That intercepted phone call is kind of grim, especially at the end. Russian pigs killing orphans. A Russian soldier reveals recent destruction of ammo- He says it's necessary to stop the Ukrainian Forces from taking it https://original.newsbreak.com/@dop...y-to-stop-the-ukrainian-forces-from-taking-it
The Centurion C-RAM is equipped with a 20mm six-barrel gun with a phenomenal rate of fire of up to 4,500 rounds per minute; it essentially can cut through the target. The system has its own radar and optical-thermal imaging module. Such sighting equipment is capable of independently locking and tracking the target, calculating errors and the most optimal time to strike. It even has the following option: either it opens fire on its own, or it offers the operator to pull the trigger himself.
Putin's Elite Tremble as Hardliners Call for ‘Stalinist’ Steps Bloomberg News, Bloomberg News Yevgeny Prigozhin Photographer: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images By Bloomberg News 9 November 2022 (Bloomberg) -- The rise of outspoken hardliners in the Kremlin is alarming insiders fearful the Russian president will heed their calls for even more confrontation abroad and sweeping repression at home. Senior business executives and government officials have watched with growing worry as players they once considered marginal like Yevgeny Prigozhin, known for his Wagner mercenary company and recruiting of prison inmates to fight in Ukraine, have become the public forces behind Vladimir Putin’s push to step up his increasingly all-encompassing war effort. Prigozhin’s public calls for “urgent Stalinist repressions” against business tycoons who aren’t sufficiently enthusiastic about supporting the war effort have led some rich Russians to fear for their own safety and that of their families, they said. Prigozhin’s open attacks on top military commanders - some of whom have been subsequently removed - and the prominent Putin ally who is governor of St. Petersburg, have added to worry within the bureaucracy about the Kremlin’s unwillingness or inability to defend its own. With Kremlin officials now describing the invasion of Ukraine as a “people’s war,” hearkening back to the World War II rhetoric of Josef Stalin, a few insiders even say they fear the purges and arbitrary arrests of the the Soviet dictator’s rule may not be far behind. Amid the call-up of 300,000 reservists, officials furtively asked each other if family members were safe, worried about too openly admitting that they’d sent their military-age children abroad. One senior official likened the current situation to a military dictatorship but without the military coup that usually precedes it. The dominant emotion now is fear, insiders said. All those interviewed for this article spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the risk of reprisal. The deepening alarm about the outlook so far hasn’t coalesced into anything like internal resistance to Putin’s continuing escalation, according to insiders. Many in the leadership support what they see as an existential fight for Russia’s future and see no alternative but to keep boosting the pressure until Ukraine and its allies in the US and Europe back down. A few officials once thought of as relative liberals, such as Sergei Kiriyenko, Kremlin deputy chief of staff, have emerged as enthusiastic public advocates of the war. While Putin has said the mobilization is over, at least for the moment, many in the business and bureaucratic elite worry the militarization of the economy and society is only accelerating. The special commission of top government and security official Putin set up to coordinate economic policy to support the defense industry and the army has been compared to Stalin’s war cabinet. “The state has lost the monopoly on legalized violence and new operators of this former monopoly have appeared,” said Ekaterina Schulmann, a political scientist who left Russia in the early weeks of the war. “It’s strange that Putin is encouraging this.” Nearly nine months of fighting has only hardened the view among many in the business and economic elite that Putin’s invasion was a catastrophic mistake that will doom the country to isolation and weakness. Even within the government, many quietly oppose the fight but are too terrified to speak out, according to people close to the leadership. Tycoons have sought to stay out of politics, hoping to remain on the Kremlin’s good side and keep factories running. Only a few have left the country and publicly criticized the war. Putin has no alternative but to rely on aggressive players like Prigozhin and Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman head of Russia’s Chechnya region who has sent thousands of troops to fight, given the poor performance so far of Russia’s regular military and tepid support for the war in his own government, according to one senior official. Both men have heavily armed forces loyal to them. “Prigozhin is behaving like a parallel government,” said Andrei Kolesnikov of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “He may be able to compete for power, if not under Putin then after him.” Known as ‘Putin’s chef’ for his background in the restaurant business in the president’s hometown of St. Petersburg and Kremlin catering contracts, Prigozhin, 61, has been sanctioned by the US and its allies for a range of alleged transgressions, including meddling in US elections and sending mercenaries to Africa and the Middle East. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation put him on its wanted list in 2021 for vote interference. After years of playing down his links to the Wagner private military contracting company, Prigozhin in late September publicly confirmed he’d founded the group in 2014. On Nov. 4, he opened a glass-and-steel skyscraper in St. Petersburg called the Wagner Center. This week, he sarcastically admitted his role in meddling in US elections, saying it would continue. He’s shown up in leaked videos from prisons around Russia where he promised inmates the chance of early release if they sign up to fight in Ukraine and last six months at the front. At the same time, he warns they’ll be summarily shot for desertion or attempting to surrender. Prigozhin’s press office declined to confirm he was in the videos, but said the person in them “looked frightfully like” him. Over the weekend, Prigozhin announced Wagner plans to set up training centers for “militias” in border regions near the war zone. Fighters would come from “local businesses,” which would send a quarter of its male workforce to “the trenches,” he said in a commentary posted on Telegram, promising to fund the preparations himself. Prigozhin earlier this month, filed a rare complaint with prosecutors against the governor of St. Petersburg, a Putin ally and longtime rival of the tycoon. The Kremlin’s public silence in the case has shocked insiders. Prigozhin has appeared wearing the Hero of Russia medal, the country’s highest honor, but how frequently he and Putin meet remains unclear. Some Kremlin insiders said Prigozhin now meets with the president more often than before, while others said he’s not a member of the small group of hardliners closest to Putin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “There are lots of rumors about Prigozhin. We don’t have any intention to comment on them." Prigozhin said he hasn’t spoken to Putin. He is seen as an ally of the new commander Putin installed to run the Ukraine operation in October, Sergei Surovikin, who was known for his harsh tactics in Syria, where they fought together with Wagner troops. US intelligence has told President Joe Biden that Prigozhin spoke directly to Putin about the war, countering upbeat reports from the military, according to the Washington Post. Prigozhin has made common cause with Kadyrov, the Chechen leader, with both at times questioning the skills of the military leadership, especially when Ukraine’s forces were actively retaking territory in September. Why Russia’s Nuclear Threats Are Difficult to Dismiss: QuickTake Insiders describe the Russian president as increasingly isolated, surrounded by a small group of hardliners and impervious to critical views. With its forces struggling to contain a Ukrainian counteroffensive, the Kremlin has dropped months of trying to insulate the country from the reality of the conflict. Putin has steadily stepped up the fight since Ukrainian forces began pushing back his troops in large areas over the late summer. So far, his mobilization of reservists, sweeping expansion of missile strikes against civilian infrastructure like power plants behind the lines in Ukraine and hints of possible use of nuclear weapons haven’t succeeded in turning the tide. Ukraine’s advance is continuing, with Russia losing territory Putin claimed to annex in September. Last month, he ordered versions of martial law across large areas of Russia. Government technocrats, meanwhile, have been tasked with revising budget and economic plans to reflect the steadily increasing shift of resources to fund the war. They’ve also been assigned to computerize the mobilization process to avoid a repeat of the disorganization and mistakes that plagued the first round. Many officials expect another round to be announced early next year. “The mood of doom that everything has turned out this way is very strong,” said Tatyana Stanovaya, founder of R Politik, a political consultancy. ©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Yes, Musk is a prick. He has cut off Starlink communication in Ukraine. All the while demanding the U.S. government pay an outrageous bill for the services -- which is greatly inflated over the actual commercial value of the services on a monthly fee basis. Ukraine dealt blow as 1,300 Musk's SpaceX satellites sent offline over £87.4m unpaid bill In October, Elon Musk vowed to keep funding the Ukrainian government "for free" https://www.express.co.uk/news/scie...ex-satellites-offline-unpaid-bills-russia-war
Car crash they said. Was he wearing a seat belt or was it too hard to tell after the missile hit? This guy was Ukrainian traitor. There have a couple others that fit this same description killed lately but this is a new kill I believe. Russian-installed official in Ukraine's Kherson region dies in car crash - agencies https://www.reuters.com/world/europ...on-region-dies-car-crash-agencies-2022-11-09/
Well - the Russians are starting to remove the local collaborators and put their own officials in place. These new Russian officials are now targets for both the Ukranians and the enraged collaborators. Of course, the Russians view collaborators as nothing more than disposable assets. Russians remove local collaborators in Mariupol from power https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2022/11/8/7375507/ Konstantin Ivashchenko, the self-proclaimed head of the occupation administration in Mariupol, has been effectively removed from power in the city, say Special Operations Forces. Source: the National Resistance Center Details: Special Operations Forces say that the occupiers have given all power to Dmitry Berdnikov, a Russian citizen who has been officially appointed Ivashchenko's deputy. Before Mariupol, Berdnikov held the positions of deputy head of the government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and mayor of Irkutsk. Quote: "So here we have the typical occupation scenario, where traitors perform only ceremonial functions and are needed by the Russians as political extras for ‘referendums’ and as an imitation of the love of local people and people’s power. When the need for such imitation disappears, the traitors are removed from power and are sometimes subsequently liquidated."
As an NYT subscriber, and in the interest of world peace, I have taken the liberty of posting verbatim this guest opinion published today in the NYT. It is as though I wrote it myself. From today's New York Times: Opinion Guest Essay This Is What Victory for Ukraine Looks Like Nov. 9, 2022 Credit...Ivor Prickett for The New York Times By Orysia Lutsevych Ms. Lutsevych is a Research Fellow and Head of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House. Even amid heavy shelling of their cities, the Ukrainian people are defiant. The savage destruction of the country’s electricity grid and indiscriminate violence against civilians have seemed to consolidate Western determination to support Ukraine “as long as it takes.” But many in Europe and in the United States, including a group of Democratic lawmakers who walked back their call for stepping up U.S. negotiations with the Kremlin, have begun to wonder how Russia’s war on Ukraine ends. Such conflicting signals are unfortunate because Ukraine has a very clear understanding of what victory will entail. The battle for Ukraine has now lasted for eight years and eight months, starting with the annexation of Crimea and the establishment of Kremlin puppet regimes in Donbas and exploding, on Feb. 24, 2022, into a full-scale invasion. Russia’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine is part of the Kremlin’s plan to subjugate one of the largest European states and project power over Europe by brutal force. Ukraine’s fight to reclaim sovereignty seeks to deny Russia what it sees as its right to impose its neo-imperial aspirations on its neighbor. Ukraine’s victory will require defeating the Russian Army on Ukrainian territory, including in Crimea. Ukraine’s recent advances prove that this is not a distant dream anymore. Russia struggles to control the 800-mile front line that stretches from the Black Sea coast to the northeastern mining cities of Luhansk Oblast. In September, better-trained, well-equipped and highly motivated Ukrainian troops regained the strategic initiative. Kyiv has reclaimed more territory in its counteroffensive than Russia has gained in recent months. Restoring Ukraine to the internationally recognized borders of 1991 is an objective of the Ukrainian Army. It has the full backing of the citizens, only 8 percent of whom are ready to give up territory in exchange for peace. Fighting is fierce, especially in the Donetsk region, but even Russia’s most capable fighting units are failing to advance even as they continue to outnumber Ukrainian soldiers. To prevail, Kyiv has fought smart, causing the front line to crumble by attacking deep behind enemy lines. U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket launchers have enabled this strategy. Sophisticated deception operations, such as in Kharkiv Oblast around Izium, have put Russians on the run and provided more supplies for the advancing Ukrainian troops. If the current dynamic continues, Ukraine looks certain to enter Kherson. Damage to the Crimean bridge has already complicated supply to Russian positions in the south. Crimea is used as the main route for Russian reinforcement in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The disruption will slow down the arrival of newly mobilized soldiers to the front lines. If Crimea can still be supplied by sea, Russian positions on the Ukrainian coast, especially in Melitopol, are in danger. The tipping point may come within the next six months, when Ukraine’s upgraded stocks of artillery, air defense systems and armored vehicles allow for a new push. The head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, suggests Ukraine will keep advancing throughout the winter, with the goal of reaching Crimea in the spring of 2023. Whether militarily or as a result of a negotiated settlement, it is only a matter of time before control of Crimea is re-established. The annexation of the peninsula was the starting point of the war; Ukrainians consider the resolution of its status in line with international law as the mark of the conflict’s end. Ukrainian victory without reclamation of Crimea is no Ukrainian victory. This brings us to Vladimir Putin. For the war to end, a power transfer must happen in the Kremlin. Because Mr. Putin has made the subjugation of Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea his personal missions, a defeat of Russian armed forces and a threat to the hold on Crimea will undermine both elite and popular support for his regime. Losing a war is lethal to any dictator. A change of head of state will be driven by Russian elites, rather than popular protest. The time will come when the ruling class changes its calculus about where to invest its shrinking resources. Dissatisfaction with mobilization, poor army supply, heavy troop losses, especially among non-Russian ethnic minorities — all will undermine cohesion. Last month, a mass shooting incident between two Tajik conscripts and Russian soldiers was believed to have been sparked by a religious dispute. Groups like the Free Buryatia Foundation advocate an end to war and racism in Russia. But there are also more militant segments that could aim to commandeer resources and power as the Kremlin is bogged down in Ukraine. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the man behind the notorious Wagner Group, a private military company playing a crucial role for Russia in the war, has come into the spotlight as a proponent of all-out war with Ukraine. He directs his anguish at Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu for battlefield failures. Internal dissension within Mr. Putin’s circle suggests some of these effects are already happening. To spare their country from the risks of centrifugal forces, ruinous war and internal disarray, the elites may find it expedient to try to save Russia instead of slaughtering Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky firmly stated after the most recent wave of annexations that he will negotiate only with a new leader of Russia. This decision was approved by the Ukrainian National Security Council and is supported by an absolute majority of Ukrainians. With the powerful state propaganda machine, Russian citizens could be presented with a new reality encouraging them to back a policy to end war and return to normality. The new leader of Russia will have to deal with another key element of Ukrainian victory: accountability. Mr. Putin and his successor must answer for apparent war crimes and crimes against humanity, and their funds must be directed to compensating for the destruction of Ukraine’s industries, energy facilities and other infrastructure, which has been estimated at about $130 billion. If Russia refuses to pay for this horrific destruction voluntarily, its frozen state assets should be seized and redirected for rebuilding Ukraine. This kind of victory by Ukraine and its international partners can bring a lasting chance of peace in Europe. A Ukrainian victory will also bring the continent into equilibrium by defeating Russia’s revisionist plans, which reach beyond Ukraine, for instance in Bosnia. Russia clearly stated in its December 2021 ultimatum that it rejects the right of its neighboring countries to choose the security alliances they desire. The victory of a global democratic coalition would be a definitive “no” to Mr. Putin’s colonial agenda to rule neighbors under threats of nuclear blackmail should they decide tobreak free from Russian control. The defiance of Russian aggression by the Ukrainian people and their leaders paves the way to a future in which the free world might prevail over Mr. Putin’s autocratic regime — it will not happen tomorrow, but Ukrainians believe it is within sight. Defeating Russia in Ukraine may sound daunting, but the alternative will cost us more. If Mr. Putin is allowed to prevail and sell this war as a victory to his people, it will reinforce Russia’s aggressive posture, embolden the use of force by other autocrats, strengthen current shock waves across global food and energy markets, and set in motion rapid militarization. Ukraine will continue to sacrifice a great deal to avoid this outcome. That is why the West must help Ukraine win.
Russian media is reporting that the Russians are officially withdrawing from Kherson. Most likely Iron Beaver there on Russian TV is breathing into a paper bag. Having said that the Ukrainians properly suspect that something snaky is going on. Possibly the Russians are trying to sucker all the Ukrainians into the city and then shell/missile strike it until it looks like Mariupol. Russians need to watch their arse though. Ukrainians may cross the river over to the east bank and engage the Russians rather than entering the city. The Russians still want to remain encamped and dug in over there to keep the Ukrainians from blocking their access to and from Crimea. It's never going to be as easy as "Russia withdrew from Kherson without a major fight." They are up to something more complex than that. Of course it is also true that they are in no condition to fight too. Their food and ammo has been greatly reduced. Russia will withdraw forces from Kherson in Ukraine war setback Much of the Kherson region has been in Russian control since the early weeks of its invasion. Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images CNN — Russia has ordered a retreat from the key city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, a dramatic strategic setback for Moscow in the face of Ukrainian advances in the region. Russian troops across the Kherson region will withdraw from the west bank of the Dnipro River, Russian state media reported Wednesday. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu made the order, according to state media, which came as Ukrainian forces make advances towards the city from two directions. https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/09/europe/ukraine-russia-kherson-withdrawal-intl/index.html