMF demands to increase taxes and reduce subsidies to the population. The period of preferential lending is over, and now Ukraine must build the economy based on reality, and not on hopes for Western assistance or frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank.
Keeping payments to the security forces, even with a freeze on the indexation of salaries for state employees, was an unacceptable format for the IMF, which we found out about before signing the loan. The Office of the President is forced to agree to such unpopular conditions in order to maintain the stability of the Ukrainian economy.
The International Fund gave us an ultimatum, or we agree with all the requirements (increased housing and communal services tariffs / increased taxes / canceled payments to the security forces and reduced social programs) or we should prepare to lift the moratorium on paying interest on debts, which will completely ruin the economy that is already breathing its last.

https://t.me/rezident_ua/17644
Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 14:15 utc | 5
That’s good. Whatever the effect on that, will help Ukraine disintegrate.

Posted by: unimperator | May 7 2023 17:22 utc | 42

Posted by: Perimetr | May 7 2023 17:02 utc | 37

Sorry Perimetr, a bit too fast to share the big news. Thanks for noticing the error. Let me try again.
BIG: The Fake Moon Landing – Top Russian Official
This is indeed big news. No one is a troll here, we all have different opinion. And ideally it should NOT be based on groupthink.

Posted by: Dacian | May 7 2023 17:31 utc | 43

Lots of white noise to navigate through around here lately. Most of it is nonsense that should be ignored. We will witness another failed Ukronazi offensive, they’ll lose thousands of soilders again, Russia will move on to the next area and all the paid posters here will disappear again. There is way more going on than this supposed counter offensive. The world is changing drastically. New alliances being made. West being pushed out of africa. EU fracturing. Banks failing. US dollar losing its power rapidly. Russia just needs to keep grinding away in Ukraine while the old world order fades away into history. Some others here see it and explain it very well. The rest?? Well they’ll disappear soon enough. Again.

Posted by: Watzov | May 7 2023 17:31 utc | 44

Posted by: John Marks | May 7 2023 17:18 utc | 43
At obscure places like this one it suffices to disrupt exchange of information with enough noise, sadly.
I guess making a clown of themselves with their deluded ignorance is more of a bug than a feature.
Amazingly it’s those accusing others of ‘argueig in an echo chamber’ reurgitating the same nonsensical ad hominems over and over all day every day.
But then again, selfrightous bathing in glorious ignorance is the usual MO in this day and age and chances are they do not even get paid for their efforts.

Posted by: kspr | May 7 2023 17:32 utc | 45

Posted by: Paulazu | May 7 2023 16:59 utc | 35
Has Zanon finally outed himself (herself?).

Posted by: GT Stroller | May 7 2023 17:39 utc | 46

How do you celebrate 9 May?
In Berlin, Ukrainian and Russian flags, music etc. were banned by the police.
The Ukrainian Nazi association Vitsche filed a complaint against this and won. Ukrainian stuff is now allowed.
The police are not appealing.
The ban on Russian symbols was also challenged and won.
The police are appealing.
The mayor of Berlin wants to “commemorate” together with the Ukrainian ambassador.
In Ukraine, the monuments are dismantled, Banderas and the Waffen-SS are commemorated. Here, the Ukrainian ambassador wants to “commemorate” the Ukrainian contribution to the victory over National Socialism.
Madhouse!

Posted by: 600w | May 7 2023 17:47 utc | 47

@2. Its pretty trollish and frankly moronic to claim that the RoW will somehow lose respect for Russian concerns if they dont kill people faster.

Posted by: Tannenhouser | May 7 2023 17:51 utc | 48

KitaySupporter #7
American troops refer to R&R as I&I, Intoxication and Insemination of the local women.

Posted by: Elmer Fudd | May 7 2023 17:53 utc | 49

Serious recommendation of a very long article by former Indian diplomat who imo has been spot on for several months about the rot in wash dc and the nazis in kiev; he has captured the quotes from Russian ambassador to us about the clumsy and clownish attempt to attack the Kremlin:
https://www.indianpunchline.com/zelensky-regimes-fate-is-sealed/
“How would Americans react if a drone hit the White House, the Capitol or the Pentagon? The answer is obvious for any politician as well as for an average citizen: the punishment will be harsh and inevitable.”
The ambassador went on to draw the bottom line: “Russia will respond to this insolent and presumptuous terrorist attack. We will answer when we consider it necessary. We will answer in accordance with the assessments of the threat that Kiev posed to the leadership of our country.”

Posted by: Taras 77 | May 7 2023 17:53 utc | 50

@42, Perimetr, man, things must be pretty bad in Europe for someone to solicit porn here.

Posted by: Immaculate deception | May 7 2023 17:56 utc | 51

JustAMaverick @ 29

When it comes to the war, Russia is an informational black hole

As it should be. From the start I felt Russia should just go dark, it’s scarier that way. Us in the peanut gallery would be bored though.

I believe Washington truly did feel Russia’s military was not up to the task.

Most nations that are attacked start out that way, not to the task, that’s why they get attacked, Union in USA Civil War, UK, USA, USSR in WW2, but they eventually get up to speed. That’s the tell that the USA has bad leadership military and civilian, or at least ignorant, one dimensional leadership, when in history has a major nation just collapsed after the first attacks?
Witnessing the chaotic piling in of motley NATO weapons into Ukraine it’s clear they really believed that the Russian military they evaluated, whether correctly or incorrectly, in 2021 was some sort if static entity, a fly imprisoned in amber, detached from past, present or future. How do such dangerously incompetent people get into positions of such extreme power?

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | May 7 2023 17:58 utc | 52

“It’s almost as though the whole thing was engineered to compel Prigozhin to cede full control of Wagner to the military.”
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 7 2023 14:30 utc | 13
Not likely “engineered”, but even if true… so what? Prigozhin is a “civilian” paramilitary group contracted by the military, so of course they’re “controlled”. Unlike other contracts however, this is a Russian SMO, and the military has to control ALL actors on the field.
It’s not like say a government in the Congo hired Wagner PMC to go clear a village of known terrorist cells, and return to base when contract completed.
On the plus side, since it is a civilian PMC, Prigozhin was able to leverage that “civilian” angle to call out some military poor judgements without being “insubordinate” or “court martial end”.
But on the battlefield, they will definitely be “controlled” or maybe go to Sudan for singular operations. This is really Wagner first combined arms warfare “War” oops SMO I’m guessing, so maybe this will not be how they contract in future. A learning curve for all it seems.

Posted by: Trubind1 | May 7 2023 17:59 utc | 53

Anyone who wants to support Russia in Berlin on 9 May should walk in groups of three, one next to the other. One should wear a red jacket, the next a white one and then a blue one.
Will there then be rules for positioning in public, depending on the colours worn? Could be an idea from Anna-Lena…
Ukrainians could use the flag of Barbados if necessary. It’s not my side, but… Fair play.
Last comment on this topic from me in the thread, even if it is part of the war that is being forced on the citizens in states like Germany.

Posted by: 600w | May 7 2023 18:01 utc | 54

… Most would be installed around the white house.
Posted by: kspr | May 7 2023 16:44 utc | 30

Or oligarch doomsday bunkers, assuming Israel hasn’t already cornered that market.

Posted by: anon2020 | May 7 2023 18:04 utc | 55

Two Majors Telegram Channel Reports
https://t.me/two_majors/7222
About the epidemiological situation in Kharkov region and how it is related to corruption
Our sources in the Kharkov region report the threat of an epidemic of various diseases in Ukraine against the backdrop of ongoing hostilities and rampant corruption.
🔻What happened?
▪️According to representatives of government agencies, the government of Ukraine did not purchase vaccines for the population, deciding to save money. At the same time, the proceeds were stolen.
In Kharkov, they are waiting for the start of an epidemic of measles, mumps, whooping cough and diphtheria due to the fact that more than 60% of children are not vaccinated. Yes, there are vaccines donated by the WHO and the UN, but of much lower quality.
Infectiologists urge parents not to use them because of the almost guaranteed health problems, to buy more expensive but effective ones.
▪️The situation with epilepsy medicines is also difficult: they don’t bring imported ones, problems in logistics, and Russian ones have long ended .
The only effective drug that prevents seizures in infants is Russian-made. New ones, obviously, are not purchased, preferring free medicines in humanitarian aid packages, which do not reach consumers.
▪️Children stopped being vaccinated against tuberculosis, the previously used vaccines were also Russian. Turkish analogues are periodically brought to the city, but this rarely happens, and not everyone can afford them. A similar situation with the Mantoux test .
You can provide your children with the necessary vaccinations only for money. To fully vaccinate a child up to a year comes out at $1000
For example, an imported analogue of adsorbed pertussis-diphtheria-tetanus vaccines costs $120 . Only a few can afford to be vaccinated, and they need to be done at least three times before a year.
🔻 What about water supply?
Also in Kharkov, there has been a problem with drinking water for several days. The only water treatment plant can not cope due to wear and tear of equipment. The price of drinking water is high. People use tap water.
🔻 What about the work of morgues and the situation with the dead?
Due to the large number of deaths in morgues and hospitals, there is simply no place for bodies. In institutions, they do not wait for the allotted time, trying to unload the work of crematoria – all unidentified people are simply burned .
At the same time, no one tries to establish the identity of the victim, due to lack of time. And pathologists were forbidden to indicate the real causes of death, so that relatives could not receive compensation.
Most have problems with the heart or circulatory insufficiency – they are not entitled to payments. One of these victims with a bullet wound to the neck was diagnosed with cardiac arrest caused by a ruptured mitral valve.
The large number of dead has also created problems in the funeral sector, as the cemeteries are already overflowing. At one of these sites in Bezlyudovka , the distance from the burial places is no more than ten centimeters .
🔻In this regard, the medical community fears a cholera epidemic, but they cannot do anything. The authorities forbade even mentioning it. The head of the state administration (HCA) , Oleg Sinegubov, personally threatened to be punished under wartime laws “for discrediting and complicity with Russia.”
The HCA prefers to hide the true state of affairs, as this will create problems not only in Ukraine, but also in the West. The administration of Sinegubov is cashing in on foreign humanitarian aid, selling all the most valuable things on the side.
And there are practically no prerequisites for changing the situation. The supplies of humanitarian aid were initially used to launder money and enrich the authorities, and the needs of their own population for them are only accompanying victims.

There you are…. the UkroNazis care not for their people….
INDY

Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | May 7 2023 18:07 utc | 56

Now, regarding this Prighozin fella.
As someone who has not payed all too much attention to him, his telegram posts or his videos, my impression is as follows:
This isn’t about the person, it is about the persona. It is about controlling naratives and here i think it is especially about controlling and influeincing oppositional narratives.
This is about abusing the devastated public information space as well as abusing the deteriorated attention spans and critical thinking skills of residents of ‘the west’.
This includes any analyst of whatever NGO, Think Tank or Intel Service.
It is drama for the masses, distracting from more interesting things to discuss. It is a performance for a population of TikTok-brained ignorants.
It gets quoted frequently here in the western press, as if it mattered what this Prigozhin fella rants into his Telegram.
Likewise, he and his antics are discussed here way out of proportion
It gets prime screenspace in all those reputable publications.
All the while the speeches of Lavrov, Putin, Zakharova are ignored.
Frankly, this is absuing the west’s almost absolute control of its informationspace. Let them litter their media with bullshit themselves.
Or it isn’t, everything there is as much chaos as here. Thanks to our absolutely degenerated public information space, the result is the same.
Alas,it is also only human to indulge in some gossip i assume and gossip is what he provides.

Posted by: kspr | May 7 2023 18:11 utc | 57

@ 600w, §49:
Certainly a madhouse but also an illustration of how enslaved Germany is, the most crushed of the American satellites.
Only Japan comes near to such humiliation.
Probably all the top police have been cleaned out by America´s Green Nazis to complete the destruction of Germany.
That´s why, of course, NordStream had to be dynamited.

Posted by: John Marks | May 7 2023 18:14 utc | 58

@600w 56
Lets see, court allows Russian flags too.
Now Berlin police appeals against this court´s decision.

Posted by: AG | May 7 2023 18:14 utc | 59

A look at Zelensky’s triangulation options with China acting as a peace-maker:
https://www.beyondwasteland.net/p/unbinding-prometheus

Posted by: KevinB | May 7 2023 18:20 utc | 60

From “Now or Never’:The Immediate Origins of Putin’s Preventative War on Ukraine”…

The Russians’ military planning and preparation for the war remains opaque but they must have been gaming war with Ukraine over the Donbass since 2014 when separatist rebels in that region broke away from the Kyiv regime. Putin’s final decision to go to war seems to have been last-minute but the groundwork for military action would have been initiated many months previously…
What they missed was the crystallisation of Putin’s apocalyptic vision of a future, nuclear-armed Ukraine, embedded in NATO and intent on provoking a Russian-Western war. Arguably, it was that long-term nuclear danger that finally prompted Putin to go to war.

Precisely. This is what I’ve said all along. Russia’s MoD began planning the war in 2014 (f not before) as a contingency plan. When Ukraine moved its forces to the contact line in spring, 2021, this plan became an operational plan. In concert with that, Russia worked on its treaty proposals for a new European security architecture, knowing full well that the West was not capable of agreeing to it, but wishing to be on the historically correct side by offering the West a way out.
I don’t, however, believe the decision to invade was “last minute”, except in the sense that Putin had to invade before the apparently planned Ukrainian offensive against Donbass was initiated. That was merely a matter of timing minutia, the decision to invade was already made, not just the plan to do so. Once the West rejected the treaty proposals, Ukraine was doomed.
As I’ve said repeatedly, regardless of what Putin has said publicly, this war’s primary reason is those treaty proposals – and NATO’s Aegis Ashore installations in Poland and Romania. The goal is to take Ukraine off the board permanently as a vehicle for NATO, to counter NATO’s encroachments in Poland and Romania, and to disrupt and reduce NATO’s military threat to Russia to the degree possible, preferably without having to engage NATO directly. Further proof resides in Russia’s actions with regard to Belarus, including training Belarus pilots to operate fighter-bombers with nuclear weapons, and integrating Belarus’ military into the Russian military. Ukraine will eventually be treated similarly once the Kiev regime has been eliminated.
A few days ago, I viewed Ray McGovern’s speech in Boston to a peace group where he showed slides prepared by Theodore Postel, the MIT missile scientist, with regard to the Aegis Ashore threat, and which quoted Putin in December, 2021 and January, 2022, explicitly talking to his military officials about the threat from the Aegis Ashore installations. The slides also showed the installations and made the explicit comparison between this situation and the Cuban missile crisis. I recommend everyone view McGovern’s presentation.
If the Missile Fits, Beware: Ray McGovern on US missile site in Romania and Poland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUuVOzE-sRY
Read this full article in which McGovern answers questions and provides a transcript of some of Putin’s remarks cited in the video:
Ray McGovern says If the Missile Fits, Beware!
https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2023/05/04/ray-mcgovern-says-if-the-missile-fits-beware/
This is why Putin went to war.
The only logical, objective conclusion to this war which fully satisfies Russia’s security concerns, rather than any emotional reasons, is that Russia must take control of all of Ukraine, not leaving one inch of it available to NATO, and placing a full Military District on the Polish and Romania border to counter those Aegis Ashore installation. All other considerations are secondary.
Anyone who doesn’t grasp that is either fixated on some lesser considerations because they don’t grasp the big picture – or is a moron.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 7 2023 18:26 utc | 61

John Marks @ 60

Certainly a madhouse but also an illustration of how enslaved Germany is, the most crushed of the American satellites. Only Japan comes near to such humiliation.

You left out Italy, everyone always leaves out Italy.😟

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | May 7 2023 18:28 utc | 62

https://youtu.be/9XZMQkh0vKc In Kharkov. First two minutes, heartbreaking to watch, doesn’t matter which side…

Posted by: ostrol | May 7 2023 18:40 utc | 63

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 7 2023 18:26 utc
Thank God you’re back here, RSH. The past couple of days have been like trudging through troll-infested rasputitsa.

Posted by: Mexicana | May 7 2023 18:44 utc | 64

🔥🧩🔥Difficulties of the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Time has shrunk to days, so it makes sense to describe the real problems that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will face during the offensive.
✅ Reducing the technical gap.
The receipt of Western weapons and intelligence has dramatically increased the effectiveness of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, especially against the background of the unpreparedness of most parts of the RF Armed Forces for modern warfare.
Slowly, the RF Armed Forces have adapted their tactics to all the latest / technology, saturated their units with electronic warfare and drones, and Chinese private satellites provide high-quality intelligence data, which is quickly closing the gap.
Example. If earlier Himars were a super-weapon, from which only bad weather saved, now Himars need to overcome not only clouds that knock down guidance, but also electronic warfare and shells, which forces you to carefully select targets, shoot “packs”, etc.☝ 🏻
In parallel, the Lancets find victims every day, and quite selectively knock out the most scarce equipment (air defense, electronic warfare).
✅ Lack of successful experience of assault operations.
The successes of the Kyiv gesture of goodwill, the Kharkov regrouping and the Kherson maneuver are due to the strategic failures of the General Staff of the Russian Federation. The stretch and insecurity of communications, the lack of saturation of the front line and the logistical bottleneck are the reasons for the corresponding retreats of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, even in the case of the Kharkov offensive, the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not manage to take Izyum by storm. The Russians held him until they brought the main forces across the river☝🏻
The reduction of the front line + mobilization allowed the Russian Federation to saturate the line of contact. Now the Armed Forces of Ukraine will have to “gnaw” the defense on any sector of the front. The more valuable the site, the more firmly the area was fortified there.
✅ Availability of strategic reserves.
During the Kharkov regrouping, the Russian Federation did not have strategic-level reserves at all. Everything more or less “combat” was involved, so when a breakthrough happened in a thin place, there was nothing to close it, I had to run away and plug the hole with Wagner.
Today, there is a little less than half of the resources available for SVO on the LBS line. This means that Gerasimov has a strategic reserve☝🏻
For example, where did the most combat-ready units that were stationed on the right bank of the Dnieper go? And these are 2 airborne divisions, 2 elite motorized rifle brigades, marines (partially near Ugledar), etc.
Zaluzhny understands this very well, so he does not want to risk all his cash reserves and is lobbying for the option of a limited offensive.🧩

https://t.me/ZeRada1/13584

Colleagues, you have described only part of the problems of the upcoming counteroffensive, but there is still an advantage (total) in aviation and missile strikes, artillery reserves and the Black Sea Fleet, which can be used in the Sea of Azov. Further more, in a negative scenario, we will ruin the most prepared units and the best equipment, but in fact we will leave the rear open and we can bring down the entire eastern front.
According to British intelligence, Russian troops now have 500,000 troops, and in September last year there were 140,000 on the entire front line. I don’t want to say anything about the need to storm the Dnieper at all, anyone who was in Kherson or Nikopol understands that this is an extremely difficult task, even if you manage to capture a bridgehead, then you need to hold it so that you are not thrown back.
Our propagandists do not talk about this so that no one asks the question, and if you knew about these negative scenarios, then why did you give the order to Zaluzny?

https://t.me/rezident_ua/17651

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 18:55 utc | 65

Posted by: BroncoBilly | May 7 2023 16:54 utc | 33
Posted by: Quid Me Vexare | May 7 2023 17:12 utc | 40
No problem!

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 19:00 utc | 66

Yesterday the Telegram channel Kepka Prigozhina (Prigozhin’s Cap) has published Prigozhin’s “FAQ” on the ammo issue. Here’s a link to a machine translation:
Yevgeniy Prigozhin’s answers to the main questions asked by the public (May 6, 2023 — machine translation by Yandex Translate)

Posted by: S | May 7 2023 19:02 utc | 67

Yesterday the Telegram channel Kepka Prigozhina (Prigozhin’s Cap) has published Prigozhin’s FAQ on the ammo issue. Here’s a machine translation by Google Translate: Evgeny Prigozhin’s answers to the main questions that society has.

Posted by: S | May 7 2023 19:09 utc | 68

BMA/Aleks has a new piece on Prigozhin and Wagner.
https://bmanalysis.substack.com/p/opinion-piece

Posted by: unimperator | May 7 2023 19:15 utc | 69

Apparently the trolls noticed that I called them out on using other peoples handles/IDs to post, as it wasn’t my post on 42:
“Hi Paula. Do you like gravy?
Posted by: Perimetr | May 7 2023 17:17 utc | 42”
please take note of this Immaculate deception
“this goes out to you, to:@42, Perimetr, man, things must be pretty bad in Europe for someone to solicit porn here. Posted by: Immaculate deception | May 7 2023 17:56 utc | 53”

Posted by: Perimetr | May 7 2023 19:20 utc | 70

#69
Sidenote: I had to link to Google Translate because Typepad wouldn’t let me post a comment containing a link to Yandex Translate. Go figure.

Posted by: S | May 7 2023 19:25 utc | 71

A repost from the end of the last four pages of comments —
Conspicuous absence of comment re the claimed Patriot kill of a Khinzal — false flag is possible but risky as if the Patriot (alleged) missed the target missile, it would seem that the target would fall on a populated area of Kyiv …… apologies for the wild speculation, but I felt the subject should be broached.

Posted by: chet380 | May 7 2023 19:34 utc | 72

RE: Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 7 2023 18:26 utc | 63
Agree with post. A fire runner “settlement” might look like EU can have rump-part neutral Ukraine AFTER Poland & Romania return to 1996 & Aegis’s pulled out.
But like you, believe end will be full occupation, as it appears EU nations are fine with being razed.
Any thoughts on Z-NPP bribe threat? Or Defender23 NATO air surprise attack in upcoming counter offensive”?
Well, either of these won’t surprise Russia.

Posted by: Trubind1 | May 7 2023 19:37 utc | 73

Ok, so they pushed Prighozin out. He didn’t go quietly!

Posted by: Thim | May 7 2023 19:37 utc | 74

@ Petri Krohn | May 7 2023 16:38 utc | 27
You might “no longer care”, but I appreciate your contribution here over the years. Thank you.
However, because most people’s URL’s point nowhere, I never before clicked on yours. Is “shoutwiki” all your work? Just wondering, in case I want to binge-read something “fresh”.

Posted by: natokraine | May 7 2023 19:38 utc | 75

Posted by: S | May 7 2023 19:09 utc | 69
Kepka Prigozhina, I follow that channel before he became notorious, the first channel I check when opening TG, well I used to check first VladlEn Tatarsky and tried not to miss his Vecherny VladlEn but unfortunately he is not with us anymore, I think both of them gave a true picture of the situation, a lot better than the official army channels. I think that his struggle with bureaucrats and appeasers appeals to the majority, hopefully the three main rivals of the RF will be defeated, Ukraine, the West, and the internal pro western crowd.

Posted by: Paco | May 7 2023 19:42 utc | 76

@ Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 14:22 utc | 10
Thank you so much Down South for all your very detailed information. Keep up your valuable work so we all, in the bar, remain truly well informed, and as a consequence, stronger for it.

Posted by: HERMIUS | May 7 2023 19:52 utc | 77

Posted by: chet380 | May 7 2023 19:34 utc | 73
If the Patriot took down a Khinzhal, I think it would be a first as the Patriot has never managed to hit anything before much less hypersonics!

Posted by: SwissArmyMan | May 7 2023 19:54 utc | 78

LightYearsFromHome | May 7 2023 18:28 utc | 64
You left out Italy, everyone always leaves out Italy.😟
Yes, well, the Italians would like nothing more than to be left out. Which, I suppose, is the reason they always take the path of least resistance.

Posted by: john | May 7 2023 19:56 utc | 79

Posted by: Trubind1 | May 7 2023 19:37 utc | 74
“A fire runner “settlement” might look like EU can have rump-part neutral Ukraine AFTER Poland & Romania return to 1996 & Aegis’s pulled out.”
Anything is possible once Russia’s security is guaranteed as far as possible.
“Any thoughts on Z-NPP bribe threat?”
Nope. Don’t care about Ukrainian moves at all.
“Or Defender23 NATO air surprise attack in upcoming counter offensive”?
Good luck with that, NATO… End result will be no NATO aircraft or airfields left in Europe – and possibly no NATO left, either.
“Well, either of these won’t surprise Russia.”
Exactly.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 7 2023 20:06 utc | 80

“The most powerful shelling of the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Chasovoy Yar
Russian artillery of all calibers hits the places of concentration of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donbass.
Arrivals at the positions of the 112th, 127th and 241st territorial defense brigades, 228th battalion in Chasov Yar.
Arrivals by units of the Ukrainian army in the area of Bogdanovka and Valyanivka (railway station) north of Chasy Yar”
https://twitter.com/Spriter99880/status/1655301663324774400
The artillery that was focused on Bakhmut and its decreasing areas for so long, may now increasingly focus on Chasov Yar, which is a significantly smaller town. Ivanivske is only 4km2 in size, roughly double the area that Ukraine was holding in west of Bakhmut a few days ago. Since they are already projecting heavy strikes on Chasov yar, Ivanivske should fall relatively quickly or even automatically once Ukrainians are smoked out of the west Bakhmut area.

Posted by: unimperator | May 7 2023 20:06 utc | 81

@Petri Krohn | May 7 2023 16:38 utc | 27
Hi Petri. I’m sorry to hear of this. I’ve always enjoyed your writing. I understand the weight of the world is quite a lot to carry. Stay healthy and stay alive.

Posted by: Cresty | May 7 2023 20:07 utc | 82

Posted by: Mexicana | May 7 2023 18:44 utc | 66
“Thank God you’re back here, RSH.”
I’m not. That was a “drive-by” post.
“The past couple of days have been like trudging through troll-infested rasputitsa.”
The last several months, I think you mean, maybe the last 14 months.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 7 2023 20:09 utc | 83

Here’s a mild curiosity; the Russian Defence Ministry haven’t yet posted their ‘clobber list’ for today. Normally it is up long before now.
There was a flurry of updates over at TASS, with posts appearing every 10 or 20 minutes or so, but they have dried up in the last few hours.
The site at https://voenhronika.ru/ also has few updates compared to its usual rate of output.
Is there something big going on that has led to a tightening news blackout?

Posted by: West of England Andy | May 7 2023 20:14 utc | 84

Posted by: West of England Andy | May 7 2023 20:14 utc | 85
⚡️ Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation
(7 May 2023)
Part I (see Part II (https://t.me/mod_russia_en/7274))
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
◽️ In Kupyansk direction, Operational-Tactical and Army aviation and artillery of the Zapad Group of Forces have engaged the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) close to Tabayevka, Timkovka, Pershotravnevoye, Novomlynsk, and Dvurechnaya (Kharkov region).
◽️ In addition, Russian troops disrupted actions of four Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups near Sinkovka, Kislovka (Kharkov region) and Stelmakhovka (Lugansk People’s Republic).
💥 More than 85 Ukrainian servicemen, one armoured fighting vehicle, and one D-30 howitzer have been destroyed during the day in this direction.
💥 An ammunition depot belonging to the Right Sector, a Ukrainian terrorist organisation, has been destroyed near Liptsy (kharkov region).
◽️ In Krasny Liman direction, Operational-Tactical and Army aviation and artillery of the Tsentr Group of Forces have inflicted fire damage on enemy units close to Terny, Yampolovka, Yampol, and Grigorovka (Donetsk People’s Republic) and Chervonaya Dibrova and Nevskoye (Lugansk People’s Republic).
💥 The enemy has suffered losses of up to 75 Ukrainian troops, three armoured fighting vehicles, two motor vehicles, one Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer, and one D-20 howitzer in this direction in the past 24 hours.
◽️ In Donetsk direction, assault detachments continue offensive actions and have seized two blocks in the north-western and western parts of Artyomovsk. Operational-Tactical and Army aviation and artillery of the Yug Group of Forces have the units of the 57th Motorised Infantry and 80th Air Assault Brigades near Bogdanovka and Stupochki (Donetsk People’s Republic).
◽️ Four sorties were carried out by aircraft in the area during the past 24 hours. The artillery have performed 64 fire tasks overnight. Airborne Troops isolate the enemy on the flanks and support the action of the assault troops to take control over the city.
◽️ More than 340 Ukrainian servicemen and mercenaries, two armoured fighting vehicles, eight motor vehicles, and one D-20 howitzer have been eliminated during the day in this direction. In addition, two U.S.-made counterbattery radar stations have been destroyed near Novgorodskoye and Artyomovo (Donetsk People’s Republic).
#MoD
🔹 @mod_russia_en
⚡️ Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation
(7 May 2023)
Part II (see Part I (https://t.me/mod_russia_en/7273))
💥 In South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, aviation, artillery, and heavy flamethrower systems of the Vostok Group of Forces inflicted fire damage on the AFU units close to Ugledar, Pavlovka, and Nikolskoye (Donetsk People’s Republic), and Dorozhnyanka (Zaporozhye region).
◽️ Actions of a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group were foiled close to Levadnoye (Zaporozhye region).
◽️ Up to 55 Ukrainian troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, one motor vehicle, and Msta-B and D-30 howitzers have been neutralised in these directions during the day. A U.S.-made AN/TPQ-36 counterbattery radar station was destroyed near Maksimilyanovka (Donetsk People’s Republic).
◽️ In Kherson direction, up to 40 Ukrainian troops and five motor vehicles have been destroyed by enemy fire.
💥 Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Group of Forces have engaged 98 AFU artillery units, manpower, and hardware in 119 areas during the day.
💥 The command post of the 124th Territorial Defence Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was hit near Kherson.
💥 A communication centre of the 81st Airmobile Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been hit close to Serebryanka (Donetsk People’s Republic).
💥 In addition, the command and control posts of a battalion of the 110th Mechanised Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Avdeevka (Donetsk People’s Republic), as well as the Ukrainian Special Operations Force Yug Centre on Velykiy Island (Kherson region), were hit.
◽️ During the night, 22 Ukrainian strike drones were detected over the Black Sea by air defence systems. All the Ukrainian UAVs have been downed by anti-aircraft fire or suppressed by electronic warfare.
◽️ Also in the past 24 hours, air defence systems have intercepted five HIMARS projectiles, a Grom-2 operational-tactical missile, and one Tochka-U tactical missile.
◽️ Moreover, 10 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles have been shot down close to Tavolzhanka (Kharkov region), Donetsk, Grishino (Donetsk People’s Republic), Kremennaya, Svatovo (Lugansk People’s Republic), Rabotino, Ilchenkovo (Zaporozhye region).
📊 In total, 418 airplanes and 230 helicopters, 4,027 unmanned aerial vehicles, 421 air defence missile systems, 9,014 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 1,096 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 4,754 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 10,037 pieces of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.
#MoD
🔹 @mod_russia_en
Welcome.

Posted by: unimperator | May 7 2023 20:16 utc | 85

Posted by: West of England Andy | May 7 2023 20:14 utc | 85
And thank whoever the site hasn’t swallowed my post this time. Been happening a lot lately.

Posted by: West of England Andy | May 7 2023 20:16 utc | 86

Dima says that the concentrations of Ukro forces are huge.
He is worried if Russians can sustain such attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxNeEnAdxvE

Posted by: srbin | May 7 2023 20:17 utc | 87

Posted by: unimperator | May 7 2023 20:16 utc | 86
Ah, thanks very much for that. I normally use this link: https://eng.mil.ru/en/special_operation/news.htm but that one hasn’t been updated.

Posted by: West of England Andy | May 7 2023 20:19 utc | 88

Posted by: srbin | May 7 2023 20:17 utc | 88

Dima is a charlatan and a fool.

Posted by: Intelligent Dasein | May 7 2023 20:28 utc | 89

Intelligent Dasein @ 2
This needed to happen. If the SloMo Operation doesn’t shift into gear soon, the world will lose respect for Russia’s concerns. It’s about effing time for Mr. Putin to finally “start something.”
RESPONSE: When the West started to directly go after Putin in Moscow, something finally clicked within Putin that he had better get on with it. He is now awake and will cause the bear to start to arise from its state of sleep that it has been in for so long.

Posted by: young | May 7 2023 20:28 utc | 90

a sad sight, the lack of compassion for the prospects of paid commentators facing a top (budget?) priority of AI implementation.
those jobs dont even have a halflife. At what point can we assume and dispense the pro-human labor advocate, and when can we assume that each and every one is not? office pool.

Posted by: Not Ewe | May 7 2023 20:29 utc | 91

“Dima says that the concentrations of Ukro forces are huge.”
That’s nice. Do they have air support? machine guns? bullets?

Posted by: malenkov | May 7 2023 20:30 utc | 92

@ SwissArmyMan #79
“Patriot has never managed to hit anything before much less hypersonics!“
It was effective in downing a “friendly” RAF Tornado and a USN F/A18. All crew members killed. Also one was blown up when it locked on another friendly aircraft.

Posted by: Billb | May 7 2023 20:30 utc | 93

The ukrainian Air Force has DENIED reports that its air defences downed a Khinzal missile.

Posted by: HERMIUS | May 7 2023 20:34 utc | 94

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 7 2023 20:09 utc | 84
Wait, was 63 you or not, or is 84 the body snatcher? I’m confused.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 7 2023 20:37 utc | 95

Zaporizhzhya direction. Orekhovo suburbs. Today
Reconnaissance and artillery of the 503rd Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment of the Order of Lenin, Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov and Bogdan Khmelnitsky spotted a column with up to 10 vehicles. They fired rockets at it. A hit and fire could be seen.
At Orekhova the enemy is amassing forces for the strike, pulling troops to the front line. Intercepts indicate one of the units was to attempt an attack tonight. It is possible that a strike on the enemy’s staging areas has disrupted the enemy’s plans.
https://t.me/NovichokRossiya/30079

Posted by: unimperator | May 7 2023 20:41 utc | 96

News blackout?

@West of England Andy | May 7 2023 20:14 utc | 85
Is there something big going on that has led to a tightening news blackout?

I was watching the nine o’clock news on Russia’s Channel One at my friend’s apartment next door. On Sundays the news lasts two hours. About one third of the broadcast was news from the USA. As usual, Russian TV showed original Western sources with multiple American personalities appearing on screen, Tucker Carlson, RFK Jr., Hunter Biden, … The focus today was on economics, the US bank crisis and Western inflation.
The interesting thing was however the first fifteen minutes of the program. A summary of all the recent Ukrainian terror attacks in Russia. I asked my friend, what’s up? Why is Russia so concentrated on Ukrop crimes? Are they planning some big offensive, or what? Looks like they are setting up a casus belli.
These comments naturally were not to be taken seriously. But one never knows.

Posted by: Petri Krohn | May 7 2023 20:48 utc | 97

Posted by: S | May 7 2023 19:09 utc | 69
Assuming what Prigozhin’s FAQ is true, what does that say about losses to those units?
22. So, how is the calculation of ammunition. We take as a basis the conditional grouping of PMC “Wagner” in 30 thousand people on combat missions in Bakhmut.
25. Thus, on average, from October 2022 to May 2023, we received 38% of the requested requirement.”
The arithmetic is very simple:
– If they give 18 thousand shells per day, the losses are 10%;
– If they give 6 thousand shells per day, the losses are 24%;
– If they give 2 thousand shells per day, the losses are 35% or more.
32. PMC “Wagner” according to military calculations should give 18 thousand shells per day. And there should be weapons [X] x 3. In this case, the losses would be 10-12% in a full-fledged war. The Wagner PMC had not [X] x 3, but [X] weapons, so we asked not 18, but 6 thousand shells. In this situation, our losses should have been 24%, with 6 thousand shells. But we were given 2,000 thanks to the efforts of the responsible generals and Mizintsev. Therefore, our calculated loss should have been 35% for every 25 days. That is, PMC “Wagner” for 6 months “Bakhmut meat grinder” was supposed to lose 200% of the personnel.
33. It should be noted that with a loss of 30%, the unit is considered not combat ready. We had to complete one combat mission (25 days): die and reformat, and so on 14 times in a row.

Posted by: Response2 | May 7 2023 20:50 utc | 98

It makes sense. Ukraine staging its march to Crimea in Odessa, which hadn’t been very involved in the military action to this point. From an historical perspective, it will seem to have been an interesting coincidence that Russia was already planning to take Odessa in this same stage of the war. Serendipity!

Posted by: barstool | May 7 2023 20:53 utc | 99

Re: Fake Moon Landing
Greetings,
I happen to know of an astronomer who had been making millimeter-range measurements of the Earth-moon distance, using the mirrors installed on that mission. I can search for it, but if memory serves, his name is Tom Murphy. He presents work for the general public at the blog Do the Math.

Posted by: @vec | May 7 2023 20:55 utc | 100