In the legal reality of #Russia, “Donetsk People’s Republic” is a subject of Russian Federation, just like neighbouring Rostov Oblast’ or Moscow Oblast’. Nonetheless, the “DPR” enacted a new law establishing a 5 km restricted border zone with Rostov Oblast’, and another 100 m border zone where any presence requires FSB permit. In addition to that, crossing between Rostov Oblast’ and the “DPR” is only allowed on a limited number of checkpoints.
Dangerous liaisons: New details of Latvian MEP Tatjana Ždanoka’s espionage for Russia
Tatjana Ždanoka, an MEP from Latvia, was one of the delegates sent to Kyiv. But she did not report her findings to other legislators from the European Parliament. Instead, she sent a confidential report to her FSB handler Sergey Beltyukov, stating her view that anti-Yanukovych demonstrators, already two months in, were unlikely to disband in the near future. Three days before the trip to Kyiv, Ždanoka traveled to St. Petersburg and met Beltyukov, who had waited for her at the airport.
Top Russian military officials are being arrested. Why is it happening?
AP says the arrests raise "questions about whether Putin was reasserting control over the Defense Ministry amid the war in Ukraine, whether a turf battle had broken out between the military and the security services, or whether some other scenario was playing out behind the Kremlin’s walls."
🇷🇺 #Russia: The purge of top officers is the result of infighting between the FSB and the military over the failure to capture Kyiv and competition for defense funds.
Russians advance towards Kharkiv | Terrorists stealing washing machines | Ukraine Update: Day 821
by #OperatorStarsky
05:14
Russia pushed about 5 miles in the #Kharkiv region, while looting residential areas.
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Operator Starsky is an officer of the National Guard of #Ukraine, who joined during the war in #Donbass in 2014.
He partecipated in the successful defense of the #Hostomel Airport of #Kyiv in February 2022.
As news agencies are hyping the news that “Putin wants negotiations on the current front line”, please note this not any news. Really - if you search the phrase “признать реалии на земле” (recognize the realities on the ground), you will see it goes well back into 2023 in Kremlin statements and repeated nearly every month since. This is the phrase that #Russia uses when they refer to negotiations where #Ukraine is expected to recognize Russia’s territorial conquests.
Please, do not blindly follow the media induced amnesia where any old news can be recycled into a “exclusive news” clickbait…
On @ufd today we reported rocket attacks on #Russia military bases in #Alushta in occupied #Crimea but partial reports paint a much richer picture - Dzhankoi, Sevastopol, Bakhchisarai, Yalta, Gvaridyske, Evpatoria were reportedly all hit by rockets.
Nikolai Gogol's satirical classic Dead Souls (1842/1961) is (in the first 2/3) a highly effective & biting satire on the pretensions & idiocies of the landed class in C19th Russia. However in the unfinished 2nd part, he sadly seeks to humanise & dignify his anti-hero, which under-cuts the satire & leaves the narrative as one of agriculture improvement. My recommendation: only read the completed first part, which is great.
🇷🇺 The Kremlin is pursuing a concerted effort to remove senior #Russian defense officials and has likely expanded this effort to senior officers commanding Russian combat operations in #Ukraine
Russian gasoline production fell again for the third week in a row.
During the week from May 13 to May 19, Russian refineries produced 740 thousand tons of gasoline - the minimum volume since October last year.
Compared to the previous week, production fell by another 2.5%, compared to the beginning of May - by 5%, and when compared with the levels of the end of December by 20% (then refineries produced more than 930 thousand tons of gasoline weekly)
'More than two years into Russia's war on Ukraine, the fighting continues. A group of Ukrainian military members who have faced the harsh reality of war but have talents in music, poetry and theater, created a group called Ukraine’s Cultural Forces. They perform for Ukrainian soldiers fighting on the front lines. They’re performing across the US to show their thanks for America's continued support for Ukraine. '
🇷🇺 🇺🇦 Russian jamming has kept many of #Ukraine's relatively new long-range GLSDB bombs from hitting their intended targets, three people familiar with the challenges told Reuters.
The #UnitedStates is preparing a $275M #military#aid package for #Ukraine, which will include 155mm artillery shells, precision aerial munitions & ground vehicles….
The weapons aid, which could be announced as soon as Fri, will utilize Presidential Drawdown Authority, which authorizes the president to transfer articles & services from US stocks w/o specific congressional approval during an emergency.
As a part of the $95B aid bills, #Congress authorized $60.8B worth of various forms of #aid to #Ukraine, including $8B worth of presidential drawdown authority items.
While the package mainly includes munitions, it also includes vehicles that are designed to recover disabled tanks & other heavy equipment from the battlefield, a sign that the #UnitedStates expects attacks & equipment losses to continue.