It might take weeks before the results of the Ukrainian campaign are clear, but Kyiv has already succeeded in expanding the stalemated fighting in Bakhmut, the bitterly contested eastern city that was ground zero throughout the winter.
Ground zero ‘…. the winter’? Surely, Holy Ground Zero can only refer to a single event in ancient New York

Posted by: Merkin Scot | Jun 7 2023 11:29 utc | 4

The Armed forces of Ukraine, having failed to achieve the objectives of the offensive and having suffered significant losses in the South Donetsk direction, attempted to break through the defenses of our troops in the Donetsk direction near the city of Artemovsk.
During the past day, the active actions of the “Southern” group of troops successfully repelled eight attempts by assault detachments of the 56th Motorized Infantry, 57th mechanized brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the direction of settlements: Yagodnoye, Dubovo-Vasilevka, the western outskirts of Artemovsk, Andreevka, Orekhovo-Vasilevka, as well as the 24th mechanized and 3-th assault brigade in the area of the settlement of Kleshcheyevka.
The enemy did not achieve the offensive goal. Interference in our defense is not allowed.
◽️ During the fighting, up to 415 Ukrainian servicemen, two tanks, nine armored combat vehicles, six cars, a self-propelled artillery installation “Gvozdika”, as well as a howitzer “Msta-B” were destroyed during the day.
💥 On the Vremyevsky ledge by decisive actions of units of the Vostok group of troops, air strikes, missile troops and artillery, during the day three enemy attacks were repelled by the forces of two battalion tactical groups in the areas of the settlements of Neskuchnoye of the Donetsk People’s Republic and Levadnoye of the Zaporozhye region.
In addition, an attack by an assault unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the settlement of Novodonetskoye of the Donetsk People’s Republic was repelled. This locality is under the control of the Russian armed forces.
As a result of the fire damage of a column of Ukrainian armored vehicles advancing in the direction of the October state farm, most of the armored vehicles were destroyed. The remaining ones retreated to the starting line on the move.
In total, over 190 Ukrainian servicemen, 8 tanks, including two AMX-10 wheeled tanks made in France, 20 armored combat vehicles, 12 vehicles, the M777 artillery system made in the USA, the Gvozdika self-propelled artillery installation, D-20 and D-30 howitzers were destroyed in the South Donetsk direction during the day, as well as the Hyacinth-B cannon.
◽️ In the area of the settlements of Omelnik and Gulyai-Pole of the Zaporozhye region, the ammunition depot of the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the US-made AN/TPQ-36 counter-battery radar station were destroyed.
💥 In the Kupyansk direction, air strikes and artillery fire of the “Western” grouping of troops hit enemy units in the areas of the settlements of Novomlynsk, Kulagovka, Kislovka, Pershotravnevoye of the Kharkiv region and Stelmakhovka of the Luhansk People’s Republic.
◽️ In the area of the settlement of Novoselovskoye of the Luhansk People’s Republic, the activities of three Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups were suppressed.
During the day, more than 50 Ukrainian servicemen, three armored combat vehicles, two cars, as well as a Paladin self-propelled artillery unit manufactured by the United States were destroyed in this direction.
💥 In the Krasno-Limansky direction, tactical and army aviation, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems of the Center group of troops defeated enemy units in the areas of the settlements of Ploshchanka, Karmazinovka, Chervonaya Dibrova, Kuzmino of the Luhansk People’s Republic and Yampolovka of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
The activities of two Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups have been suppressed in the area of the Serebryansky forestry.
More than 70 Ukrainian servicemen, two infantry fighting vehicles, five cars, a self-propelled artillery installation “Gvozdika”, as well as a D-20 howitzer were destroyed during the day.
In the Kherson direction, as a result of fire damage over the past day, up to 60 Ukrainian servicemen, five armored combat vehicles, two pickups, an M777 artillery system manufactured by the United States, a self-propelled artillery installation “Gvozdika”, as well as a howitzer “Msta-B” were destroyed.
During the day, 93 artillery units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in firing positions, manpower and military equipment in 137 districts were hit by operational-tactical and army aviation, missile troops and artillery groups of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
Command and observation posts of the 67th Mechanized and 44th Artillery brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were hit in the areas of the settlements of Chervonaya Dibrova of the Luhansk People’s Republic and Novoivanovka of the Zaporozhye region.
Two fuel depots of the 110th Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed near the settlement of Avdiivka, Donetsk People’s Republic.
💥 By means of air defense in the area of the settlement of Nikiforovka of the Donetsk People’s Republic, a Su-27 fighter of the Air Forces of Ukraine was shot down.
A Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet was shot down near the settlement of Lyubitskoye, Zaporozhye region.
During the day, 24 rockets of the HIMARS, Uragan and Alder multiple launch rocket systems were intercepted.
In addition, 22 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed in the areas of the settlements of Donetsk, Verkhnetoretskoye, Gornyak of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Verkhnekamenka, Kremennaya, Makeyevka of the Luhansk People’s Republic, Ilchenkovo, Engineering of the Zaporozhye region, Sadovoye and Bare Pier of the Kherson region.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 438 aircraft, 238 helicopters, 4527 unmanned aerial vehicles, 424 anti-aircraft missile systems, 9634 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1119 multiple rocket launchers, 5034 field artillery and mortar guns, as well as 10771 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed.
On June 5, at about 21.00 Moscow time, in the area of the settlement of Masyutovka, Kharkiv region, a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group detonated the Tolyatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline.
As a result of this terrorist act, there are victims among the civilian population. They received the necessary medical care.
◽️ Currently, ammonia residues are being drained from the Ukrainian territory through the damaged sections of the pipeline.
There are no casualties among Russian servicemen.

Posted by: Felin | Jun 7 2023 11:35 utc | 6

Our source in the OP said that at the headquarters they discussed the formats of the counteroffensive after the explosion Kakhovskaya HPP, which changes the plans of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
While everyone is discussing the situation below the dam and the flooding of the Kherson region, the real problem arises around the operation to storm the ZNPP. The Kakovskoye reservoir is rapidly shrinking, which means that it will be extremely difficult to carry out a landing operation.
There will be shallow water for several kilometers, which will not allow the use of boats, and our paratroopers will have to move on wet sand, turning into convenient targets for the enemy.

https://t.me/rezident_ua/18157

Posted by: Down South | Jun 7 2023 11:45 utc | 8

Our source in the OP said that the General Staff simulated the situation with the destruction of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station during the counteroffensive, after the capture of the bridgehead and the landing of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the left bank.
According to the calculations of the General Staff, the water should go away in 10-15 days, and then you need to immediately start the operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine until the enemy has time to create a new line of defense, which was washed away by water.

https://t.me/rezident_ua/18160

Posted by: Down South | Jun 7 2023 11:47 utc | 10

In Ukraine, there is a big problem with the spread of illegal weapons.
It is noteworthy that the problem is partly recognized even in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. As Interior Minister Igor Klymenko reported in an interview with BBC News, Ukrainians now have about 1.2 million firearms in their hands, and the main problem is that the “trunks” can fall into the hands of unscrupulous citizens.
“This weapon can fall into the hands of sabotage groups or, most importantly, into the hands of criminals,” Klymenko stressed. Moreover, when asked about data on unregistered weapons, the minister replied: “There are no such estimates in the country (attention!) But there are from our European partners that after the war there will probably be up to (!) 3 million weapons in the state.”
And this is frightening, because the impoverishment of citizens in a warring country is guaranteed to give rise to an increase in crime. However, the top Ukrainian authorities do not listen to the fears of law enforcement officers and prefer to use the police in a completely different way – for example, as escorts for raids to catch military men.

https://t.me/rezident_ua/18164

Posted by: Down South | Jun 7 2023 11:50 utc | 12

“the “stay behind” insurgency can fully begin, and in 10-20 years the upper-middle and upper classes of Moscow and St. Petersburg will will become tired of that push for regime change.”
U think the West can bankroll the black hole called Ukraine for 10-20 more years!??
I dont give it 10-20 more months.

Posted by: Comandante | Jun 7 2023 11:52 utc | 14

The elections are supposed to be in March 2024, right? The best natoids can do will be left for 2024 for maximum damage.
@ostro | Jun 7 2023 11:36 utc | 7
I think they would better leave Ukr as a two village country. The clowns will have to pay everything they have to nato and Russia for 100 years. Let them enjoy freedom.

Posted by: rk | Jun 7 2023 11:53 utc | 16

Thanks b.
Yes, another stoned opinion from WaPo, based on autistic pursuing of one-sided truth, that turned into dangerous delusion.
How is bridging equipment highly mobile? That stays a mystery to me.
To deploy and erect a crossing takes around 2-4 hours per best estimate military standard. And that under shelling and constant observation is highly mobile? Right.
As you wrote before, RF’s times from D2D (detection to destruction) have decreased to nearly a few minutes and in some cases under a minute. Good luck with crossing even the narrowest river to where it matters.
Also, thinking that Ukraine army is now relieved with the flooding and can transfer its troops elsewhere is a deadly mistake they are making.
Shoigu’s field report is covering the whole frontline, and it might be a plausible estimate. As you say, even if half of it is true, it is terrible for Ukraine.
What the West needs are images of destroyed stuff, including their precious tanks and MRAPS.
Maybe then they will stop smoking weird lo quality stuff.
The most terrible thing for the West is going to be awakening and facing the reality.
Tucker Carlson, for whatever he is, had sent a lot clearer picture of the state of the things than any of the MSM journo’s ever so far.
I understand that most of the things around the dam he claimed are a bit overdone, but put well in perspective so an average cable-viewer can understand.
Most importantly, he delivered his opinion to around 55 mil. viewers – WaPo or any of those USA MIC government amplifiers have not such reach.

Posted by: whirlX | Jun 7 2023 12:06 utc | 18

Dimitry Orlov weighs in…..
Vladimir Zelensky, Russian Hero
2023-06-07
During his tenure as president of (what remains of) the Ukraine, Zelensky has wrecked the Ukraine, but has achieved many great things… for Russia. Here are his main achievements in no particular order:
• By being elected with the promise of ending hostilities, then immediately proceeding to escalate the conflict in the east, he thoroughly compromised what was left of Ukrainian democracy. He further demolished the Ukraine’s civic realm by banning all public media except for one government channel, banning all opposition and all Russian news sources and, in effect, establishing a totalitarian dictatorship.
• By relentlessly shelling the civilians in the now Russian Donetsk and Lugansk regions, then, in the spring of 2022, threatening them with a genocidal assault, he provided Russia with an ironclad reason to start the Special Military Operation: to save civilian lives. By so doing, he helped to expand Russian territory by four very valuable provinces (Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson) and set the stage for the eventual addition of, among others, Nikolaev, Odessa, Kharkov, and Kiev regions.
• He squandered $150 billion in foreign aid (much of it by the simple expedient of stealing it), expended a huge amount of military equipment and ammunition with nothing to show for it, and killed off 350 thousand Ukrainian soldiers (many of them Nazi war criminals), with possibly twice as many wounded.
• He shrunk his country’s population by almost half, some of it moving to Russia, becoming Russian citizens and integrating productively into the Russian population while rest went to the European Union, becoming a major burden for the welfare budgets of EU countries.
• By ordering Ukrainian troops to shell schools, kindergartens, hospitals and apartment buildings in universally recognized Russian regions such as Belgorod and by launching drone attacks directly on the Kremlin, he declared his government to be a terrorist organization, foreclosing any possibility of forcing Russia to negotiate a peace that would not be entirely on its own terms.
• He demonstrated the superiority of Russian weapons and military technique over NATO’s, most recently with Russia’s destruction of one of the Patriot missile batteries provided by the US. Almost every bit of equipment the West has been able to provide to the Ukrainians has been shown to be inferior to its Russian counterpart.
• He gave the Russian army ample opportunities to perfect their techniques for defeating NATO forces, venturing into new areas of drone warfare and battlefield surveillance from geostationary satellites. This will no doubt be very useful both in opposing NATO and in boosting future weapons sales to non-Western nations that wish to be free from Western oppression and meddling.
• He sold some of the weapons he received from the US to Mexican drug cartels, leaving US officials with no other choice than closing their eyes and pretending that this did not happen. Perhaps they will also be forced to look the other way as these cartels make use of these weapons to take over more and more of US cities and towns.
• He played host to many high-ranking Western officials, whom, on their to visit to Kiev, he presented with lavish presents such as suitcases of foreign aid money he had laundered, which these officials then brought home in diplomatic baggage, thus collecting blackmail material on all of them.
• He set an example for other Russian Jews whose bad luck had caused them to end up in the Ukraine rather than in Russia by resettling his parents in a posh neighborhood in Israel. But he kept his wife by his side, where she did a good job demoralizing the Ukrainian population by squandering more money on a single European shopping spree than most Ukrainians see in several lifetimes, all paid for by the US taxpayer. She also worked hard to gaslight Western officials by making them accept at face value and repeat ridiculous tales, such as the one about Russian troops being issued viagra, for them to better rape Ukrainian women.
• Zelensky is sometimes incautious; for instance, he got caught appointing operatives from Russia’s Federal Security Service (former KGB) to sensitive posts within the Ukrainian defense establishment, although it is unclear whether what’s left of the Ukrainian judiciary will be capable of prosecuting him.
• One of his greatest achievements was in placing the US and NATO in a zugzwang. This is a chess term for a situation in which a player has a choice of several moves, all of which lead to defeat. The US and NATO can either continue supporting the Ukraine, or they can stop supporting the Ukraine; in either case, they will lose.
• Perhaps his greatest achievement of all was in helping Russia turn away from its hostile neighbors in the West and toward friendly countries in Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, cutting its economic, financial and cultural ties to the West and freeing itself from Western influences. His unwavering support for Ukrainian Nazis, whose emblems, insignia and slogans are styled after Nazi Germany and whose heroes are Nazi collaborators, coupled with the lavish support they received from the West, whose leaders chose to turn a blind eye toward their fascist proclivities, cemented in view of the Russians the view of the West as their existential enemy: a fascist, racist entity determined to destroy Russia but too weak and cowardly to do the job themselves.
All of this begs a question: Whom does Vladimir Zelensky serve?
An interesting Russian take on current events…
INDY

Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Jun 7 2023 12:10 utc | 20

@11 Blissex “My guess as always is that the USA strategists badly want Ukraine to lose, as slowly as possible, as bloodily as possible, so eventually phase 3 (phase 1 was the ukrainian fascist attack against the Donbas, phase 2 the counter-attack by the Donbas and the RF), the “stay behind” insurgency can fully begin,”
That’s western delusional thinking based upon their own experience of war in the 21st century.
Because the “western” way of war is the swift decapitation of the existing government, its overthrow and replacement with a pliant stooge, and then a decades-long occupation fighting – in vain – to pacify an insurgency.
But what you – and the West – don’t appear to have noticed is that Russia is very deliberately not fighting this war in the “western” way.
Rather than prioritizing the capture of territory and the capitulation of the government the Russians are very deliberately grinding the Ukrainian army into dust. Their aim is the same as Napoleon Bonaparte, who always strove for the destruction of armies above the capture of territory.
Think about it: the “western” way of war in the 21st century actually invites an insurgency, insomuch as the swift “shock and awe” victory sweeps away the existing government but leaves in its wake both a power vacuum AND a huge pool of able-bodied men hell-bent on revenge.
The “Russian” way of war is completely different: it aims to exhaust that pool of able-bodied men such that the powers-that-be have no choice but to capitulate as all options run out.
Think of WW1. Was there a 10 year insurgency following the end of that war.
Think of WW2. Again, did the defeated Axis revert to decades of “insurgency”?
No, in both cases the defeated were not “shocked and awed”, they were exhausted. And like all who are exhausted they lacked both the will-power and the energy to keep going. They stopped, and the entire population accepted that they were defeated.
That’s what the Russians are aiming for, and that’s why it is the height of stupidity for western pundits to find fault in the Russian stategy.
Stupid is as stupid does, and the powers-that-be in the west are surely the stupidest people on Earth.

Posted by: Yeah, Right | Jun 7 2023 12:12 utc | 22

I do not dismiss Shoigu’s explanation as quickly as b does.
It seems obvious to me that this “Great Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter Counter Offensive” is grossly undermanned and under-equipped, and the Ukrainian General Staff is acutely aware of it. In which case they would dearly want to reinforce it with everything they can scrape together, from where-ever they can find it.
And there are Ukrainian forces in the Kherson region, and those forces are stuck there doing nothing because they know that those forces aren’t sufficient to launch an attack across the Dnieper.
But, by golly, they’d make a very useful reinforcement for the counter offensive further north. Indeed, they may even make the difference between some semblance of success and outright, disastrous failure.
Q: But how to redeploy the Kherson forces without inviting the Russians to just waltz in during their absence?
A: Easy, just blow the dam and the Ukrainians could hold out on the other side of the river with two men and a dog.
I personally think that Shoigu is correct.
That’s what the Ukrainians have done, because that’s what I would do in their shoes: blow the dam to free up all the troops in Kherson as reinforcements for the Big Offensive further north.

Posted by: Yeah, Right | Jun 7 2023 12:28 utc | 24

Bridging units and ferries! The next wandewaffen???
🤡😆
I don’t give a Dam(n) about their hopes and wishes – ‘they are F****d and they know they are ‘
Pardon me while I repost most of my last comment from previous thread , it fits well with the latest from the PRgurus
Dam was a ‘natural’ failure ? – on D-Day? after the failures of the counterattack starting, useless tanks , wonderweapons, bakhmut failing, sanctions disaster, the world leaders of the 85% human population moving on … with their old masters and ‘lovers’ screaming blue murder, crying abandonment, losing their control on the goods and chattels they have been long accustomed to?
There is only gnashing, wailing and the ‘fury of a woman scorned’ that is the EuroAryan Imperial dream coming to the end of the End.
It means of course that many old family lines and their Old Companies are no longer going to benefit from absolute power and non-competition.
It means their grand plans of continued control through various subterfuges and Fears – a golden Billion, over population, Saving the Planet (who the fuck was in charge of it being fucked anyway?) , global cooling, warming or whatever, dodgy new diseases that Life on Earth has always managed to evolve through- all are at an end.
No old Sky fairy, God , heaven and hell, or new dodgy religions based on cataclysm or new Sky fairies , saviour syndrome or superiority complex will ever bring back the Inferiority Complex of the majority of human beings for the benefit of a very very few who have always had it their way.
Their fury is what we are witnessing, they threaten to burn down the whole house as some form of coercive negotiation. And they put into place a raft of non-male frontmen ( well some of them even are dressed and allowed to identify as woman- amazing how few there are the opposite way isn’t it?) to gaslight the remaining Stockholm Syndromed Collective Wasters into believing some new age fairy tale of Hollywood of Woke gender fluid Specialness!
It ain’t happening, it will not be able to happen, the grown ups have finally taken back control of genuine human civilisation and development in the World.
All that is left to do is to clean the stinking Augean Stables – the flood of the broken dam is as good a metaphorical start as any.
The thieving bastard ancient robber barons in their ever shapeshifter’s guises, can run but they will never again be able to hide their stolen booty and pass it on down the generations as they have always been used to.
That is the gnashing and wailing and denial we hear daily from the mostly unelected and bargaining to come too , before they will finally accept that IT IS OVER and the majority of humanity and the Multipolarists DONT GIVE A DAM(N). 😉

Posted by: DunGroanin | Jun 7 2023 12:34 utc | 26

Propaganda is the evil twin of power – both sharing the identical gene of delusion. Unless the forces propelling humanity towards nuclear Armageddon grasp the pattern of history in its simple syllogism: every empire eventually faces the conflict it is trying to avoid, its own destruction; everyone wants to avoid WW III; so, there will be another world war. Paradoxically, the only way of changing our fate is first to accept this clear logic – and convey the meaning to those leading us towards annihilation.
https://patternofhistory.wordpress.com/

Posted by: peter mcloughlin | Jun 7 2023 12:51 utc | 28