Thread: Russia launches Ukraine invasion

More evidence that you are out of your depth on this subject.

Originally Posted by russellsimpson

Have another look at your own quoted statement Harry. Not the ringing condemnation that you are telling us it is.

Is 'unequivocal' one of those long words you don't understand then?

Russian forces fire barrage of missiles at northern Ukraine from Belarus

A barrage of 25 missiles has been fired by Russian forces at northern regions of Ukraine from neighbouring Belarus as the Ukrainian southern offensive appears to be gathering pace.


The early morning wave of missile strikes launched from the territory of Russia’s key ally hit targets in the Chernihiv region, including an apartment block, as well as locations outside Kyiv and around the city of Zhytomyr, according to Ukrainian officials and Belarusian opposition figures.


The Chernihiv regional governor, Viacheslav Chaus, said nine missiles had struck close to the village of Honcharivska with some falling in the forest nearby.


The strikes came as Ukraine celebrated Statehood Day for the first time. In a national message, the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said: “Restless morning. Again – missile terror. We will not give up. We will not give up. Do not intimidate us. Ukraine is an independent, free, indivisible state. And it will always be like that.”


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/28/russian-forces-fire-barrage-missiles-northern-ukraine-from-belarus

Originally Posted by malmomike77

including an apartment block

So civilian targets as usual. Fucking cowards.

The U.S. Air Force signaled last week that it’s willing to send A-10 Warthog planes to Ukraine, but Ukrainian pilots are more interested in flying F-16 Fighting Falcons—and there’s a good chance they’ll get them. The offer to send A-10 ground-attack planes comes at a time when the United States and the rest of NATO are auditing their arsenals for weapons to help Ukraine resist the Russian invasion and take back lost territory.

Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall and Air Force Chief of Staff C.Q. Brown spoke at the annual Aspen Security Forum that took place between July 19–22. In response to questions about which aircraft the Air Force wanted to divest to Ukraine, Kendall mentioned the A-10 Thunderbolt II. Kendall also noted that the decision about which planes to send is “largely up to the Ukrainians … older U.S. systems are a possibility.”

The service conceived of the A-10 Thunderbolt II, affectionately known as the “Warthog,” in the late 1960s as a heavy ground-attack aircraft designed to provide close air support over the modern battlefield. The A-10, armed with a seven-barrel, GAU-8/A 30-millimeter cannon, can also carry air-to-ground missiles, rockets, and guided bombs. The A-10 was designed to attack Warsaw Pact tank columns and can take on tremendous damage over the battlefield and still remain in the sky.

The A-10 has been in service for decades: the average age of the Air Force’s 281-strong Warthog fleet is 40 years. Forty years ago, air defenses at low altitudes typically consisted of small-caliber cannons, at best controlled by radar, and relatively primitive shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles like the SA-7 Strela. Since then, however, the threat to the A-10 has evolved to include a greater number of guided missiles with much greater accuracy, and more advanced weapons such as the SA-14 and SA-16.

The A-10 was originally designed to fly combat missions over Western Europe, using terrain to mask its approach and departure. In the 1980s, a typical mission might see an A-10 approaching at low altitude, keeping a row of hills or even mountains between it and the target. The A-10 would fly up and over the hills, drop a string of Rockeye cluster bombs on a column of Soviet tanks, then quickly escape by flying over another set of hills. The tactics kept the A-10 hidden as long as possible from enemy defenses.

This sort of attack would be impossible in Ukraine; Eastern Ukraine is as flat as the American Midwest, and the only real protection an A-10 would have is Earth’s own curvature. An observer on the front line would spot a low-flying A-10 from much farther away—and some of them would be carrying surface-to-air missiles.

Ukrainian aircraft flying the same types of low-altitude, high-risk missions as the A-10 have incurred heavy casualties. The Ukrainian Air Force (UAF) currently flies the Su-25 “Frogfoot” ground-attack aircraft, a contemporary of the A-10. Of 17 Su-25s in service with the UAF before the war, eight, or more than half, have been shot down.

Shortly after news reports about the A-10 came out, Ukrainian military leaders made it clear the A-10 was not actually something they wanted. The Ukrainians would rather have something “fast and versatile” like the F-16 Fighting Falcon, a multi-role fighter currently being replaced in the Air Force’s inventory by the F-35. The F-16’s speed and maneuverability would have a decent chance of successfully dogfighting Russian fighters.

Ukraine’s adoption of an American-made jet would also allow its air force to access America’s vast arsenal of high-tech guided munitions. American AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles would be much better at downing Russian fighters and cruise missiles than Ukraine’s aging missile inventory. An F-16 can carry air-to-ground weapons with greater ranges than the A-10, including the AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon and the AGM-88 High Speed Anti-Radiation missile. F-16s could even attack Russian warships with AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

If Ukraine chooses American fighters, it will likely find training for its pilots already paid for. The proposed U.S. defense budget for 2023 includes $100 million for the training of Ukrainian fighter pilots on American planes. The provision has rare bipartisan support in Congress, and will likely be part of the final budget when President Biden signs it. By early 2023, we could see Ukrainian F-16s patrolling the country’s skies. That would have been unthinkable in early 2022, but war tends to make the unthinkable, thinkable.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/mil...-fighter-jets/

^ you think? I rather think that it is more Mercan sounding off.

The Russian Army Has Lost More Than 300 Artillery Pieces In Ukraine. Old Howitzers Could Replace Them.

The Russian army is working to replenish its battered, depleted artillery batteries. According to the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War, satellite imagery indicates that the army in late July pulled from storage 60 old 2S7 203-millimeter tracked howitzers.

That’s a third of the 2S7s the army had in storage at the 9th Arsenal in Omsk, in Russia’s vast Siberia region.

The huge withdrawal of old howitzers is consistent with the Kremlin’s efforts, five months into Russia’s wider war on Ukraine, to make good steep losses in people and equipment.

Depending on the outside estimate you believe, the Russian armed forces have lost between 15,000 and 30,000 troops killed plus several times that number wounded. Confirmed vehicle losses include more than 4,800 tanks, fighting vehicles and artillery pieces.

The artillery losses—320 towed and self-propelled howitzers and heavy mortars plus rocket-launchers—are significant. The Russian army has lost in Ukraine more artillery than many Western armies possess in their entire arsenals.

Those losses include just two 2S7s that independent analysts can confirm. The Russian army rolled into Ukraine with more than 100 of the 47-ton howitzers. It’s unlikely the army is expanding its artillery force-structure—it’s struggling even to recruit enough infantry to replenish existing brigades.

Instead, it’s possible the Russians are using the previously-stored 2S7s to replace other artillery such as the hundred or so 152-millimeter guns the Ukrainians have knocked out or captured.

It’s also possible those 2S7s from Omsk are replacing 2S7s that the army hasn’t officially written off yet, but which are worn out to the point of near-failure. It’s worth noting the spate of recent photographic evidence of Russian tube artillery with “banana-peeled” barrels that exploded mid-shoot owing to a lack of timely replacement.

Among the biggest tube artillery in the world, the 1970s-vintage 2S7 can lob a 220-pound shell 35 miles. It’s complex and loud, but its range—many miles farther than most Ukrainian guns can fire—makes up for its unwieldiness.

The 2S7s has an advantage in an artillery-on-artillery “counterbattery” duel, as it can hit an enemy gun farther away than the enemy gun can hit it.

But not always. The Ukrainians have a hundred or so 2S7s of their own. And they’ve also acquired dozens of the most modern Western-made 155-millimeter howitzers, some of which can fire nearly as far as the 2S7 can do.

The biggest threat to Russia’s new-old 2S7s might be Ukraine’s arsenal of American-made High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System wheeled launchers. Quickly firing GPS-guided rockets out to 50 miles, HIMARS is the ideal counterbattery weapon. Kyiv so far has acquired 16 HIMARS.

The Russian Army Has Lost More Than 300 Artillery Pieces In Ukraine. Old Howitzers Could Replace Them.

Originally Posted by bsnub

The Russian Army Has Lost More Than 300 Artillery Pieces In Ukraine.

at least, surely?

Originally Posted by malmomike77

^ you think? I rather think that it is more Mercan sounding off.

There is more and more chatter of this happening, and it looks like the 2023 defense budget will have $100 million set aside to train Ukrainian pilots. So they would have to provide some sort of aircraft for them to fly and the F-16 makes perfect sense as many of them are being taken out of service being replaced by F-35s.

Originally Posted by malmomike77

at least, surely?

I am sure it is more the article is erring on the conservative side.

Official claim by Ukraine over 800 artillery pieces. Over 250 MLRS. Probably more because they only count confirmed hits.

Russia's Wagner allocated responsibility for sectors of front line, UK says


Russian private military firm Wagner has likely been allocated responsibility for specific sectors of the front line in eastern Ukraine, possibly as Russia is facing a major shortage of combat infantry, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update this morning.


Since March, Russian private military company (PMC) Wagner Group has operated in eastern Ukraine in coordination with the Russian military. Wagner has likely been allocated responsibility for specific sectors of the front line, in a similar manner to normal army units.


This is a significant change from the previous employment of the group since 2015, when it typically undertook missions distinct from overt, large-scale regular Russian military activity.


This new level of integration further undermines the Russian authorities’ long-standing policy of denying links between PMCs and the Russian state.”


It also said that Wagner’s forces are highly unlikely to be sufficient to make a significant difference in the trajectory of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/jul/29/russia-ukraine-war-live-news-ukrainians-step-up-counter-attacks-in-south-kharkiv-hit-mayor-says

add it to the list.....

Video appears to show Russian soldier castrating Ukrainian prisoner

Horrific video has emerged that appears to show a Russian soldier castrating a Ukrainian prisoner who other reports suggest was subsequently murdered.

The footage, reviewed by the Guardian, was originally posted on pro-Russian Telegram channels.

A Russian soldier, wearing a distinctive black wide-brimmed hat, is seen approaching another figure who has his hands bound and is lying face down with the back of his trousers cut away. The prisoner is wearing blue and yellow patches identifying him as Ukrainian.

The soldier in the hat, who is wearing blue surgical gloves, is holding a green-handled knife and reaches down to mutilate the prisoner as other soldiers abuse the prisoner.

While much is unknown about the provenance and date that the footage was recorded – and where – there are claims that the Russian soldier was previously filmed in the vicinity of the Azot chemical works in Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine and that he was serving with a Chechen formation known as the Akhat battalion.

While the Guardian has been unable to independently verify the authenticity of the footage, it has been widely shared on pro-Russian media sites as well as on Ukrainian social media, with some Russian users posting images mocking the mutilated soldier.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/29/video-appears-to-show-russian-soldier-castrating-ukrainian-priso

There will not be much urban combat in Kherson. The Russians are going to surrender in mass as they run out of supplies and ammunition due to the fact that the only two direct routes into the city have been blown by HIMARS.

Russian Defense Ministry: More than a hundred members of the battalion of the elite brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were eliminated by missile attack


In the process of conducting a Russian special operation on Ukrainian territory, the RF Armed Forces continue to strike at the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other formations. This was reported in the summary of the Russian Ministry of Defense, cited on June 30 by the speaker of the military department, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov.



The report says that on July 28, aircraft of the RF Armed Forces launched an air-to-surface missile attack on a train at the Krasnoarmeysk station in the part of the DPR temporarily occupied by the Kyiv regime. As a result, 140 militants of one of the battalions of the 1st Presidential Operational Brigade (1 Bron, military unit 3027) of the NSU were destroyed, and another 250 were injured of varying severity. All the equipment that was in the echelon was put out of action. This is an elite unit of the Ukrainian army.

On July 29, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation hit a temporary deployment point (PVD) of the Grad MLRS division of the 110th Separate Terodefense Brigade (110 detached brigade, military unit A7038) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near the village of Yasnobrodovka in the DPR. As a result, up to 30 militants, various equipment and an ammunition depot were destroyed. Near the city of Bakhmut (former Artemovsk), the PVD of the 14th separate mechanized brigade (14th separate mechanized brigade, military unit A1008) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was hit. As a result, up to 50 militants and 8 units of various equipment were destroyed.

Artillery, missile troops, army and operational-tactical aviation also contributed. Over the past day, they struck: 256 areas of concentration of personnel and various enemy equipment, 8 command posts and 3 warehouses of the RAV.

Missiles of the Iskander OTRK near the city of Bogodukhov in the Kharkiv region hit the Kraken national battalion air defense missile, equipped in the hangars of a local meat processing plant. As a result, more than 30 militants and 10 units of various equipment were destroyed.

Not far from Krivoy Rog, Russian fighter aircraft destroyed a MiG-29 of the Ukrainian Air Force. An American AN/TPQ-36A counter-battery radar was destroyed near a village in the DPR, and an AN/TPQ-37 counter-battery radar made in the USA was destroyed near the village of Novovorontsovka in the Kherson region.

In the course of counter-battery work, the following were hit: 2 M777 howitzers near the village. Stepnogorsk in the Zaporozhye region, a battery of MLRS "Hurricane" near the village of Kurdyumovka and 2 batteries of howitzers "Gyatsint-B" near Kodem and Belaya Gora in the DPR. Also suppressed were: 6 Grad MLRS platoons, 2 Gvozdika self-propelled gun batteries, 3 D-20 gun platoons, 4 D-30 gun platoons on fire in the DPR, Zaporozhye and Nikolaev regions.

Air defense systems shot down 13 Ukrainian UAVs in the DPR, Kherson and Kharkov regions. 6 MLRS rockets and 2 Tochka-U ballistic missiles were intercepted in the Kherson region.

Минобороны России: Более сотни членов батальона элитной бригады ВСУ ликвидированы ракетным ударом

Originally Posted by sabang

in the part of the DPR temporarily occupied by the Kyiv regime.

Stopped reading after the first lie. More of your "cerebral" bullshit?

Originally Posted by pickel

topped reading after the first lie. More of your "cerebral" bullshit?

The entire article is a complete horseshit fabrication. A total waste of time.

Originally Posted by pickel

Stopped reading after the first lie. More of your "cerebral" bullshit?

Good God, he gets tiresome.

Zelensky Urges Evacuation of Ukraine’s Frontline Donetsk


Ukraine's president urged civilians on Saturday to evacuate the frontline Donetsk region, the scene of fierce clashes with the Russian military, as Kyiv called on the Red Cross and UN to gain access to its soldiers being held by Moscow's forces.


The eastern Donetsk region has faced the brunt of Russia's offensive since its assault on Kyiv failed weeks into the invasion launched on Feb. 24.

President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in his daily address that thousands of people, including children, were still in the region's battleground areas, with six civilians killed and 15 wounded on Friday, according to the Donetsk governor.


"There's already a governmental decision about obligatory evacuation from Donetsk," Zelensky said, underscoring authorities' calls to leave the besieged region in recent weeks.


"Leave, we will help," Zelensky said. "At this stage of the war, terror is the main weapon of Russia."


Official Ukrainian estimates put the number of civilians still living in the unoccupied area of Donetsk at between 200,000 and 220,000.


A mandatory evacuation notice posted Saturday evening said the coming winter made it a matter of urgency, particularly for the more than 50,000 children still in the region.


"They need to be evacuated, you cannot put them in mortal danger in the winter without heating, light, without the ability to keep them warm," Kyiv's Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories said in a statement.


Zelensky, in his address, also once more pressed the international community, especially the United States, to have Russia officially declared a "state sponsor of terrorism."


He reiterated the call a day after a jail holding Ukrainian prisoners of war in Kremlin-controlled Olenivka was bombed, leaving scores dead, with Kyiv and Moscow trading blame.


On Saturday, Ukrainian human rights official Dmytro Lubinets said on national television he had asked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission to go to Olenivka.


The ICRC has made a request but has not yet obtained authorization from the Russians, he said.

'Egregious provocation'
Russia's defense ministry accused Kyiv of striking the Olenivka prison with U.S.-supplied long-range missiles, in an "egregious provocation" designed to stop captured soldiers from surrendering.


It said Saturday that the dead included Ukrainian forces who had surrendered after weeks of fighting off Russia's brutal bombardment of the sprawling Azovstal steelworks in the port city of Mariupol.

The defense ministry said 50 Ukrainian prisoners were killed and 73 were taken to hospital with serious injuries.


"All political, legal and moral responsibility for this bloody massacre of Ukrainians lies with Zelensky personally, his criminal regime and Washington, which backs them," it said.


Zelensky laid the blame squarely on Russia.


"This was a deliberate Russian war crime, a deliberate mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war," he said.


Members of the Azov regiment were among those who surrendered at Azovstal.


Azov regiment commander Mykyta Nadtochiy said he considered the attack on the jail to have been "an act of public execution."

Gazprom cuts off Latvia
Also on Saturday, Russian energy giant Gazprom suspended gas supplies to Latvia, in the latest tightening of gas provision to European Union states, which have accused Russia of squeezing supplies in retaliation for Western sanctions imposed over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.


Conexus Baltic Grid confirmed to Latvia's LETA news agency that Gazprom had informed it of the suspension of deliveries, but said other suppliers were continuing them.


"Today, Gazprom suspended its gas supplies to Latvia... due to violations of the conditions" of purchase, the company said on Telegram.


Latvia's Economy Minister Ilze Indriksone told LETA that his country "was not counting on natural gas flows from Russia."


Gazprom drastically cut gas deliveries to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline on Wednesday to about 20% of its capacity. It had reduced gas flows to Europe twice in June.


The Russian state-run company had earlier announced it would choke supply to 33 million cubic meters a day — half the amount it has been delivering since service resumed last week after 10 days of maintenance work.


Gazprom cited the halted operation of one of the last two working turbines for the pipeline due to the "technical condition of the engine."


Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has blamed EU sanctions for the limited supply.


The EU this week agreed a plan to reduce gas consumption in solidarity with Germany, where the Nord Stream pipeline runs to, warning of Russian "blackmail."

Grain fields set alight
Russian strikes continued to rain down on Ukrainian towns and cities on Saturday.


Ukrainian authorities said Russian bombardments targeting the south and east of the country had left one dead in southern Mykolaiv and one dead in eastern Bakhmut.


The death toll from a strike on a Mykolaiv bus stop on Friday climbed to seven after two men died in hospital, he added.


In the eastern city of Kharkiv, three Russian S-300 missiles struck a school, mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram, adding that the main building was destroyed.


A Ukrainian spokesman said his country's forces had set fire to grain fields around Mariupol so they could not be used by the Russians.


"The Mariupol resistance forces set fire to the fields with grain so that it would not be stolen by the occupiers," Sergiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration said.

Zelensky Urges Evacuation of Ukraine's Frontline Donetsk - The Moscow Times

Russian official says Ukraine carried out drone attack on Black Sea fleet HQ


July 31 (Reuters) – A senior official in Russian-annexed Crimea accused Ukraine on Sunday of carrying out a drone attack ahead of planned celebrations to mark Navy Day, injuring five and forcing the cancellation of festivities.


The accusation comes hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to oversee Navy Day celebrations in his hometown of St Petersburg and approve Russia’s naval doctrine as Moscow presses on with its military intervention in Ukraine.


“An unidentified object flew into the courtyard of the fleet’s headquarters,” Mikhail Razvozhayev, governor of Sevastopol, home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.


“According to preliminary information, it is a drone.”


He said Ukraine had decided to “spoil Navy Day for us”.


The Ukrainian defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


Razvozhayev said that five employees of the fleet headquarters had been injured in the incident and that the Federal Security Service (FSB) was investigating its circumstances.


“All celebrations have been cancelled for security reasons,” Razvozhayev said. “Please remain calm and stay home if possible.”


Navy Day is an annual Russian holiday during which its fleets stage naval parades and honour its sailors.


Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, prompting a major row with the West which deepened over Moscow’s role in an insurgency of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Russian official says Ukraine carried out drone attack on Black Sea fleet HQ | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

Russia invites U.N., Red Cross experts to probe Ukraine jail deaths

ODESA, Ukraine, July 31 (Reuters) – Russia on Sunday invited United Nations and Red Cross experts to probe the deaths of dozens of Ukrainian prisoners held by Moscow-backed separatists, while Ukraine’s president ordered the evacuation of residents in the eastern region of Donetsk.


President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said hundreds of thousands of people were still exposed to fierce fighting in the Donbas region, which contains Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.


“Many refuse to leave but it still needs to be done,” Zelenskiy said in a televised address late on Saturday. “The more people leave the Donetsk region now, the fewer people the Russian army will have time to kill.”


Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations over a missile strike or explosion early on Friday that appeared to have killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war in the front-line town of Olenivka in eastern Donetsk.


Russia invited experts from the U.N. and Red Cross to probe the deaths “in the interests of conducting an objective investigation”, the defence ministry said on Sunday.


The ministry had published a list of 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war killed and 73 wounded in what it said was a Ukrainian military strike with a U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).


Ukraine’s armed forces denied responsibility, saying Russian artillery had targeted the prison to hide mistreatment there. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Friday Russia had committed a war crime and called for international condemnation.


Reuters journalists confirmed some of the deaths at the prison, but could not immediately verify the differing versions of events.


The U.N. had said it was prepared to send experts to investigate if it obtained consent from both parties. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was seeking access and had offered to help evacuate the wounded.


Ukraine has accused Russia of atrocities against civilians and identified more than 10,000 possible war crimes. Russia denies targeting civilians and war crimes in the invasion it calls a “special operation”.


UKRAINIAN COUNTEROFFENSIVE


Ukrainian forces attacked the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters in the Russian-held Crimean port city of Sevastopol early on Sunday, Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev was quoted by Russian media as saying.


Five members of staff were wounded in the attack when what was presumed to be a drone flew into the courtyard at the headquarters, he said.


Ukrainian authorities said the southern cities of Mykolaiv and Nikopol had been hit by heavy Russian strikes overnight.


Two people were killed and three wounded when 12 missiles hit homes and educational facilities, Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych told Ukrainian national television, describing the strikes as “probably the most powerful” on the city of the entire war.


Up to 50 Grad rockets hit residential areas in the city of Nikopol on Sunday morning, Dnipropetrovsk Governor Valentyn Reznichenko wrote on Telegram. One person was wounded.


Ukraine’s military said on Saturday more than 100 Russian soldiers had been killed and seven tanks destroyed in the south on Friday, including the Kherson region that is the focus of Kyiv’s counteroffensive in that part of the country and a key link in Moscow’s supply lines.


Rail traffic to Kherson over the Dnipro River had been cut, the military’s southern command said, potentially further isolating Russian forces west of the river from supplies in occupied Crimea and the east.


South of the town of Bakhmut, which Russia has cited as a prime target in Donetsk, the Ukrainian military said Russian forces had been “partially successful” in establishing control over the settlement of Semyhirya by storming it from three directions.


Defence and intelligence officials from Britain, which has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies since Moscow invaded its neighbour on Feb. 24, portrayed Russian forces as struggling to maintain momentum.


Ukraine has used Western-supplied long-range missile systems to badly damage three bridges across the Dnipro in recent weeks, cutting off Kherson city and – in the assessment of British defence officials – leaving Russia’s 49th Army highly vulnerable on the river’s west bank.


Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.


Officials from the Russian-appointed administration running the Kherson region earlier this week rejected Western and Ukrainian assessments of the situation.


On Friday the British ministry described the Russian government as “growing desperate”, having lost tens of thousands of soldiers in the war. British MI6 foreign intelligence agency chief Richard Moore added on Twitter that Russia is “running out of steam.”

Russia invites U.N., Red Cross experts to probe Ukraine jail deaths | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

Originally Posted by misskit

He said Ukraine had decided to “spoil Navy Day for us”.

Ukraine did this indeed. By sinking the Moskwa and other big ships of their Black Sea fleet.

Originally Posted by misskit

A senior official in Russian-annexed Crimea accused Ukraine on Sunday of carrying out a drone attack ahead of planned celebrations to mark Navy Day, injuring five and forcing the cancellation of festivities.

'accused'? What a bunch of fuckwits . . . they invade, murder, maim, dislocate, rape hundreds of thousands and get all whiny about a drone attack on a military target

Fuck 'em, I hope they remain pariahs for a very, very long time

ODESSA, Ukraine — Amnesty International and the European Union have backed Kyiv in calling for an investigation into footage circulating online that appears to show pro-Russian forces castrating and executing a captive Ukrainian fighter.

Ukrainian officials pledged to identify the perpetrators after a series of gruesome videos recently surfaced on pro-Russian Telegram channels showing a group of men, one of them seen wearing pro-Russian symbols, castrating and executing a prisoner dressed in military fatigues with Ukrainian military insignia.

“This horrific assault is yet another apparent example of complete disregard for human life and dignity in Ukraine committed by Russian forces,” Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said Friday.

In a roughly 1½-minute-long video, a man dressed in military fatigues, wearing a “Z” patch and an orange-and-black ribbon associated with Russian forces, castrates the bound prisoner using a green utility knife.

A separate video shared on pro-Russian Telegram channels shows a single shot being fired into the prisoner’s head.

The Washington Post was unable to confirm the date or location of where the videos were filmed.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak described the men in the footage as Russian “propagandists” delighting in torture. “But the fog of war will not help to avoid punishment for the executioners,” he tweeted. “We will identify and get to each of you.”

Social media users, investigative journalists and members of conflict intelligence groups have been poring over other footage of Russian forces available online, in an attempt to identify the men shown in the videos. The Post was unable to identify the captive in the footage.

Aric Toler, director of research and training at the investigative collective Bellingcat, said the presence of the “Z” symbol, which has become an emblem of support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, on a car in the background in one video “goes against some claims ... that the video may be old and just now emerging after a year or two.”

The E.U.’s top diplomat described the footage as an example of the “inhumane, barbaric acts” that amount to war crimes.

“Evidence in form of appalling video footage has been widely shared on pro-Kremlin social networks today, in which Russian soldiers commit a heinous atrocity against a Ukrainian prisoner of war,” Josep Borrell said Friday in reference to the gruesome videos. “The European Union condemns in the strongest possible terms the atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces and their proxies.”

There has been no official comment from Moscow on the allegations.

Amnesty’s statement said the London-based rights group has documented crimes under international law during Russia’s war on Ukraine, including summary killings of captives of Russian-backed separatists and extrajudicial executions of Ukrainian civilians by Russian forces.

After the withdrawal of Russian forces from Kyiv’s suburbs earlier in the conflict, images of bodies lying in the streets and evidence of torture in Bucha, near the capital, prompted global outrage — and more Western sanctions against Russia. Moscow has dismissed the accusations.

As Russian bombs pummel Ukrainian cities, Kyiv says it is collecting evidence around the country to investigate and prosecute hundreds of alleged war crimes by Russian forces during the war, now in its sixth month.

In April, a Ukrainian official said an investigation would be launched after a graphic video shared online showed the apparent killing by Ukrainian forces of a Russian fighter lying on the ground.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...ation-soldier/