Russia's independent TV Rain channel back on air - BBC News Russia's last independent channel, TV Rain, is back on air more than four months after being forced to close over its coverage of the war in Ukraine. TV Rain YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/tvrain TV Rain are now broadcasting from Latvia. There are subtitles on most of the videos.
Day 155: Ukraine’s counter-offensive in Kherson is gathering momentum. Ukrainians destroy the Kherson bridge in a high-precision strike. Russia’s 49th Army is stationed on the west bank of the Dnipro River, looking highly vulnerable. Ground fighting is ongoing north of Kharkiv City. Russia captures a power station and redeploys troops toward southern Ukraine. Three Mars II MLR systems, 10 PzH200 self-propelled howitzers, and five Gepards [tanks] are already in Ukraine (all from Germany). Seafarer shortage stands in way of the Ukraine grain corridor. Russia cuts gas flows further as Europe urges energy saving. Territorial concessions are unacceptable to 84% of Ukrainians. Russia has made significant efforts to secure influence across Africa.
Day 156. Russia has limited to no progress in Donbas and launches a massive strike in the early morning, with air raids all over Ukraine. Russian forces are attempting to preserve their ground lines of communication over the Dnipro River connecting Kherson City to rear areas in eastern Kherson Oblast. Russian private military company Wagner Group operates in eastern Ukraine in coordination with the Russian military. Russian filtration camps discovered in five settlements in the occupied east of Ukraine. A video of two Russian-speaking soldiers castrating the prisoner of war with a clerical knife goes viral. Italy plans to completely phase out Russian gas by 2024. The EU will increase the import of electricity from Ukraine by 2.5 times starting Saturday. The Baltic countries, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, show strong support to Ukraine. US Congress supports sending long-range missiles to Ukraine. The US Senate passed a resolution calling on the State Department to recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.
This is really as low as it goes. Ukraine has been making surgically precise strikes over the last few weeks with the HIMARs. There is no way they accidentally hit their own POW's. This was a deliberate act by the russian government, approved by Putin. It's purpose was to deflect from their own daily war crimes and to try to embarrass USA and Ukraine. Also to kill Ukrainian heroes. Anyone who believes these lies by russia, who lies every damn day, is not using their brain. (Also appears that no russian guards were injured, what a coincidence!) https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/...trike-killing-prisoners-war-donetsk-rcna40587 Ukrainian intelligence thinks this may have done without Putin's approval, by the head of the Wagner private military group.
Day 157: Mass Murder of Ukrainian Prisoners of War in Olenivka. Russia moves military equipment towards Kherson and Crimea. Ukrainians blow up more Russian ammunition depots. Ukraine liberates three settlements in the Kherson Oblast over the past two weeks. Germany sends 16 armored bridge layers to the Ukrainian army. Ten ships loaded with grain are ready to leave ‘Odesa’ and ‘Chornomorsk’ ports. The cost of insurance for ships with Ukrainian grain will increase hundreds of times. Ukrainian farmers have their doubts about an international agreement to ease a blockade on grain shipments through the Black Sea.
Day 158. Russian forces conducted limited ground assaults in Donbas. Russians pull reinforcements close to the Ukrainian border near Izium. Ukrainian forces disrupted a Russian ground assault in Kherson Oblast with preemptive artillery strikes. Damage to the railway bridge across the Dnipro near Kherson likely to disrupt Russian supply chains. A mandatory evacuation of the Donetsk Oblast announced. Russian Embassy in the UK said that Ukrainian prisoners of war must be killed. Norway donated 14 IVECO LAV III armored patrol vehicles to Ukraine. Russian hostilities in the Black Sea kill at least 5,000 dolphins.
Just a reminder of what Ukrainians are fighting for: Paul Massaro @apmassaro3 The defense of Ukraine is the defense of humanity. Ukrainian victory means the decisive rejection of terror, authoritarianism, Nazism, imperialism, and corruption. A massive victory for democracy, the rule of law, and common human decency
Day 159. Russia fires almost 40 missiles on Mykolaiv. The Kremlin has not responded to the Red Cross’s request to access the Olenivka prison. Russians conducted limited ground attacks southwest and northwest of Izium. Russian forces continued ground attacks northwest of Sloviansk, northeast of Siversk, and to the east and south of Bakhmut. Russian occupation authorities continued to prepare for a referendum in Kherson Oblast. Ukrainians destroy 15 Russian ammo depots over the past weeks. Russia’s special train of over 40 cars destroyed by HIMARS in the Kherson Oblast. Russian forces build up grouping in Kryvyi Rih direction. Russia fired at least 20 missiles into northern Ukraine from Belarusian territory. Norway donates armored patrol vehicles to Ukraine. Putin says the United States is the main threat to Russia.
Here is an amazing first hand account out of occupied Kherson. https://zaborona.com/en/the-story-of-a-teacher-from-occupied-kherson/
Day 160 Russians had limited to no progress in Donbas. The first ship with Ukrainian food left the port of Odesa and reached Turkey. The Russian military turned the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant into a “nuclear shield.” ISW assesses that Russian forces were responsible for the Olenivka prison attack that killed 53 Ukrainian POWs. ️An embargo on coal imports from Russia came into force in the EU. EU allocates 1 billion euros of macro-financial assistance to Ukraine.
Day 161. Russians killed 403 people in the Mykolaiv Oblast since the beginning of the war but no plans for mandatory evacuation. Russian forces made marginal gains southeast of Bakhmut and continued offensive operations to the northeast and southeast of Bakhmut. They made incremental advances around Avdiivka and are continuing attempts to push southwest of Avdiivka. Unconfirmed social media reports suggest that Iran may have sent the first batch of drones to Russia and sent pilots and maintenance personnel to train on the Russian Su-35, potentially suggesting that Iran may seek to use recent aviation agreements to facilitate the acquisition of Russian combat aircraft, ISW reports. Russia says the United States is directly involved in the Ukraine war. The office of the President accuses some EU countries, particularly Germany of holding back crucially important €8 billion in macro-financial assistance to Ukraine. New US sanctions.
Russo-Ukrainian War, Day 162: Russians use Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to blackmail the West. Russia set fire to the prison complex holding Ukrainian POWs in Olenivka but blamed Ukraine. Moscow is attempting to secure Iranian drones for use in Ukraine. A combat readiness check in some groups of the Belarusian army held. Russian artillery bombardments continued in the northern Donbas. No major territorial advances reported. Ukrainian forces continued to apply localized pressure to the Russian defensive line in the North East Kherson oblast. No territorial gain repored.
Russo-Ukrainian War, Day 163: Amnesty International joins Putin’s defamation campaign of Ukraine. Russian strike hits crowd at a bus stop in Toretsk, many dead. Russia is building up forces in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson directions and de-conserving equipment. The Ukrainian army destroys four Russian S-300 launchers, and three ammo depots in the south of Ukraine. Ukraine’s missile and artillery units continue to target Russian military strongholds, personnel clusters, logistical support bases, and ammunition depots. Ukrainian army retakes two villages in eastern Ukraine. Amnesty International shifts blame to Ukraine. President’s Office responds to Amnesty International: “the only threat to Ukrainians is the Russian army.” Reznikov on Amnesty International: Attempts to question Ukrainians’ right to resist genocide are a perversion. Three new ships with grain leave Ukraine. NATO to establish a joint trust fund for Ukrainian needs. (As you can see, Ukraine is very upset about Amnesty International saying they are partially responsible for civilian casualties by choosing to defend their cities, even going so far as to say Ukraine has chosen to put military bases inside hospitals and schools. I have personally challenged Amnesty by email and twitter to provide evidence of a single time when Ukraine occupied a hospital or school that had not already been mostly destroyed by russians and already abandoned by civilians. No response. I also questioned why they did not ask for or allow any input from Amnesty staff in Ukraine. also no response. Also, how would amnesty explain that russia has targeted civilian targets at 60 times the rate of military targets?)
100,000 North Korean soldiers could be sent to bolster Putin’s forces fighting Ukraine An army of soldiers from one of the world’s most authoritarian nations could be sent to bolster Vladimir Putin’s forces fighting in Ukraine. Up to 100,000 North Korean soldiers could be sent to bolster Vladimir Putin’s forces fighting Ukraine, according to Russian reports. A leading defence expert in Moscow, reserve colonel Igor Korotchenko, told state TV: “We shouldn’t be shy in accepting the hand extended to us by Kim Jong-un.” North Korea has made it clear through “diplomatic channels” that as well as providing builders to repair war damage, it is ready to supply a vast fighting force, reported Regnum news agency. They would be deployed to the forces of the separatist pro-Putin Donetsk People’s Republic [DPR] and Luhansk People’s Republic [LPR], both of which Kim has recently recognised as independent countries. “The country is ready to transfer up to 100,000 of its soldiers to Donbas,” said the report by the pro-Kremlin news agency. “Pyongyang will be able to transfer its tactical units to Donbas.” In return, grain and energy would be supplied to Kim’s stricken economy. The claim was seized on by Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of Russia’s National Defence journal on Rossiya 1 channel, who said: “There are reports that 100,000 North Korean volunteers are prepared to come and take part in the conflict.” He was challenged on whether they could be volunteers from North Korea where total obedience is required. But he said North Korean people were “resilient and undemanding” and “the most important thing is they are motivated”. He told viewers: “We shouldn’t be shy in accepting the hand extended to us by Kim Jung-un…. “If North Korean volunteers with their artillery systems, wealth of experience with counter battery warfare and large calibre multiple launch rocket systems, made in North Korea, want to participate in the conflict, well let’s give the green light to their volunteer impulse.” He said: “If North Korea expresses a desire to meet its international duty to fight against Ukrainian fascism, we should let them.” It was the “sovereign right of the DPR and LPR to sign the relevant agreements”. Meanwhile Russia should end its participation in international sanctions against Kim’s regime, he claimed. The claim over North Koreans comes as Russia is desperately seeking to boost its frontline forces by recruiting prisoners in exchange for waiving their jail sentences. A Dad’s Army of men in their 50s and 60s is also being recruited with the offer of pay higher than many receive in Putin’s moribund economy. Korotchenko is known for his fierce pro-Putin rhetoric. Recently he urged Putin to bomb Kyiv with a Kalibr cruise missile inscribed ‘Hasta la vista baby!’ during any Boris Johnson farewell visit - not to “murder” the UK prime minister but in a show of strength. Russians should feel “no shame” of its ambition of obliterating Ukraine as an independent state, he also said recently. Such an objective was “absolutely healthy”, he said. “It was said here that Russia is trying to wipe Ukraine off the geopolitical map of the world,” he said. “It isn’t quite that. “We are wiping an anti-Russia project off the geopolitical map of the world….” Ukraine had “never existed” as a truly independent state in the past, he claimed. “It is an artificial ‘formation’ which was born thanks to the national policy conducted after 1917 by the Bolsheviks,” he said. But now it had become “a springboard for a strike against Russia”. Its political elite “have no right to exist from the point of national interests of our country”. The West “will not be able to influence the decisiveness of the leadership of our country and our people to make it so that such a threat from the territory now called Ukraine never exists.” https://www.news.com.au/world/europ...e/news-story/1126782c8c5e6fe08a8ad2d9fa38dff0
I can see this as possible. Even russian war criminal and military expert Girkin admits that russia is running low on personnel. And Putin is afraid to start drafting soldiers as it could result in his overthrow. So this might be a viable alternative. I think USA might need to deter this somehow if it gets close to fruition.
With interest rates rising energy prices are dropping. The price of oil is now $88. Lower than it was when Russia attacked Ukraine. The only countries buying oil from Russia right now are China and India, because they are buying at a 20% discount. If oil prices keep dropping (as they will unless interest rates go back down) we should see sub $60 oil prices by Christmas. Which will mean Russia can no longer turn a profit on oil. If prices stay that low for long Russia will be bankrupted.
