Replies

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Globalism / Great Reset -

BlackRock, Inc., is the world’s largest asset manager with $10 trillion under management. It is also deeply tied to the WEF and will be a key player when the GGR finally pulls the trigger. As such, it is the leader in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing which seeks to force publicly-traded companies to take left-wing policy positions. However, in a short term pivot BlackRock is ditching green activism over Russia energy fears. The company said it was concerned about proposals to stop financing fossil fuel companies, including forcing them to decommission assets and setting absolute targets for reducing emissions in their supply chains.

OBSERVATION - 10 trillion in assets is huge leverage and it wields it like a club. However, this is just a temporary strategic switch, they will be back pushing companies towards the GGR’s “green” agenda after the fuel related waves from the Ukraine war pass.

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Wuhan virus -
Growing evidence that “clinical trials” Pfizer conducted on its messenger RNA (mRNA) Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) “vaccine” appear to have been completely fraudulent, which means the company could one day be held liable for all associated injuries and deaths.

OBSERVATION - Current powers that be in Washington will try to provide as much cover for Pfizer as possible because it will also draw them into the mix when court cases start hitting. Deep pharma pockets will want to deflect this for as long as possible.
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CW2/Domestic violence -

Proabort protests continue across the country. Antifa, et al, are still showing up but little violence / damage has occurred. Even MSM news coverage of the protests is declining. It is appearing that, barring any significant change or new situation, that the potential for massive violence is dropping off and Antifa will need to find another horse to ride.

Pro-life groups / facilities are still a strong target for vandalism.

That horse is increasingly going to be setting up against Trump and republican political rallies in / near Antifa stronghold cities. You can expect them to assault attendees after the rally as they head back to their cars as been the MO of past years.

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POLITICAL FRONT -

Had to finally crack this open and brought out a wonderful deplorable moment. Biden’s attempt to appropriate the “MAGA” brand as a political attack was hardly accidental. It arose from a six-month research project to find the best way to target Republicans, helmed by Biden adviser Anita Dunn and by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a liberal group.

Imagine - 6 months.
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North/South Korea -

NUKE WATCH on going. Many analysts suspect a test by the end of the month.

North Korea has apparently restarted construction of a once-dormant nuclear reactor at Yongbyon that, if completed, would “dramatically increase” its capacity to manufacture plutonium for nuclear weapons, according to a sourced report combined with recent satellite images obtained by CNN.

The second reactor at Yongbyon is approximately 10 times as large as the original reactor, which had been operating since the late 1980s. Once operational, the second Yongbyon reactor could potentially enable North Korea to increase its plutonium production for nuclear weapons “by a factor of 10,” according to Jeffrey Lewis, a weapons expert and professor at the Middlebury Institute.

This is not a cheap operation, and with NK’s current economic and wuhan problems, final completion of this restarted project could be way far down the road.
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Russia -

WAR WATCH - The Battle for Donbas is on - and its war with Ukraine is now in the third month.

CURRENT ASSESSMENT - Russia has hard pivoted to a readjustment of combat forces to sieze the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. However, it is appearing that the offensive is losing traction and falling into many of the same errors that plagued the attempt to seize Kyiv.

Withdrawing Russian forces have left abundant evidence of mass murder of civilians, rape of women and children and wide spread looting.

ALSO - there is a lot of propaganda out there. I’m doing my best to filter that out or put into context. When In doubt I’ve been trying to identify questionable information.

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According to the Ukraine Ministry of Agricultural policy, Russia has stolen at least half of million tonnes of grain.

Logistics -
- Videos of separatist conscripts show them armed with WW2 vintage rifles and steel helmets along with hodgepodge of load bearing equipment configurations.

Russian Personnel Issues -
- In Chechnya, intensive recruitment and training of new fighters is taking place with 600 new fighters were sent to Ukraine.

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Ukraine -

WEATHER FORECAST - Rain/showers returning to forecast towards the end of the 10 day forecast after several days of drying.

24 HOUR ROUND UP -

Yesterday Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , John Barrasso (R-WY), Susan Collins (R-ME) and John Cornyn (R-TX) met with the Ukrainian president in a surprise visit.

Ukrainian forces are reported to have launched a counteroffensive near the Russian-held town of Izium in eastern Ukraine, according to a regional governor on Saturday. More under Outlook below.

Offensive operations by Ukrainan forces continue to press Russia back to it borders east and northeast of Kharkiv.

Russian forces appear to be setting up for a major battle to try to capture the town of Severodonetsk while continuing with missile strikes across Ukraine.

Kyiv front -
Nothing significant to report.

Northern (Chernihv region ) and North Eastern (Konotop - Sumy salient) Fronts -
2 missile strikes in Sumy region overnight - in Shpylivka village near Sumy and in Shostka district

Eastern (Kharkiv) front -
Russian forces continued their withdrawal from Kharkiv Oblast but will likely seek to hold a line east of Vovchansk in order to protect logistical routes to combat zones further south. Though favorable terrain for a Russian defense, the supply lines are vulnerable now to Ukrainan artillery - especially from newer western supplied systems.

Russian forces are attempting to advance on the town of Zolote, roughly 30 km south of Severodonetsk. In doing so they are attempting to cut the last highway linking Severodonetsk with the rest of Ukraine via Bakhmut. They could try to strike northwest across the country from their current positions to cut that highway closer to Lysychansk and Severodonetsk. The Russians are extremely unlikely to be able to take Bakhmut but they may be able to cut or render unusable the highway from Bakhmut to Severodonetsk if they can advance far enough along either of these possible routes.
NOTE - The push from the south probably is due to the disastrous river crossings of the Siverskyi Donets River on May 11. The loss of as many as 2 BTGs in those crossings may have severely disrupted Russian efforts to isolate Severodonetsk and Lysychansk from the north. Russian troops made no attempts to advance in that area in the last 24 hours.

Intense fighting has been reported around Lyman, located southeast of Izyum.

New reports that Ukraine is moving its offensive push further south of Kharkiv focusing on the western side of the Izyum salient. Russian forces have stalled in this salient for weeks and have suffered high casualties and loss of equipment. Izyum was initially a key thrust to the south to envelope the greater Donbas region, but had no supporting attacks and quickly became road bound and subject to Ukrainan interdiction. I’ve noted on may posts here the vulnerability the Russians are facing and now it appears Ukraine is in the process of exploiting.

If you’ve been able to follow along, Russian objectives in the east have become smaller and smaller, and the current encirclement objective is not a certainty. Below is a link to a map that shows what I’ve been talking about here. Each attempted pincer movement has found itself stalled and heavily attritted. Three of these attempts involved Izyum, and not that area is being challenged by Ukraine offensive attacks.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FSuXAnTWAAQ7noR?format=jpg&name=medium

More analysis of Russia’s biggest battle loss of the war - attempted large-scale crossing of the Siverskyi Donets River from Kreminna. The Russian command reportedly sent 550 servicemen of the 74th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 41st Combined Arms Army to cross the Siverskyi Donets River in order to encircle Ukrainian forces near Rubizhne from the northwest. Ukrainian artillery destroyed the Russian pontoon bridges and tightly-concentrated Russian troops and equipment around them on May 11, which reportedly resulted in 485 casualties and damages to over 80 pieces of equipment. (ISW)

Eastern (Donbas Separatist Region) Front -
Reports that Russian is using incendiary ammunition against Azovstal as bombing and artillery strikes continue.

No significant attacks elsewhere.

Crimea Front -
Nothing significant to report. Situation relative stable with but continued artillery fire by both sides throughout the region.

Russian continues to try to strengthen air defense systems at Snake Island following Ukrainian drone and air strikes. Ukrainian reports that recent attacks wounded or killed 32 servicemen on Snake Island and that air/drone strikes limited ships from timely evacuations.

Western Ukraine -
4 missile strikes at a military installation in Yavoriv district of L’viv region, 2 more missiles were shot down.

Russian Territory -
Governor of Belgorod region reports one civilian wounded as result of shelling in Sereda village near border

OUTLOOK -
BLUF - Ukraine shifting offensive operations southward toward Izyum, Russia continues to struggle in eastern Ukraine with limited successes, but at high cost of men and material.

With the Khariv offensive winding down, Ukraine how has more forces freed to tackle the Izyum salient. Russia has found itself stuck there for the past several weeks unable to manage any kind of significant offensive move. As a result, it appears that offensive efforts have been shifted farther to the south east. (See Fig Link above). If nothing else, the Ukraine offensive will server to freeze additional Russian forces in place and reduced those available to push on offensively. The sector of eastern Ukraine starting at Izyum and to the south - southeast has been the most active in the country and has received the most resources to carry out the war. I expect that Russia will work VERY hard to gain an encirclement of Severodonetsk before the impacts of the pending Izyum offensive can be felt. I also expect this battle to be another slugfest - Russians haven’t done well in urban combat situations. It has taken them weeks to push through small villages just to get to where they are.

Russian / Ukrainan actions elsewhere appear to be consolidating positions. Ukrainan offensives in eastern Crimea front have secured that area from another attempt by Russian ground forces to push towards Odesa, and locked up units that are needed in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine strikes on Russian amphibious vessels and the “Moskva” have essentially neutered any forced amphibious operation to the west of Odesa. Plus the arrival of more anti-ship weapons would make any Russian assault there a death trap.
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Moldova/Transnistria -
The Ukrainian General Staff noted that Transnistrian forces returned to normal operations while Russian forces remained on high alert, which could indicate disagreements between the self-declared Transnistrian government and Russia.
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Europe / NATO General -

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said Turkey did not have a “positive opinion” on Finland and Sweden joining NATO, throwing up a potential obstacle for the nations’ membership bid. The leader of NATO-member Turkey spoke ahead of expected confirmations from the Nordic nations on Sunday that they will apply to join the Western military alliance. Erdogan accused both countries of harboring “terrorist organizations” in his unfavorable assessment of the membership bids. These “organizations” are Kurdish groups.

OBSERVATION - Turkey ruffling the feathers of NATO acceptance of Finland and Sweden into the group. Most likely seeking concessions since they were made outcasts by doing the S400 deal with Russia last year. Their ‘objections’ do not appear to be the hardened roadblocks to NATO membership though.

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Israel -

Terror attacks by groups/individuals coming out of primary the west bank town of Jenin are keeping Israeli forces on alert.
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Lebanon -

Lebanon headed to the polls today for its first election since multiple crises dragged it to the brink of failed statehood, with the ruling elite expected to comfortably weather public anger.
The parliamentary election is a first test for opposition movements spawned by an unprecedented anti-establishment uprising in 2019 that briefly raised hopes of regime change in Lebanon.
The outgoing chamber was dominated by the Iran-backed Shiite group Hezbollah and its two main allies: the Shiite Amal party of Speaker Nabih Berri and the Christian Free Patriotic Movement of President Michel Aoun. “It seems almost impossible to imagine Lebanon voting for more of the same — and yet that appears to be the likeliest outcome,” said Sam Heller, an analyst with the Century Foundation.

OBSERVATION - The ruling elite capitalized on the fragmented nature of the Lebanese society that prevented opposition groups from getting any kind of national support.
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Turkey -

See Europe / NATO General above.

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Central / South America General-

With annual inflation up 58% in April, there is pressure on Argentina’s government to introduce effective countermeasures. Tens of thousands of people have protested on the streets. On Thursday, up to 100,000 people participated in a march for employment and fair wages and against hunger and poverty on the Plaza de Mayo in the center of Buenos Aires organized by the workers movement Unidad Piquetera (Picketers Union), as part of widespread protests across Argentina.

OBSERVATION - Riots and protests over inflation and FOOD related issues increasing globally. I see this as a harbinger of things to come, really hitting this fall if the trends I see pan out. Central and South America are starting to reach a critical level.
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Black Swans -

I know I’ve harped about it a lot, but crops are endangered globally with resulting potential for food shortages beyond what we currently see and forecast. A severe natural disaster can easily throw off food production even further. These disasters can be anything from severe earthquakes, to hurricanes (and associated flooding and destruction) to intensifying drought conditions, and more.

One black swan I’ve been watching has been solar activity. Already over the past couple months an aggressive start to the new solar cycle has triggered nearly a dozen X-class solar flares. Sunspot activity has been way above the projected numbers expected from last year’s solar minimum. Our modern grid faces great unknowns of a large X-class flare - magnitude 15 or higher IMHO, directly hits the planet. All of the major CME hits have been now nearly 100 years ago with the exception of the one that took out the Quebec power grid in 1989. That event saw two the explosions (an X4.5 on March 10th and an M7.3 on March 12th) that targeted Earth with CMEs. It took the grid off line for 9 hours.

I can only say - stock up now because as we move deeper into 2022 into 2023 to do so will only become harder and harder.

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Wuhan virus -
See North Korean outbreak below

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Economy -
The retail sector will be in focus this week with retail sales reports scheduled for release Tuesday.

More than 1 million barrels a day of the country’s oil refining capacity — or about 5% overall — has shut since the beginning of the pandemic. Companies have increasingly been relying of overseas refineries to make up the difference as environmental and maintenance costs of older facilities have risen. This has resulted in the inability to keep up with some of the post wuhan demand.

David Beasley, head of the United Nations World Food Program, warns that “Millions of people around the world will die because these ports (Ukrainan) are being blocked…This is a direct consequence of Russian aggression, which can be overcome only together by all Europeans, by the whole free world.”

OBSERVATION - Loss of sunflower oil and grain exports is causing countries to reevaluate restricting exports in anticipation of continued inflation and food security.

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Biden / Harris watch -

Harris at a loss for words, at a recent speech she got all messed up. - “We will work together, and continue to work together, to address these issues, to tackle these challenges, and to work together as we continue to work operating from the new norms, rules, and agreements, that we will convene to work together...We will work together”

President Joe Biden’s job approval rating has hit an all-time low, according to the latest NBC News poll. Just 39% of Americans approve of the Biden’s job as president, compared with 40% in March.
OBSERVATION - NBC’s numbers are likely skewed in favor of biden, but even that special sauce isn’t enough to counter the negative approval ratings.

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CW2/Domestic violence -
After a string shootings where the perp was a non-white, the let finally got its ‘white’ terrorist this weekend. By all accounts he wasn’t a conservative - openly wrote/spoke against the right, but was a certifiable nut job. He is a Christchurch shooting copycat, identifying the mass murderer as an inspiration and plagiarizing large sections of his hero’s manifesto.
President Joe Biden urged unity Sunday to address the “hate that remains a stain on the soul of America” after a deadly mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York

OBSERVATION - The nut job level of this individual hasn’t stopped the left to start crying for gun control. How much traction the killings get is questionable.

Proabort protests with Antifa ‘support’ remained pretty much calm over the weekend. More vandalism reported to pro-life offices and buildings but few attacks on pro-lifers. Continued threats being made by leftists, but little to no traction being gained both on the ground and politically.

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POLITICAL FRONT -

Biden Administration informed Congress on Friday that it is about to move five foreign terror groups off the so-called blacklist. The organizations include the Basque separatist group ETA, the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo, the radical Jewish group Kahane Kach, and two Islamic groups that have been active in Israel, the Palestinian territories, and Egypt. biden administration is claiming that these groups are all believed to be defunct and dead.

White House communications director Kate Bedingfield even refuses to refer to the infant formula shortage as a crisis. Many see the administration’s handling of this dumpster fire one more step towards the demolition of the democrats at the midterms.
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Domestic Terror -
This weekend shootings do not appear to be terror related

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Strategic Activity / Deployments
Looks like the USS Reagan is put out to sea for operations off the Japanese coast.

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China -

China’s economic woes continue, with its economy contracting sharply in April, as Covid outbreaks and lockdowns dragging the industrial and consumer sectors down to the weakest levels since early 2020.
OBSERVATION - This has placed Xi in a kill box of his own makeing with the combination of domestic economy and foreign policy issues hanging over his presidency.

In his recent visit to the Ladakh sector, Indian Army chief Gen Manoj Pande reviewed the security situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in view of the Chinese threat for which the Indian Army has shifted six Divisions which were earlier deployed in counter-terrorism roles and after taking care of Pakistan front.
The Indian Army has been doing rebalancing and realignment of its forces which were earlier more prepared for the Pakistan threat than the challenges faced from the Northern borders. Two divisions (around 35,000 troops) have been feeding up from counter-terrorism roles for looking after the China border deployment. These two divisions will join up with the 3 Division already based there.

OBSERVATION - China continues to build up to control disputed territory with India, and India responds. There will be no resolution on this dispute any time soon as China has also invested a lot of money in infrastructure to support any future conflict.
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North/South Korea -

NUKE WATCH on going.

North Korea State media KCNA said a total of 42 people had died, with 820,620 cases and at least 324,550 under medical treatment only 3 days after the first Covid case was officially acknowledged.
Kim Jong Un criticized his country’s response to a severe COVID outbreak at a politburo meeting Sunday, saying a policy to keep pharmacies open failed and that police failed to properly monitor and manage the situation. Pyongyang as state media says the country is suffering medicine shortages. In response, Kim has ordered the mobilization of soldiers to stabilize medicine supply (ie, control and monitor the distribution)

BTW, North Korea test-fired three short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, the same day the country announced its COVID-19 outbreak.

OBSERVATION - wuhan is exploding out of NK control and the question is how soon will it impact strategic weapons development and testing. If Kim’s handling of the nation wide famine is any measure, he will maintain the course, counting on the sheeple to comply - as long as he is backed by the military.

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Russia -

WAR WATCH - The Battle for Donbas is on - Ukraine still stands now in the third month of the war

Withdrawing Russian forces have left abundant evidence of mass murder of civilians, rape of women and children and wide spread looting.

ALSO - there is a lot of propaganda out there. I’m doing my best to filter that out or put into context. When In doubt I’ve been trying to identify questionable information.

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Russian milbloggers have begun commenting on the incompetence of the Russian military. This may fuel burgeoning doubts in Russia about Russia’s prospects in this war and the competence of Russia’s military leaders especially given the tight control of the narrative of Russian news media.

RUMINT -
Russian media sources are claiming that a U.S. Military Commander surrendered to Russian forces from the Azovstal Steel Mill in Mariupol, Ukraine. A photo purported to be U.S. Navy Admiral Eric Olson, has been released allegedly showing the Admiral under arrest by Russian troops.
OBSERVATION - VERY MUCH RUMINT and unconfirmed at this time.

MORE - Russian commanders are slaughtering their own wounded soldiers instead of retrieving them from the battlefield for treatment, Putin’s own troops have said. A lieutenant-colonel was accused of personally shooting dead multiple troops as they lay injured. Captured troops recalled one commander asking a soldier if he could walk after suffering an injury, and when the man replied he could not, the officer killed him instantly.
OBSERVATION - Similar reports are floating around early in the conflict as to the presence of ‘enforcers’ (often chechens) who shot the unwilling.

Russian Personnel Issues -
- Meeting of CSTO leaders started in Moscow, putin likely to be twisting arms for these countries to supply men and material for the Ukraine war effort
- In Russia, army enlistment offices have been targeted in arson attacks. Four military draft stations have been set on fire across Russia within just three days.
- British military intelligence sources say Russia may have lost a third of the invasion force it sent into Ukraine as its offensive continues to struggle in the face of stiff resistance. There is no clarification if this is just in deaths alone or includes wounded. Some of the latest estimates of Russian deaths put the number at 25K dead and applying a 1:3 ration, this would project to around 75K wounded. Russian started the operation with about 220K including separatists, and mercenaries.
- Unconfirmed reports that Russian forces have likely run out of combat-ready reservists, forcing the Russian military command to amalgamate soldiers from many different elements, including private military companies and proxy militias, into ostensibly regular army units and naval infantry.
- British intelligence reports that Russia is conducting a covert mobilization and creating new units with newly mobilized personnel who likely have insufficient training to be effective and little motivation to fight.

Economic Impact
- McDonald’s is leaving — not pausing — its Russian operations. It plans to sell its Russian business to a local buyer. It will “de-arch” those restaurants, meaning they will no longer use the McDonald’s name, logo or branding.
- Russian assets of France’s Renault now state property
- Russia’s Gazprom booked no gas for June through the Velke Kapusan at the Slovakia-Ukraine border. Gas flows from Poland’s Yamal pipeline also show no bookings for June. Gazprom said no gas would flow if European countries fail to make payments in rubles.

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Ukraine -

WEATHER FORECAST - Rain/showers predominant in the 10 day forecast, indicating that off road conditions will get progressively worse.

24 HOUR ROUND UP -
Ukrainian airfare assets made a dramatic return to the skys overnight string targets in the Izyum and Kherson areas. Air strikes in the Izyum area are likely associated with the initiation of a Ukrainian counter offensive to roll up that flank of the Russian attack in eastern Ukraine. Fierce artillery and fighting around Severodonetsk.

Kyiv front -
Nothing significant to report.

Northern (Chernihv region ) and North Eastern (Konotop - Sumy salient) Fronts -

Russian army shelled Chernihiv region overnight with mortars near Mykolaivka and Hremyach.
Russian troops attempted to cross the border in Shostka district of Sumy region this morning, withdraw after clash with border guards.
OBSERVATION - Trying to draw Ukrainan forces away from the Donbas region.

Eastern (Kharkiv) front -
Once again, a fluid tactical situation .

Ukrainian forces continued to push Russian units away from Kharkiv on the east and northeast quadrants around the city.

Significant Russian artillery fire, probably in preparation for another attempt on the ground to move forward hit Avdiivka, Toretsk, Lyman, Soledar, Zalizne, Bakhmut, New York, Dibrova, and Bakhmutske using air bombs, air-to-surface missiles, Grad and Tornado multiple rocket launchers.

There is evidence that newly mobilized units from occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts are being put into the Kharkiv region and not being used to support northward attacks from separatist controlled regions.

Ukraine airstrikes hit targets in Russian-controlled settlements near Izyum. This is a bold move given how they have been shepherded away from high ADA areas. In Luhansk Oblast, the railway bridges between Rubizhne and Sieverodonetsk, seized by Russians, were blown up to deter the Russian offensive on Lysychansk and Sieverodonetsk

Ukrainian forces destroyed the dam at the Mironovskyi reservoir, 5 km north of Svitlodarsk, on May 14 causing flooding that will likely slow down Russian advances to Severodonetsk offensive operation to the north.

Eastern (Donbas Separatist Region) Front -
Reports that Russian is using incendiary ammunition against Azovstal as bombing and artillery strikes continue.

Russian forces continued their efforts to reach Zaporizhia City and Slovyansk from Donetsk Oblast. The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russian forces conducted an unsuccessful assault southwest of Donetsk City, likely to secure the N15 highway to Zaporizhia City

Crimea Front -
Ukrainian aviation and artillery conducted 100 strikes against Russian positions in Kherson region, including at Chornobaivka airfield. Ukrainian combat aviation destroyed a crossing over Ingulets river.

Russian forces appear to be fortifying their positions between Kherson and Mykoliev and other positions towards the east. This indicates that they are not planning of striking to the west any time soon, but want to make sure Ukrainan counter attacks cannot reach supply lines coming from Crimea.

Russian strategic aviation launched missile strikes against Odesa region, including tourism infrastructure and the damaged bridge over Dnistrovsky Estuary.

Western Ukraine -
Lviv region was struck by several missiles.

Russian Territory -
What appeared to be surface to surface missile launches were observed from the Belgorod area overnight.

OUTLOOK -
BLUF - Ukraine shifting offensive operations southward toward Izyum, Russia continues to struggle in eastern Ukraine with limited successes, but at high cost of men and material. The Russians appear to be trying to beat the clock before the Ukrainan Izyum offensive cuts supply lines.

Amazing, how after 80 days of total war Russia still has no aerial superiority. Russia doesn’t fly sorties over western Ukraine, but fires cruse missiles from over Russian territory. Ground assault aircraft operate over mostly friendly skies. Another interesting note is that the big Russian missile assault of over a week ago has piddled out, both in effectiveness and quantity. This is likely to be the result of growing shortages of missiles as well as poor BDA cycle assessments for follow on targeting. Easier to target civilian / residential areas.

Monitoring how the Izyum offensive is shaping up and where the focus of the attack will take place. If Ukrainan air strikes are any indicator, one main axis could be 65 km north of Izyum. An eastward push could cut off a couple railroads and road networks supplying Russian forces in the Izyum area. Likely this assault would have a northward component, to link up with Ukraine forces coming southward from Kharkiv. This offensive has the potential to be the big game changer, eliminating Russian hopes of a Donbas success and seriously damaging a large number of Russian units assigned to the operation.

Russia faces only bad choices in its assault on Severodonetsk. Lack of maneuver is forcing them to make frontal assaults on the well prepared Ukrainan defensive positions, with its corresponding high casualties of men and equipment.
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Belarus -

Lukashenka accused the West in “conducting a full-scale hybrid aggression against Belarus and Russia”
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Europe / NATO General -

Russia aircraft violated Finnish airspace near Lake Karelia and Finnish F-18 aircraft scrambled to intercept.
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Lebanon -

Election results are being tabulated, Hezebollah backed candidates in some areas appear to have been defeated.
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Syria -

Turkish air force have bombed more than 50 towns and villages in northeast Syria during the last 72 hours. Artillery continues almost daily. This is all targeting Kurdish forces

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Turkey -

See Syria above.
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