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The “partial mobilization” of Russian men to fight in Putin’s War in Ukraine is shaping up pretty much the fiasco we thought it would be (see Vladimir Putin to Address Russia; Annexation of Ukraine Provinces and Mobilization Seem to Be on the Table). It is equal parts black comedy, political thriller, and tragedy. But, don’t worry, the comedic and thriller elements will go away very soon. The war in Ukraine has left Russia facing a military personnel crisis. About 75% of Russia’s regular ground forces participated in the opening act of the Special Military Operation (SMO). These were reinforced by...

HAS ANYONE HEARD THIS REPORT? PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT: “PUTIN LEFT MOSCOW TO HIS SECRET PALACE NEAR LAKE VALDI BETWEEN MOSCOW & ST PETERBURG WHEN RUSSIA & RUSSIA’S ADMINISTTATION WAS IN SUCH A MESS! LEAVING HIS COUNTRY WITHOUT A LEADER WHHILE HIS COUNTRY WAS ON FIRE & CITIZENS WERE WAITING FOR A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS. PRO-PUTIN POLITICAL OFFICIALS STATED THAT THE RUSSIAN LEADER WENT TO THE LUXURY COMPLEX TO REST HIS BODY AND SOUL.”

Russian-installed officials in occupied regions of Ukraine reported huge majorities on Tuesday in favour of becoming part of Russia after five days of voting in so-called referendums that Kyiv and the West denounced as a sham. Hastily arranged votes had taken place in four areas - the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, and to the south Zaporizhzhia and Kherson - that make up about 15% of Ukrainian territory. Luhansk authorities said 98.4% of people there had voted to join Russia. In Zaporizhzhia, a Russian-appointed official put the figure at 93.1%. In Kherson, the head of the voting committee put...

It would be easy to underestimate Valeriy Zaluzhny. When not in uniform, the general prefers T-shirts and shorts that match his easygoing sense of humor. When he first heard from aides to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in late July 2021 that he was being tapped to lead the country’s armed forces, his stunned response was, “What do you mean?” As it sank in that he would become commander in chief, he tells TIME in his first interview since the Russian invasion began, he felt as if he had been punched “not just below the belt but straight into a knockout.”...

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...

You see, this is why I prefer Catholicism. All we need is confession. Russia’s establishment has grown desperate enough in Ukraine to reach for the martyrdom argument. Patriarch Kirill, a Vladimir Putin crony, declared that Russian men who die for “Holy Russia” by participating in its genocide in Ukraine will have their sins “washed away”: (snip) If that sounds positively medieval, it is, literally. It’s the same indulgence granted during the Crusades. This is the kind of martyrdom teachings one no longer finds in Christianity but still find in radical forms of Islam and extremist political ideologies. In those ideologies,...

Surrounded by prisoners dressed in black, a man identified as Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of a shadowy mercenary group, makes this pitch: Come fight in Ukraine and be rewarded with your freedom — if you can make it back alive. "Nobody goes back behind bars," Prigozhin, founder of the Russian private military company Wagner, can be seen telling men in a video from a Russian prison yard, per a translation from The Wall Street Journal's Yaroslav Trofimov. "If you serve six months, you are free. If you arrive in Ukraine and decide it's not for you, we execute you." He...

The guns had gone quiet after three days of fighting in Balakliia. Mariya said only when she saw Ukrainian soldiers did she know six months Russian occupation had ended. "I was walking ... when I saw an armored personnel carrier coming onto the square with a Ukrainian flag: my heart just tightened up and I began to sob." At the site of one exhumed grave, Valentyna, the mother of 49-year-old Petro, cursed the war and Russian President Vladimir Putin. "No one can return my son to me." Tymofiyeva said it had been clear Russia, which invaded Ukraine, planned to annex...

Shafaq News/ Russian President Vladimir Putin's limousine was allegedly attacked in a possible assassination attempt as the war in Ukraine rages on, Kremlin insiders claim... In Putin's car, "a loud bang sounded from the left front wheel followed by heavy smoke," it is claimed. The SVR General alleged that Putin's car "despite the problems with control" made its way out of the attack scene to reach the residence's safety. The SUN added. It added: "Subsequently, the body of a man was found driving [the] ambulance, which blocked the first car from the motorcade." Meanwhile, the Telegram channel said details of...

Vladimir Putin's car was 'attacked' in what may have been an assassination attempt amid the Ukraine war, according to an unconfirmed claim. His limousine was hit by a 'loud bang' on its 'left front wheel followed by heavy smoke', it is alleged. The car drove to safety with Putin unharmed but there have been multiple arrests from his security service - while other bodyguards have vanished - amid claims that secret information about the 69-year-old ruler's movements was compromised, says General SVR Telegram channel. General SVR is a Russian Telegram channel which regularly posts alleged insider information about Putin and...

The Ukrainian army’s offensive continues, and the Russian army’s defeat or “regrouping” in Kharkiv is having an impact across the board. Now, no one knows where the Ukrainian army’s counter-offensive will stop. With the loss of strategic locations such as Izum, the Russian army is considered to be likely to abandon the entire Kharkov. Of course, even so, I think it will be difficult to hold back. Many of the Russian troops attacked by the Ukrainian army, whether they were regular Russian troops, Donbas militia or Chechen troops, were on the verge of collapse and fled. Some analysts believe that...

New interceptions of phone calls of Russian soldiers in Ukraine demonstrate – many of them are in despair and want to save their lives after the start of Ukrainian large-scale counter-offensive on the eastern and southern front lines. At the same time, they are afraid that surrendering is dangerous for them – Russian state propagandists make sure that of that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph8z8kTDnbg

My words: Best video I've seen explaining current events happening on the ground in Ukraine and where both sides are at this point along with who is fighting for Ukraine now. Straight facts and honest.

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/. Kiev will not receive any "security guarantees", in particular, because its draft is essentially a "prologue" to World War III, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev believes. "The Kiev camarilla has given birth to a project of 'security guarantees', which are essentially a prologue to a third world war. Of course, no one will provide any 'guarantees' to the Ukrainian Nazis," he wrote on his Telegram channel on Tuesday. He believes that the agreement proposed by Kiev is tantamount to "applying Article 5 of the North Atlantic Pact to Ukraine." This article refers...

The White House on Tuesday characterized advances by Ukrainian forces against Russia as a “shift in momentum,” but cautioned that the ongoing war in Ukraine remains unpredictable. “I think what you’re seeing is certainly a shift in momentum by the Ukrainian armed forces,” John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, told reporters at a briefing.