Pray for Ukraine
Posted on 02/22/2023 4:24:48 PM PST by UMCRevMom@aol.com
Update from Ukraine | Can Ukraine start a Big counterattack in Bakhmut? | Wagner lost Supplies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VULD5XoZzYE
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****SUMMARY Military MAPS & COMMENTS here:
NEW- https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-364-summary/
Pray for Ukraine
Update from Ukraine | Can Ukraine start a Big counterattack in Bakhmut? | Wagner lost Supplies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VULD5XoZzYE
Follow on Instagram up to date uploads. https://www.instagram.com/denys_pilot/
****SUMMARY Military MAPS & COMMENTS here:
NEW-
https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-364-summary/
Life and death in shattered Mariupol - a survivor’s tale of war in Ukraine
Mark Trevelyan/Andrew Osborn; editing by Philippa Fletcher
Reuters •
2-21-2023 11:32 PM
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/life-death-shattered-mariupol-survivors-tale-war-ukraine-2023-02-22/
MARIUPOL, Russian-controlled Ukraine (Reuters) - Shells were exploding nearby but Tatiana Bushlanova didn’t flinch when she spoke to Reuters in front of the shattered remains of her home in Mariupol last May. Fighting in the port city has long since ended but the pensioner is still struggling to take in the enormity of what has happened.
Mariupol’s strategic location on the Sea of Azov made it a prime target in what Moscow calls the “special military operation” that it launched in Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year.
Russian forces captured the city in May when, after a siege lasting nearly three months, the last Ukrainian defenders emerged from the underground tunnels of its vast Azovstal steelworks and surrendered.
By then, much of Mariupol lay in ruins, and tens of thousands of people had been killed in a city where more than half the pre-war population of some 450,000 have fled.
Tatiana, who is still in Mariupol, said the death and destruction visited on the city had hardened people’s hearts.
“People lost everything. Everyone’s kind of strange now, angry. I don’t see a lot of kindness out there,” the 65-year-old said in interviews conducted near her old home, now rubble, and where she now lives, ahead of the first anniversary of the war.
One of her old neighbours was killed when debris crushed him after an explosion, a neighbour’s son was killed by a shell as he went about his business, and another neighbour had her hand torn off in an explosion, she recalled.
Back then, sitting alone on a bench in the courtyard of her ruined apartment block surrounded by blackened walls and collapsed balconies, she lamented that she and her husband Nikolai, 63, had nowhere to go.
They clung on for two more months, reluctant to abandon their home of 20 years even though there was no electricity, gas or running water. Their son Yevgeny and his family fled to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
“We didn’t want to leave, but we did want to eat. We went out, things were flying around all over the place; it was terrifying to go outside and cook something,” she said.
They were among the last 10 families to leave the building.
“People have gone wherever they could get to,” she said.
She and her husband now live in an apartment about a kilometre (half a mile) away that belonged to a couple called Andrei and Marina who were killed by shelling as the Russian military fought the Ukrainian army to take control of Mariupol.
For weeks after their deaths, the young couple lay in makeshift graves outside the building. “Until they were reburied in August, they were buried in the courtyard here the whole time. It was kind of creepy for me,” she said.
WAITING FOR PEACE
Still traumatised by what she and her husband have lived through, Bushlanova said life in Mariupol was starting to look up a bit with the city’s Russian-installed authorities building some new apartment blocks.
“Some kind of hope has emerged,” said Tatiana, reflecting on the cataclysmic changes she has seen in the city whose name became known around the world as a byword for death and destruction.
Russian officials have announced a major long-term reconstruction plan for the city, where they have introduced the rouble currency and switched schools to the standard Russian curriculum, taught in Russian.
After moving in July, Tatiana and Nikolai tried to make themselves comfortable in their temporary accommodation, re-arranging salvaged furniture and putting up their family photographs which they had managed to save.
Their old apartment block was demolished - “the excavator stood there and took the building down bit by bit” - but getting compensation is a drawn-out process.
The couple applied for a statutory payment of 100,000 roubles ($1,350). “They said we’d find out in 70 days’ time (if they get the handout) and if not, they’ll probably put us in the queue for an apartment,” Tatiana said.
In the meantime, they live on her modest salary as a cleaner and on their two pensions of 10,000 roubles a month each which Tatiana said was tough given how expensive food had become.
With Mariupol still under Russian control, and no sign of an end to the conflict, Tatiana says they will stay in the city that has been their home for decades.
“Forgive me, but where (else) will we live out our final years? No, we’ll live them out here,” she said.
destroyed, everything is broken. Where should people go now?
“We’re waiting for peace and our own apartment. That’s all we need in this life for now.”
VIDEOS
1. Ukrainians repeling another attack in Bakhmut | Military Mind |
TVP World
2-22-2023 5:30 p.m. EST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoQft06e-j0
In between combat missions, the soldiers filmed a short video about their efforts to defend the city.
2. 65-Year-Old Volunteer Fighting In Ukraine Says This Is No Time For Rest
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
746K subscribers
Feb 22, 2023 1:30 p.m. EST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJk_0Fut-sI
Volunteer soldier Oleksandr Taran was 58 when he tried to enlist to defend his country after Russia seized Crimea in 2014 — but he was told by the Ukrainian military then that they had no need for his help. He is now 65 and the commander of a small volunteer unit. He says now is no time for a rest.
3. Ukraine War: Injured soldiers without limbs return to frontline
Sky News
6.17M subscribers
Feb 22, 2023 5:00 p.m. EST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P79jCfwrV0
Any soldier who loses a limb could be forgiven for wanting a quieter life however that is not the case in Ukraine as Sky’s Mark Austin explains.
Oh, goody… more “news” from the Unemployed Ukrainian Commercial Airline Pilot. And of course we can look forward to your many tranches of propaganda from today’s tsunami of collective Globalist/Ukrainian propaganda. Again, oh goody.
ARTICLE
Russia has lost up to half of its tanks in Ukraine since the start of the war and is running low on ammunition, a senior US official said.
Aditi Bharade
Feb 22, 2023, 12:06 AM
https://www.businessinsider.nl/russia-is-running-out-of-munitions-and-has-lost-as-much-as-50-of-its-tanks-in-ukraine-senior-us-official-says/
• Russia lost some 50% of its tanks in the past year, US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said.
• He argued that US-led sanctions had succeeded in crippling Russia’s economy and thus its war effort.
• However, data suggests that Russia’s economy in 2022 shrunk less than initially forecasted.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo made the assessment at an event Tuesday held by the Council of Foreign Relations think tank in Washington, DC.
In a version of his speech posted online by the Treasury, Adeyemo argue that US-led sanctions on Russian had harmed its economy and limited its ability to replace equipment lost in the war.
The sanctions, he said, “degraded Russia’s ability to replace more than 9,000 pieces of military equipment lost since the start of the war, forced production shutdowns at key defense facilities, and caused shortages of essential components for tanks and aircraft production.
“Russia is also running out of munitions and has lost as much as 50% of its tanks,” he continued, and had to “turn to mothballed Soviet-era weapons.”
A Dutch monitoring group, Oryx, which tracks Russian equipment losses came to a similar conclusion.
As Insider’s Sinéad Baker reported in January, Oryx said Russia had lost more than 1,500 tanks, which it said represent more than half its stock.
Adeyemo’s speech came three days before the anniversary of the war, which began on February 24, 2022, when Russia sent an INVASION FORCE into Ukraine.
He noted that Russia’s economy has suffered broadly since the war began, with the nation posting an official budget deficit of $47 billion for 2022. The figure was its second-steepest deficit since the Soviet Union collapsed.
He also pointed out the crash in the Russian ruble when the sanctions first hit — though it has since recovered to almost the same level as before the invasion.
Its economy is on track to losing $190 billion in GDP by 2026, according to an economic analysis by Bloomberg.
Adeyemo argued that after a year of war, “Russia’s economy looks more like Iran and Venezuela’s than a member of the G20,” referring to two other heavily-sanctioned nations.
Russia’s energy revenues were also affected by the sanctions. The country’s oil revenues in January were nearly 60% lower than in March last year, right after the invasion began, the deputy treasury secretary said, citing information from Russia’s Ministry of Finance.
However, the shrinking of Russia’s economy was less than some expected. It contracted by 2.1% in 2022, much less than the 10% drop some forecasters predicted a year ago, per Bloomberg.
I would be surprised if the Russian numbers are accurate, like Ukrainian Air Force destroyed 3 times over and 4 Bradley’s in sept yes they claimed 4 in September
The fact that they reported such dire numbers like massive drop in income tax received, oil revenues and VAT, makes me wonder how much worse it is
Hopium is a helluva drug. Get help.
There are many ways to manipulate GDPnumbers just ask the Chinese. For instance they count cars manufactured not sold as GDP oh then there are the ghost cities….
Russia broke through Ukraine’s defenses in the northern part above Bakhmut, and is gaining control of the eastern part of Bakhmut too. It doesn’t look good for Ukraine. Its time to retreat and save their forces. Its odd that you don’t post whats really happening. Your posts are more propaganda like HT is for Russia.
“I would be surprised if the Russian numbers are accurate, like Ukrainian Air Force destroyed 3 times over and 4 Bradley’s in sept yes they claimed 4 in September
The fact that they reported such dire numbers like massive drop in income tax received, oil revenues and VAT, makes me wonder how much worse it is”
I totally agree with your assessment.
Article
Russia Forced to Raid Abandoned Buildings to Find Deserting Troops: Ukraine
By Lauren Giella
On 2/21/23 at 5:13 PM EST
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-forced-raid-abandoned-buildings-find-deserting-troops-ukraine-1782855
Russian forces are searching abandoned buildings for troops who deserted their ranks, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Tuesday in its latest report on the status of the war, which will reach the one-year mark on February 24.
Ukrainian officials released an audio intercept on Sunday detailing “significant desertion among Wagner Group convict recruits and continued poor operational security among Russian personnel in Ukraine,” according to a report from the Institute for the Study of War.
“Due to the high rates of desertion from the ranks of the Russian occupation forces, massive raids have been conducted in the Chaplinsky district of Kherson region since February 20, 2023,” the Armed Forces said, adding that “particular attention” is paid to abandoned houses and buildings.
In the audio intercept, a Russian solider claimed that 202 Wagner Group convict recruits deserted with their weapons from a position near Vuhledar in the Donetsk region.
Sober up Denys!
ARTICLE
Prigozhin Accuses Putin of Trying to ‘Destroy’ Wagner Group
Ellie Cook
2/21/23 at 11:21 AM EST
https://www.newsweek.com/yevgeny-prigozhin-wagner-group-vladimir-putin-treason-video-1782721
The head of the Russian mercenary Wagner Group has accused President Vladimir Putin’s top officials of “treason” and attempting to “destroy” the private militia fighting in Ukraine.
In an audio clip posted to Telegram, Yevgeny Prigozhin, otherwise known as “Putin’s chef,” raged against Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the Chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov.
He accused Shoigu and Gerasimov—two of the most high-profile decision-makers in Russia’s war effort in Ukraine—of attempting to “destroy” the Wagner Group.
“This can be equated to high treason,” Prigozhin added.
Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch long personally associated with Putin, has commanded the Russian paramilitary outfit in Ukraine throughout the war effort and before. The presence of Russian mercenaries in Ukraine can be dated back to the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Wagner fighters have also played a key role in Moscow’s invasion alongside Russian conventional forces from 2022, but are widely believed to have sustained heavy casualties.
On Friday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the Wagner Group had suffered more than 30,000 casualties in Ukraine. Around half of those killed in the war lost their lives since mid-December, he added.
Wagner fighters were being used as “cannon fodder, throwing them into a literal meat grinder” in the contested Donetsk city of Bakhmut, Kirby said.
Referencing the bombarded city in eastern Ukraine that has seen some of the war’s heaviest fighting, Prigozhin said “hundreds” of Wagner recruits were battling on Moscow’s behalf in Bakhmut.
He criticized the lack of ammunition provided to Wagner members, according to a translation posted to Twitter by an account linked to the WarTranslated project.
“I have no options,” Prigozhin said, according to the translation. “I’m going to the end, I have people dying in droves because some strange people made a decision whether they’ll live or not. This should not be happening.”
Prigozhin has repeatedly made public calls for ammunition deliveries through his Telegram channel. On Monday, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War think tank said the Russian military had “likely cut off” Prigozhin’s “independent access to artillery shells and heavy weaponry.”
This is part of a push to “professionalize” Russia’s armed forces, the think tank said. But Prigozhin’s calls for artillery ammunition may “mask his true frustrations with Wagner’s inability to have and operate its own artillery systems independent of conventional Russian units,” ISW added.
Western analysts have observed Prigozhin to be increasingly sidelined from Russia’s military campaign, with the ISW noting earlier this month that Prigozhin “is trying to salvage his declining influence.”
Newsweek reached out to the Russian defense ministry for comment.
Russia's Wagner Group boss releases image of dead soldiers accusing defence ministry of depriving them of ammunition https://t.co/qytHMtIEhQ— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 22, 2023
VIDEOS
1. Aerial video shows Russian convoys destroyed in night attack
CNN
14.8M subscribers
2-22-2023 8:00 a.m.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NqQ7Y0j2uvA
2. 22 Feb: Dangerous. Ukrainian Intelligence DETECTS A SCARY PATTERN | War in Ukraine Explained
Reporting from Ukraine
2-22-2023 7:00 p.m.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQbV1jPZhy4
HAVE FALLEN Krasna Hora (Paraskoviivka & Berkhiva soon)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgHj54Q6UvU&ab_channel=HistoryLegends
If they’re smart they won’t attack Bakhmut. Never attack where the enemy is expecting it. Go feint Bakhmut, feint somewhere else to the north, then go strike in the south or the west.
Ukraine ping
Interesting thread about increasing shell hunger on the part of the Wagner units. Pro-Russian poster says the Wagner troops aren’t being starved of ammo - supply-wise, they’ve just been downgraded to the same priority as their regular army brethren.
2/ After complaints from Yevgeny Prigozhin about Wagner fighters being denied ammunition, Alexander Khodakovsky of the pro-Russian Vostok Battalion has written that the situation is the same for everyone – indicating an extreme case of ‘shell famine’.
3/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel has posted photos of some of the ammunition that it says Russian regular forces have been issued. This suggests that the shortage isn’t just confined to ‘independent’ mercenary or militia groups but also affects the army itself.
4/ The supplies include “cases of inadequate quality ammunition, including category 2 and 3 (with defects or generally unsuitable for combat use)”. As can be seen from the pictures, the ammunition now is unusable and probably unsafe, likely resulting from poor storage conditions.
Russia may have reached a lull, supply-wise, where its war industries haven’t quite ramped up to adequate wartime production levels, and its prewar stocks are seriously depleted. If this lull extends into months, Ukraine may well be able to advance even without the armored fist in the making from the provision of a hodgepodge of Western vehicles slated for delivery in the first half of the year.
If Russian shell volume declines to parity, but Ukraine has the advantage of superior accuracy, thanks to its supply of Western smart munitions, Russian lines may start to crack even with a bit of gentle pressure. At minimum, the accuracy of this revelation about Russian shell hunger will determine whether Russia has the firepower necessary to continue its advances in the Bakhmut area.
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