Classy bunch, those Ruskies. Wagner Group chief says Russian Defence Ministry laid mines on Wagner Group fighters' exit routes from Bakhmut Quote from Prigozhin: "Just before exiting [Bakhmut] we detected suspicious activities along our exit routes. We called law enforcement agencies and found around a dozen locations with dozens of explosive devices: hundreds of anti-tank mines to tonnes of plastic explosives. The command was responsible for all this. Investigations are currently underway. Representatives of the [Russian] Defence Ministry were the ones to rig those areas with explosives. When asked why they did it, they pointed to their leadership. There was no need to place those devices to hold enemy forces back, they were all behind the frontlines. We can therefore assume that those explosives were destined for the Wagner PMC." Details: Prigozhin said none of his fighters were injured. He claimed that this was the Russian leadership’s attempt to give him a public beating. Background: In May, Prigozhin said that after 1 June, his mercenaries would not be present along the entire contact line in Ukraine for at least two months. The Institute for the Study of War believes that Wagner Group could miss the main stages of Ukraine's counteroffensive. Wagner Group chief says Russian Defence Ministry laid mines on Wagner Group fighters' exit routes from Bakhmut (msn.com)
Despair and Uncertainty for Russian Refugees Fleeing Attacked Border Regions By Anastasia Tenisheva 9 hours ago Residents of Shebekino in a temporary accommodation center in a Belgorod stadium. Nikita Tsitsagi / NEWS.ru / TASS Refugees from Russian border regions fleeing intensifying cross-border shelling and Ukrainian-backed incursions in recent days expressed despair at their future and anger toward officials in interviews with The Moscow Times. “We have nowhere to go, we have nothing to live for, we don't know what is waiting for us. People are running away in panic,” said Daria, who left Shebekino, a border town of about 40,000 people, on short notice Thursday. “It’s sad that for a year and a half, we had been trying to reach out to officials and federal TV channels and tell them that our town was being shelled and we were not safe.” The departure of thousands of people from Shebekino and other border villages in Russia’s Belgorod region amounts to the largest displacement of Russians inside Russia in the 15 months since the Kremlin ordered its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Like recent drone strikes on Moscow and “partial” mobilization last year, the exodus looks set to become yet another way in which the war has come home for ordinary Russians. In addition to shelling from Ukrainian territory, the Belgorod region has been targeted by anti-Kremlin units made up of Russian nationals who have launched cross-border raids — apparently with Ukrainian military assistance. While the Kremlin has not ordered a total evacuation of the border zones, local authorities have bussed some people living near Ukraine away from the fighting. Others have fled on their own initiative. Local social media groups contain dozens of messages from those seeking help with transport and accommodation — or asking for assistance to evacuate elderly relatives. One resident of Shebekino, who decided to leave when a powerful blast wave knocked out the windows in her house, told The Moscow Times she couldn’t reach an official hotline. Daria — who left Shebekino on her own — said her experience was similar. “We asked for help and were promised that the help would be provided. But we were left under shelling and two hours later we called again. Of five hotlines, only one line was working, we had to wait 24 minutes, but they only put us on another waiting list,” Daria, who also requested anonymity, told The Moscow Times. “We left with nothing and we don’t know whether we will return to our town.” While the total number of those who have fled Belgorod region’s border settlements in the last 48 hours is unclear, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote Friday on Telegram that 2,500 Shebekino residents were in temporary shelters — including a sports arena — in the regional capital, Belgorod. About 300 children have been evacuated further east to the neighboring Voronezh region. Public figures in Russia, including the state-run RT network’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan and media personality and ex-presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak, were among those to offer to pay for temporary accommodation for refugees. Gladkov has also announced the opening of official hotlines for people who needed help with evacuation from Shebekino and other nearby settlements. President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that "the main question now is to provide assistance to people.” However, some locals interviewed by The Moscow Times were critical about the authorities’ failure to defend the Belgorod region and the handling of the evacuation process. “Ukrainians do not hesitate to fire with everything they have! We are just sitting and waiting to be attacked! Tell me, why is the air defense not working?... How long will it last? Can someone answer?” Nelly Klapchenova, a resident of Shebekino, wrote in a post on social network VKontakte on Thursday. And there has even been some official disquiet. A group of Communist Party lawmakers published an appeal Thursday calling on the government to evacuate all children from Russia’s border regions. And Gladkov last week appeared to question the Defense Ministry’s handling of the attacks from Ukraine, admitting Monday that Russia was in a “state of de facto war.” While Shebekino has come under sporadic shelling and drone attacks since Ukraine re-took its neighboring Kharkiv region last fall, the attacks have escalated dramatically in recent weeks ahead of what is believed to be an imminent Ukrainian counteroffensive. Two women were killed in shelling near Shebekino on Friday, according to Gladkov, and one of the anti-Kremlin units behind the incursions, the Freedom of Russia Legion, claimed that fighting was ongoing around the village of Novaya Tovolzhanka. At least 12 people were wounded the previous day in shelling that also saw a large building in the center of Shebekino catch fire. There have been at least two incursions by Russian militias with apparent Ukrainian backing in recent weeks, with Russian forces claiming to be using war planes and heavy artillery to force the attackers back over the border into Ukraine. The spreading fighting and wave of internal refugees means many people in Russia’s border regions are seeing the reality of the war for the first time, according to political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin. “The population is experiencing what is called a pattern break or cognitive dissonance — it turns out that the war is real and no one is going to save them,” Oreshkin told The Moscow Times in a phone interview. “People are feeling an aggravation of hatred towards the West as well as dissatisfaction with current officials.” As the flight of people from Shebekino showed no sign of letting up, three locals told The Moscow Times on condition of anonymity that they had no idea what the future held. “We lived in a beautiful and flourishing town on the border with Ukraine, but now there’s only pain, death and grief,” Daria said.
Wagner Group chief says Russian Defence Ministry laid mines on Wagner Group fighters' exit routes from Bakhmut Alona Mazurenko — Friday, 2 June 2023 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/2/7405068/ Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group private military company (PMC), has said that representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defence had laid mines on Wagner Group fighters’ exit routes from Bakhmut. Quote from Prigozhin: "Just before exiting [Bakhmut] we detected suspicious activities along our exit routes. We called law enforcement agencies and found around a dozen locations with dozens of explosive devices: hundreds of anti-tank mines to tonnes of plastic explosives. The command was responsible for all this. Investigations are currently underway. Representatives of the [Russian] Defence Ministry were the ones to rig those areas with explosives. When asked why they did it, they pointed to their leadership. There was no need to place those devices to hold enemy forces back, they were all behind the frontlines. We can therefore assume that those explosives were destined for the Wagner PMC." Details: Prigozhin said none of his fighters were injured. He claimed that this was the Russian leadership’s attempt to give him a public beating. Background: In May, Prigozhin said that after 1 June, his mercenaries would not be present along the entire contact line in Ukraine for at least two months. The Institute for the Study of War believes that Wagner Group could miss the main stages of Ukraine's counteroffensive.
Let's see what is going on in Pootie Poop land today? He was last seen wearing a diaper and hiding in a bunker. Putin's navy flees Ukrainian port in panic after Storm Shadow missile attack on harbour The missile strike forced a number of Russian ships to flee the port, according to the city's military administration. https://www.express.co.uk/news/worl...-berdyansk-port-storm-shadow-missiles-ukraine Putin looking 'helpless and confused' as Russians scramble to flee country The MoD claims Ukrainian moves into Russian territory could signal a counteroffensive. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1777004/putin-russia-attacks-belgorod-ukraine Ukraine’s cross-border tactics are aimed at destabilizing Russia. Judging by the response, they’re working https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/02/europe/ukraine-cross-border-tactics-analysis-intl/index.html
No English subtitles. But in short: one of the top Russian Parliament (Duma) members of Putin's party, formerly a hardcore imperialist and pro-Putinist, in clear, unambiguous language, says that not one of Russia's goals has been achieved, that Russia cannot possibly win in any sense, that Ukraine will succeed, that Putin's adventure was a mistake and names Putin, by name, as the one responsible.
Could be but here is the question: just how good is Putin's grasp on power if someone like this, who is very high up in the hierarchy of Putin's own political party and definitely has the sense of where the wind is blowing, can afford to say something like this? Such people are not suicidal. This public statement was thought out and calculated.