Russia-Ukraine War - News and Developments

[F-22Raptor]

Reports that Ukrainian faces continue to make significant advances toward Kherson.

Kherson is of much higher strategic value than the Donbass.

 

[Yongpeng Sun-Tastaufen]

Reports that Ukrainian faces continue to make significant advances toward Kherson.

Kherson is of much higher strategic value than the Donbass.

Kherson is just about the most heavily defended city in Ukraine (or former Ukraine for that matter). And if Ukrainian army shells Kherson then that turns the population of Kherson against Ukraine and Ukraine can say bye bye to Kherson forever.

 

[Elvin]

 

[khansaheeb]

Ukraine war: 'Almost every family has lost someone close to them'

Traumatised families from Mariupol reveal dire living conditions under Russian occupation.

www.bbc.com

Ukraine war: 'Almost every family has lost someone close to them'​

By Nick Beake
Europe correspondent, Kyiv

Published4 hours ago
Share

Image caption,
Yuliya Zolotariova managed to flee Mariupol two weeks ago with the help of her daughter Anastasiya.
The true extent of the horror in the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol is hard to uncover.
The details that have already seeped out are difficult to process.
"Dead bodies everywhere. People were lying near every house. No one took them away," Yuliya Zolotariova, 51, tells us as her eyes water.
Now in the relative safety of the capital, Kyiv, she gives a harrowing account of life in her home city where it's a feared a major cholera outbreak could be imminent.
Yuliya escaped just two weeks ago.
"Everything is lost for everyone. Hopelessness. Fear. Pain."

Tears now begin to stream down her face.
"Almost every family has lost someone close to them."
It's easy to see why both Ukrainian officials and international humanitarian agencies believe conditions are perfect for the rapid spread of disease in Mariupol.
"No one has taken out the rubbish since the beginning of the war."
Yuliya explains that clean drinking water was impossible to find for many of the estimated 100,000 people still living in her city.
"We drained and drank water from the boiler. From heating systems. Later, our men went to a destroyed swimming pool and took chlorinated water from there. It's all we had."

The reality of life - or rather existence - under Russian occupation is at jarring odds with the propaganda on prominent display in Mariupol.
Blasted into submission, it's now forced to celebrate its Russian takeover.
The most symbolic moment of subjugation came this past weekend when the occupiers painted over the Soviet-era concrete welcome sign at the entrance to the city.
The freshly daubed colours of the Russian flag masking the blue and yellow of Ukraine.
While Moscow tries to airbrush history, it offers a future of misery to the residents it falsely claims to have liberated.
"Russia is here forever" declares a newly installed giant billboard.

That Yuliya Zolotariova was able to escape this hellhole is down to her daughter Anastasiya who, from afar, provided her with information about a possible escape route.

Image caption,
Yuliya with daughter Anastasiya reunited in Kyiv
The 26-year-old moved to the capital a year ago to build a career working at Ukraine's national railway.
Since the war, she'd been trying to rebuild her family.
But that will be impossible.
Because not only did the Russians destroy her family home, they killed her grandmother Valentyna.
"In fact, they have destroyed three generations," Anastasiya tells us with anger and sadness. "All this, because they think we Ukrainians shouldn't exist."
We ask how many people she knows have been killed since the invasion in February.
"Twenty people I knew personally," she replies.
But the death of her beloved grandma is the hardest to bear.

Image caption,
Anastasiya's grandparents in Mariupol in 1970
Valentyna Polishuk, 80, died on 21 March. Nearly three months on, her body hasn't been recovered.
And it probably never will be.
Valentyna's daughter Yuliya - Anastasiya's mum - recalls the terrifying moment the Russians hit the family's apartment block in the middle of the night.
"I thought there was an earthquake because everything was trembling. The floors, the walls. Everything fell. I thought we were all just going to die."
She says the missile totally destroyed the top three floors and then fire spread through the rest of the building.
"It was insanely scary. We went down to the basement but it was burning badly and there was very strong smoke."
She says it soon became impossible to breathe.
"I said to my mother: 'Mum, let's go to breathe for five minutes. Let's get out of the cellar. She refused because she was very tired. She was 80 years old and it was too hard for her."
Yuliya left her phones and the family's ID documents with her mother and told her she'd go to find help.
"As I came up, the basement collapsed. There was no way to save them. It was hell."
Eleven residents of the block, including children, perished in the basement.

Image caption,
Mariupol's survivors trying to cope with the death and destruction through group therapy.
Now, in another basement in another city, Mariupol's survivors are trying to cope with the death and destruction visited upon them.
In the centre of Kyiv we find men and women standing in a circle passing a ball to one another and exchanging hugs.
This is group therapy for a community that is not only displaced, but traumatised.
Today's session is for those who've revealed they're especially worried about how to make ends meet.
Yesterday's session focussed on bereavement as nearly all of the 20 participants had lost loved ones in the past three months, reveals psychologist Anna Chasovnykova.
"First people come with panic attacks. They remember what was there, and those were explosions and murders. They see all the evil that the Russian Federation has brought to Ukraine."
She must be one of the busiest women in Kyiv, such is the demand for mental health support.
"Almost every Ukrainian faces some psychological consequences. Someone saw the war, someone was in battle, someone lost a family."
The centre where Anna works was only set up a fortnight ago.
In that time, they've supported more than 5,000 people, all of them recently arrived from Mariupol.
In another room, we see Mykola Polishuk, 79, registering his details and recording the life he lived in his beloved Mariupol: his address, his job, his family.

Image caption,
Mykola Polishuk with daughter Yuliya and granddaughter Anastasiya
But there will be a line missing in the record.
He is the husband of Valentyna.
His wife of 52 years.
"I'm sorry, I can't talk because the tears are coming."
Mykola puts his head in his hands and covers his face.
In front of him there's a photo of his wedding day - in Mariupol - in 1970.
It's one of the very few things his family still possess.
His face is drained of all remaining colour, as he contemplates the new existence Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion has created for him.
"What they have done сan never be forgiven."

 

[Yongpeng Sun-Tastaufen]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536870316278009857

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536871600372518912

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536874165399166976

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536868710320857088

 

[Elvin]

 

[TruthSeeker]

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, JUNE 13​

Jun 13, 2022 - Press ISW

Download the PDF

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 13
Kateryna Stepanenko, Mason Clark, George Barros, and Grace Mappes
June 13, 7:30pm ET​

Click here to see ISW's interactive map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This map is updated daily alongside the static maps present in this report.
Kremlin-sponsored outlet Izvestia published and quickly removed an appeal by the First Deputy Head of the Russian Presidential Administration Sergey Kirelenko for Russia to rebuild the Donbas on June 12 and blamed hackers for what they (likely falsely) claimed was a “fake publication.” Izvestia likely intended to save the article for a later date to set informational conditions for Russian annexation of Donbas. Kirelenko’s appeal stated that Russia will restore the Donbas regardless of high costs or if doing so lowers the standard of living in Russia.[1] Izvestia blamed unknown hackers for publishing a “fake article,” but it is possible that hackers instead released an article Izvestia had prepared to publish at a later date. The Kremlin previously published and removed an article prematurely celebrating a Russian victory over Ukraine in late February and discussing the capture of Ukraine in past tense in anticipation of Ukraine’s capitulation during the first Russian-Ukrainian negotiations in Belarus.[2] Unnamed Kremlin officials previously identified Kirelenko as the future head of a new Russian federal district, which would encompass Donbas, and occupied settlements in Kherson and Zaporizhia Oblasts.[3]
Russia continues to deploy insufficiently prepared volunteer and reserve forces to reinforce its ongoing operations. Kremlin-sponsored outlet Izvestia released footage showing Russian artillery reservists undergoing training with old D-20 howitzers reportedly within 10 days of their deployment to Ukraine.[4] The reservists focused on learning how to operate hand-held weapons, despite being reportedly only days away from deploying. Social media footage also showed Russian forces transporting Russian volunteer and reserve units with T-80BV tanks (a variant produced in 1985, as opposed to the modernized T-80 BVM operated by the 1st Guards Tank Army) and BMP-1 armored personnel carriers (which have largely been phased out in favor of the BMP-2) to Belgorod Oblast on June 9.[5] Additional social media footage showed Russian forces transporting T-80BV tanks removed from storage in Moscow Oblast on June 9.[6]
Key Takeaways

• Russian forces pushed Ukrainian defenders from the center of Severodonetsk and reportedly destroyed the remaining bridge from Severodonetsk to Lysychansk on June 13, but Ukrainian officials reported that Ukrainian forces are not encircled in the city.
• Russian forces carried out unsuccessful ground assaults in an attempt to sever Ukrainian ground lines of communications (GLOCs) near Popasna and Bakhmut.
• Russian forces launched unsuccessful offensive operations southeast of Izyum and north of Slovyansk, and are likely setting conditions for an assault on Siversk and northwestern Ukrainian GLOCs to Lysychansk.
• Russian forces are likely conducting a limited offensive directly northeast of Kharkiv City in a likely attempt to push Ukrainian forces out of artillery range of Russian rear areas and secured some successes.
• Russian and Ukrainian forces are engaging in ongoing fighting for Davydiv Brid in northwestern Kherson Oblast.
• Russian occupation authorities likely staged terrorist activity in Melitopol and Berdyansk for Russia Day on June 12.

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, JUNE 14​

Jun 14, 2022 - Press ISW

Download the PDF

Karolina Hird, Mason Clark, George Barros, and Grace Mappes
June 14, 5:00 pm ET​

Click here to see ISW's interactive map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This map is updated daily alongside the static maps present in this report.
The Belarusian Armed Forces began a command-staff exercise focused on testing command and control capabilities on June 14. However, Belarus remains unlikely to join the war in Ukraine on behalf of Russia. Head of Logistics for the Belarusian Armed Forces Major General Andrei Burdyko announced that the exercise will involve military authorities, unspecified military units, and logistics organizations and is intended to improve the coherency of command-and-control and logistics support to increase the overall level of training and practical skills of personnel in a “dynamically changing environment.”[1] Despite the launch of this exercise, Belarus remains unlikely to join the war in Ukraine due to the threat of domestic unrest that President Alexander Lukashenko faces if he involves already-limited Belarusian military assets in combat.[2] Any Belarusian entrance into the war would also likely provoke further crippling sanctions on Belarus. Any unsupported Belarusian attack against northern Ukraine would likely be highly ineffective, and the quality of Belarusian troops remains low. ISW will continue to monitor Belarusian movements but does not forecast a Belarusian entrance into the war at this time.
Russian authorities may be accelerating plans to annex occupied areas of Ukraine and are arranging political and administrative contingencies for control of annexed territories. Russian military correspondent Sasha Kots posted an image of a map that was displayed at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum depicting a proposed scheme for the “administrative-territorial” division of Ukraine following the war on a three-to-five-year transition scale.[3] The proposed scheme divides Ukrainian oblasts into Russian “territorial districts" and suggests the manner in which Russian authorities hope to incorporate Ukrainian territory directly into Russia. Advisor to the Mayor of Mariupol Petro Andryushchenko additionally outlined a series of indicators that he claimed suggest that Russian authorities are planning to annex occupied Donetsk Oblast as soon as September 1, 2022.[4] Andryushchenko stated that the leadership of occupied Donetsk has entirely passed from authorities of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) to Russian officials and that Russian educational authorities are already referring to Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson as regions of Russia. Andryushchenko additionally stated that the financial and legal systems in occupied Donetsk have already transitioned to Russian systems. Despite the apparent lack of a Kremlin-backed mandate concerning the condition of occupied areas, Russian authorities are likely pushing to expedite a comprehensive annexation process in order to consolidate control over Ukrainian territories and integrate them into Russia’s political and economic environment. However, the Kremlin retains several options in occupied Ukrainian territory and is not bound to any single annexation plan.
The Russian military leadership continues to expand its pool of eligible recruits by manipulating service requirements. Russian milblogger Yuri Kotyenok suggested that Russian authorities are preparing to increase the age limit for military service from 40 to 49 and to drop the existing requirement for past military service to serve in tank and motorized infantry units.[5] If true, the shift demonstrates the Kremlin's increasing desperation for recruits to fill frontline units, regardless of their poor skills. Kotyenok echoed calls made by other milbloggers to reduce the health requirements for those serving in rear and support roles.[6] Kotyenok additionally noted that while Russian recruits must have clean criminal records to serve, private military companies such as the Wagner Group will allow those with “mild misdemeanors” into service and that many of these low-level offenders have been mobilized into combat with Wagner in Donetsk and Luhansk. The Russian military leadership will likely continue efforts to expand the pool of eligible recruits, even at the cost of high-quality military personnel.
Key Takeaways

• Russian military authorities are pursuing options to increase the available pool of eligible recruits to account for continued personnel losses in Ukraine.
• Russian forces are continuing to fight for control of the Azot industrial plant and have destroyed all bridges between Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, likely to isolate the remaining Ukrainian defenders within the city from critical lines of communication.
• Russian forces continue to prepare for offensive operations southeast of Izyum and west of Lyman toward Slovyansk.
• Russian forces are continuing offensive operations to the east of Bakhmut near the T1302 highway to cut Ukrainian lines of communication to Severodonetsk-Lysychansk.
• Russian forces continued offensive operations to push Ukrainian troops away from frontlines northeast of Kharkiv City.
• Ukrainian counterattacks have forced Russian troops on the Southern Axis to take up and strengthen defensive positions.

We do not report in detail on Russian war crimes because those activities are well-covered in Western media and do not directly affect the military operations we are assessing and forecasting. We will continue to evaluate and report on the effects of these criminal activities on the Ukrainian military and population and specifically on combat in Ukrainian urban areas. We utterly condemn these Russian violations of the laws of armed conflict, Geneva Conventions, and humanity even though we do not describe them in these reports.

• Main Effort—Eastern Ukraine (comprised of one subordinate and three supporting efforts)
• Subordinate Main Effort—Encirclement of Ukrainian troops in the cauldron between Izyum and Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts
• Supporting Effort 1—Kharkiv City
• Supporting Effort 2—Southern Axis
• Activities in Russian-occupied Areas

Main Effort—Eastern Ukraine
Subordinate Main Effort—Southern Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk oblasts (Russian objective: Encircle Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine and capture the entirety of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, the claimed territory of Russia’s proxies in Donbas)
Russian forces continued ground assaults within Severodonetsk and fought for control of the Azot industrial plant on June 14.[7] The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russian forces moved two battalion tactical groups (BTGs) to the north of Severodonetsk around Kremmina and Rubizhne (in Luhansk Oblast), but as ISW has previously assessed, these BTGs are unlikely to be functioning at full combat capacity.[8] A Russian Telegram channel additionally claimed that Russian forces have encircled Ukrainian troops within the Azot industrial plant, rendering evacuation or withdrawal from the plant impossible, though ISW cannot independently confirm this claim.[9] Russian forces have reportedly destroyed all three bridges spanning the Siverskyi Donets River from Severodonetsk to Lysychansk, indicating that Russian forces likely seek to isolate Ukrainian defenders in Severodonetsk from their critical lines of communication to complete the encirclement of the city, at the cost of preventing Russian forces from easily crossing the river themselves once they capture Severodonetsk.[10] Russian forces conducted continual artillery strikes against Severodonetsk-Lysychansk and the surrounding settlements of Privillya and Borivske.[11]

Russian forces continued to prepare for offensive operations toward Slovyansk from the southeast of Izyum and west of Lyman on June 14.[12] The Ukrainian General Staff noted that Russian forces are focusing on consolidating control of Bohorodychne, a settlement near the Kharkiv-Donetsk Oblast border about 20 km northwest of Slovyansk.[13] Russian forces are conducting artillery and ground attacks in other settlements to the northwest of Slovyansk, and will likely use incremental gains in this area to gain road access to the M03 highway and drive southeast on Slovyansk.[14] The Ukrainian General Staff stated that Russian forces are additionally preparing for an offensive southwest of Lyman toward Raihorodok, indicating that Russian forces intend to push toward Slovyansk along the T0514 highway that runs from Lyman through Raihorodok and Slovyansk.[15]
Russian forces continued ground, air, and artillery strikes to the east of Bakhmut on June 14.[16] Russian forces conducted attacks around Zolote, east of Bakhmut, and attacks to drive northward toward Bakhmut from Vidrodzhennya and Vershyna.[17] A Russian Telegram channel claimed that detachments of the Wagner Private Military Company took control of Vidrodzhennya and Roty, both to the southeast of Bakhmut.[18] Russian forces continued attempts to cut the T1302 Bakhmut-Lysychansk highway and are likely in position to interdict Ukrainian movements along sections of the highway via shelling as they continue assaults on Vrubivka and Berestove.[19]

Supporting Effort #1—Kharkiv City (Russian objective: Withdraw forces to the north and defend ground lines of communication (GLOCs) to Izyum)
Russian forces continued offensive operations to push Ukrainian forces away from occupied frontlines northeast of Kharkiv City on June 14.[20] Russian forces are conducting ground assaults south of Rubizhne (in Kharkiv, not Luhansk Oblast) toward Staryi Saltiv and Verkhnii Saltiv in order to re-establish control of these points.[21] A Russian Telegram channel additionally claimed that Russian forces repelled a Ukrainian counterattack in Starytsya and Izbytske, both settlements far north of Kharkiv City near the international border.[22] Russian forces continued to fire on and around Kharkiv City.[23] Russian forces will likely continue attempts to push Ukrainian troops south of contested frontiers in this area as Ukrainian forces continue simultaneous limited and localized counterattacks.

Supporting Effort #2—Southern Axis (Objective: Defend Kherson and Zaporizhia Oblasts against Ukrainian counterattacks)
Recent Ukrainian counterattacks forced Russian troops to prioritize defensive operations along the Southern Axis on June 14.[24] Ukrainian forces have reportedly advanced to within 18 km of occupied parts of Kherson (though we cannot confirm their exact positions), which is likely placing considerable pressure on Russian forces to strengthen their defensive lines in the south.[25] Russian troops are reportedly mining unspecified locations on the bank of the Inhulets River in a likely response to Ukrainian counterattacks around Davydiv Brid in northwestern Kherson and toward Mykolaiv and Kryvyi Rih from occupied frontiers in Kherson.[26] Russian forces deployed one tube artillery battery and two rocket artillery batteries to areas near the Kherson-Mykolaiv Oblast border.[27] Russian forces continued to fire on Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhia Oblasts.[28]

Activity in Russian-occupied Areas (Russian objective: consolidate administrative control of occupied areas; set conditions for potential annexation into the Russian Federation or some other future political arrangement of Moscow’s choosing)
Russian occupation authorities continued to struggle to provide basic social services in Mariupol on June 14.[29] Advisor to the Mayor of Mariupol Petro Andryushchenko claimed that the reconstruction of Mariupol is allegedly taking place under the patronage of the Russian city of St. Petersburg, but that occupation authorities have no clear legal framework under which to institute reconstruction projects.[30] Russian occupation authorities will likely continue the ad-hoc implementation of occupational agendas in the continued absence of a concrete Kremlin-backed occupation framework.

 

[Gomig-21]

As intense as that was, this is the exact problem with this war that has really ushered in a new phenomenon never seen before, or at least it was done differently in previous wars. Now it seems it's almost all about getting that great YouTube or TikTok video, probably started by the Chechen TikTok Warriors. You can tell this guy's adrenalin was through the roof but if he wasn't filming, he wouldn't have been nearly that vocal telling the Russians F U and proof is in the pudding as you can clearly hear him at the end brag about having all of that on video!?!

In the old days, you had media photographers embedded with the troops that brought you footage about as real as it could get. This way and this new generation of soldiers seem like a bunch of self-absorbed pansies that makes you think no wonder there are so many casualties on both sides. Granted tactics and bad equipment and lack of leadership also contributed to those horrible, human statistic, but this new, self-absorbed need to film themselves in the middle of a major war clash is about as ridiculous as it gets. Just MO.

 

[The SC]

Sudden new blood of the Russian forces in Kharkiv, Ukraine, after their absence for a long time

 

[The SC]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536827709778710530

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536817799892553731

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536812787992870912

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536798065713111041

 

[The SC]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536790332653838336

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536788418075807745

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536800051544174592

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536715510301315072

 

[The SC]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536714746082230273

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536859627417108482

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536815687754203136

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536805696611704833

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536646022528700417

 

[BHAN85]

What really grotesque was that NED spun that in the MSM that he was swarmed by crowd of adoring fans as if
he a top of pop singer tearing his shirt for souveniers.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536377452829761537

The difference between Guaido and Zelensky is 30 bn of Western money.

Zelensky is even much more worst for his own people than Guaido, due to his not-surrender, he has provocated thousands of dead between Ukrainian people and uncountable material destruction.

But if you have 30 bn to deliver money between people, they will adore you.

 

[DF41]

In Vietnam the US was not able to secure the China border. Military hardware and Chinese troops poured into Vietnam from the China border.

Extract from https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/u-s-...a-to-invade-china.744511/page-2#post-13836923

=============================================================================



USA WERE WARNED NOT TO GO NORTH OF THE PARALLEL


USA dared not cross the parallel.


China told them if USA cross the parallel, China will put Chinese boots on the ground below the parallel in numbers that pale what China did when Dugout Doug approached the Yalu River.

USA remembered what happened when they encountered Chinese even though most of the Chinese had only single shot bolt action rifle against USA battleships and artillery and Ma Deuces and unlimited ammo.

USA blinked and blinked and tail between legs and did not have the cojones to cross.

AND NOW USA KNOW CHINA GOT LOTS OF BANG AND LONGER REACH THEN USA CAN DREAM OF.


AND ANY TIME USA WANT TO TURN PUSHING INTO REAL SHOVING, CHINA WILL BE MORE THAN READY AND WILLING TO TANGO

China provides Russia with intel from China's recon satellites. Ukrainian HIMARS aren't given long range missiles, only 34 km range basic rockets. It's pretty much the same as Uragan in terms of range. And we saw what happened to Ukraine's Uragans.

Not to mention Russia's attack choppers like Havoc and Alligator which fly low can prowl around and hunt down Ukrainian HIMARS after detecting and tracking them with radar.

 

[Yongpeng Sun-Tastaufen]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1536826322487590913