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Vladimir Putin wore thick make-up with his eyebrows darkened and used cheek filler when he was sworn in for a fifth term, says a security expert. -snip- Prof Anthony Glees, from the University of Buckingham, told The Mirror that Putin was “heavily made up” for the event including user filler. It comes with the Russian leader having typically tried to give a macho image of himself whether it is riding shirtless on horseback or doing judo. “The doors open and Putin ambles in, greeted by an adoring audience. He is followed by a goose-stepping presidential guard of in uniforms,” said...

Russia will have to increase its entire missile arsenal to deter the West as Moscow is now in an open confrontation with the United States and its allies, a Russian diplomat was quoted as saying on Monday. President Vladimir Putin's 2022 invasion of Ukraine touched off the worst breakdown in relations between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, according to Russian and U.S. diplomats. Russia has ramped up weapons production and is now forecast by the United States to manufacture this year more artillery than all of NATO's 32 members combined. "We are now at the...

A senior Ukrainian intelligence official warned about the threat Moscow poses on other nations in Europe, saying "the Russians will take the Baltics in seven days" if allies don't stand up to Russia now. The comment was made by Major-General Vadym Skibitsky, the deputy head of Ukraine's military intelligence directorate (GUR), during an interview with The Economist published on Thursday. The alarm has been sounded before about the potential of Russian President Vladimir Putin looking to start conflicts in the Baltic states. Earlier this year, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote that the Russian leader appeared to...

Russian President Vladimir Putin described the collapse of the Soviet Union as "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century." This documentary from 2021 shows the path Russian foreign policy has followed under Putin. [This documentary was originally released in 2021. In February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.] On December 25, 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. Along with it came hope for the end of the Cold War, for independence and freedom for the former Soviet republics. But for many it also brought poverty and war. What remains of the dreams of that time? The...

The Pentagon will exempt its Ukraine operations from a potential shutdown if lawmakers can’t agree on a deal to fund the government by the end of the month, allowing key training and other activities in support of Kyiv’s forces to move ahead uninterrupted, according to a Defense Department spokesperson. (snip)“Operation Atlantic Resolve is an excepted activity under a government lapse in appropriations,” Sherwood said, referring to the named operation for DOD’s activities in response to the Russian invasion. The move means that the U.S. military’s activities related to the war, such as training of Ukrainian soldiers on American tactics and...

A Russian commander who fought against Ukraine since the war's inception has been killed in action in the Donbas region. Yevgeny Pisarenko, commander of the Chechen armed formation known as Akhmat, was pronounced dead on Monday by two fellow soldiers. He went by the nickname "Big," which also translates to "The Great" in a Russian context. "Thanks to the parents who raised such a Hero...A BIG man with a BIG heart!" Akhmat unit commander Apta Alaudinov wrote on Telegram

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...

Update from Ukraine | Ruzzia tried to counterattack and that is what happened https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPkVxqGn82U The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the last 48 hours, as of 30th June 2023 – 22:00 (Kyiv time). Ukrainian command has decided to create a new army corps in the structure of Ukrainian Ground Forces. 10th Army Corps was created in Poltava, and it groups several Ukrainian mechanized, artillery and other related brigades of Ground Forces of Ukraine. The unit received a military number A4767, and its own insignia. The corps was originally reveled a few months ago as part...

Wagner chef Yevgeny Prigozhin is "out of contact" as mystery shrouds his whereabouts ahead of his exile to Belarus. The mercenary chief's own press team has described the 62-year-old man as "missing and out of contact" tonight, despite being ordered to Belarus. The oligarch was last seen getting into a car in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, as he took selfies with fans and got a hero's welcome after his botched rebellion. However, there is no indication as of yet he has arrived at Aleksandr Lukashenko's landlocked country, which borders Russia. Prigozhin's representatives said in a statement that the father of three cannot...

Update from Ukraine | Battle intensified | The Big Strike of Ukraine is Coming soon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H2yEhBY0wM The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the last 48 hours, as of 28th June 2023 – 22:00 (Kyiv time). https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-490-summary/ *** Great interactive map with viewer controlled Map magnification tool to use for each Front! https://militaryland.net/maps/

The C.I.A.’s concerns were not unwarranted. In 2019, the Russians undertook an elaborate operation to find Mr. Poteyev, forcing a scientist from Oaxaca, Mexico, to help. The scientist, Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, was an unlikely spy. He studied microbiology in Kazan, Russia, and later earned a doctorate in the subject from the University of Giessen in Germany. He was a source of pride for his family, with a history of charitable work and no criminal past. But the Russians used Mr. Fuentes’s partner as leverage. He had two wives: a Russian living in Germany and another in Mexico. In 2019,...

Update from Ukraine | Ruzzian General Lost | Maybe in Prison. Good news and Bad news from frontlines https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BoiWhCWpZw The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the last 48 hours, as of 28th June 2023 – 22:00 (Kyiv time). https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-490-summary/ *** Great interactive map with viewer controlled Map magnification tool to use for each Front! https://militaryland.net/maps/

A top Russian general has 'vanished' amid claims he had advance knowledge of the weekend armed revolt which threatened Vladimir Putin's regime. One theory is that General Sergei 'Armageddon' Surovikin is under interrogation over a plot to oust defence minister Sergei Shoigu amid a hunt to purge the enemies within. Surovikin, 56, is the second-in-command of the Russian armed forces. He has known links to 'coup leader' Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner mercenary army chief. US officials briefed on American intelligence said a top Russian general had advance knowledge of Prigozhin's plans to rebel against Shoigu and chief of the armed...

Update from Ukraine | Ruzzia is Shocked! They lost Supplies and Command on the South | Counterattack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18i38oCpE7M The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the last 48 hours, as of 18CENSORth June 2023 – 22:00 (Kyiv time) https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-480-summary/ *** Great interactive map with viewer controlled Map magnification tool to use for each Front! https://militaryland.net/maps/

Russia's defences could be 'more fragile than thought', western officials have warned amid growing signs that Ukraine's counter-offensive has begun. Ukrainian forces have advanced in Novodonetsk by up to five or six kilometres, it has emerged. Officials claim 'fierce battles are going on' for control of the settlement.American and European military officials advising Kyiv have claimed that Kremlin defensive lines may be fragile, an insider told The Economist today. Semyon Pegov, a prominent Kremlin-affiliated 'milblogger', confirmed that Ukraine had 'some success' in an attack in Novoselivka-Ugledar and claimed updates from the Russian-controlled region were 'more and more alarming every hour'....

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, said he was prepared to send his mercenary troops to the Russian border region where raids from Ukrainian territory have taken place. In an audio post on Telegram, Prigozhin reiterated on Saturday his criticism of the Russian Defense Ministry's handling of the war in Ukraine, this time about how it was dealing with armed incursions into the Russian region of Belgorod, from where thousands have fled. Belgorod has been hit by numerous attacks with the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, saying on Friday, there were more than 500 projectile weapons fired, most of...

Ukrainian forces continued to shell Russia's border region of Belgorod overnight into Sunday after two people were killed the previous night and hundreds of children were evacuated away from the border, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. "Overnight, it was quite restless," Gladkov said on the Telegram channel, adding that the Shebekino and Volokonovsky districts had suffered "lots" of damage from the latest shelling. Gladkov later wrote that fires had broken out in the town of Shebekino after Ukrainian forces shelled a market area in the centre, adding that nobody had been injured. Shebekino is about 7 km (4 miles) from the...

Russian fighters serving under the Ukrainian Armed Forces have crossed into the town of Shebekino in Russia's Belgorod region, bringing "heavy equipment" with them, Ilya Ponomarev, an exiled Russian politician—who says he is the political representative for the group of fighters—told Newsweek. Ponomarev's remarks came on the heels of a statement from Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, who said shelling in the border town of Shebekino overnight injured at least eight people. Gladkov denied "any enemies are on the territory of the Belgorod region" even as reports emerged that tanks operated by "saboteurs" were shelling the town's checkpoint. The Freedom of...

At least two people have been killed and 23 injured in a missile strike on a medical clinic in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the regional governor says. Of the 23 injured, 21 are in hospital and three are in a serious condition. Two boys aged three and six were also among the wounded, governor Serhiy Lysak said. Russian strikes on Ukraine have intensified in recent weeks ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive. Mr Zelensky posted a video of the damaged clinic that showed firefighters at the scene and smoke billowing from the building. "Russian terrorists once again confirm...

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...