Feb 13-Feb 18 saw 162 artillery systems destroyed & 5,350 casualties
OilPrice.com reports:
“The European Union (EU) has “no interest” in extending the transit agreement for Russian natural gas supply to EU countries via Ukraine, EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said on Thursday.
The gas transit deal, with which EU members including Austria and Slovakia receive Russian gas via a route crossing Ukraine, expires at the end of 2024...
The EU has been looking to ditch Russian gas since the Russian invasion of Ukraine two years ago, and has managed to cut the share of Russia’s gas in its imports to less than 10% from more than 33% before the war in Ukraine...
Russian gas deliveries to Europe have fallen off a cliff since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but some European customers in central Europe continue to receive Russian gas via the route through Ukraine and a pipeline via Turkey.
Ukraine has already signaled it would not engage in talks with Russia about an extension of the gas transit deal.
“The position of the Ukrainian side is unambiguous: the transit contract expires at the end of the year,” the press office of Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told Bloomberg News “
Oryx Report, Moscovia:
Tanks: 2735
destroyed: 1786
damaged: 149
abandoned: 259
captured: 541
Towed Artillery: 345
destroyed: 199
damaged: 41
abandoned: 5
captured: 100
Self-Propelled Artillery: 675
destroyed: 523,
damaged: 38
abandoned: 7
captured: 107
Multiple Rocket Launchers: 349
destroyed: 263
damaged: 30
abandoned: 2
captured: 54
Alexei Navalny reported dead by the Russian Prison Service.
May he Rest In Peace.
Putin needs to die as well.
Breitbart reports (https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/02/16/nato-light-ukraine-signs-defence-deals-with-france-and-germany/ ):
“Ukraine is signing bilateral defence deals with France and Germany on Friday (16 Feb, 2024)...
...Germany signed a ten-year defence agreement with Ukraine on Friday, with President Volodymyr Zelensky visiting Berlin and inking the document with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The agreement will see Germany give Ukraine more funds, military assistance, and apply more sanctions on Russia.
Germany said in the document that they are “unwavering in its support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within borders, which have been internationally recognised since 1991”...
...Like the German and French deals, the UK commitment was for ten years”
Kyiv Post reports:
“Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR), admitted in an interview with the French edition of Liberation that he knows who is behind the poisoning of his wife Marianna.
“I think that in the near future you will see corresponding actions on Russian territory, and everyone will understand this,” Budanov said.”
His wife has recovered, and he has survived at least 10 assassination attempts).
19th Ramstein Conference. Kyiv Post reports:
“According to Ukraine’s Defense Minister, at Wednesday’s “fruitful” meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, also known as the Ramstein Format Group, allies discussed air defenses, artillery systems, and F-16 fighters as well as launched a Drone Coalition.
The 19th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), held online on Feb. 14, saw agreement on the new Drone Coalition, which already includes eight countries: Sweden, Great Britain, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Estonia, the Netherlands, and Latvia.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister, Rustem Umerov, said that this coalition under the leadership of Latvia will provide Ukraine with more drones. (separate reports indicate the coalition aims to provide a million drones this year, in addition to the million that Ukraine aims to produce)...
...Also, following the 19th Ramstein Format Meeting results, 10 countries signed a six-year agreement for IT coalition cooperation.”
I see that you and Zeepers are still trolling..LOL-bumping old threads haha.You’re probably the only person on this entire website who favors that traitorous “discharge petition” I’m still quite surprised that you haven’t been banned for all the propaganda and fake news that you post..
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/02/17/ukrainian-forces-withdraw-from-avdiivka-after-four-month-battle-with-russia/
Kremlin snuff box
https://t.me/s/kremlin_secrets
Putin can make Shoigu twice Hero of Russia
Even before the elections, Sergei Shoigu fulfilled his promise to the President and managed to ensure the complete taking of Avdiivka under control.
For this, he can become the first twice Hero of the Russian Federation in the country. In any case, such rumors appeared after the Ukrainian Armed Forces left the city.
“Vladimir Vladimirovich is glad that the military achieved such an important success in Avdiivka and did it before the elections. He is in a very good mood and is ready to take an unprecedented step. Until Shoigu is awarded the Hero of Russia star for the second time,” a Kremlin source close to the president told us.
Interlocutors around Shoigu are still speaking with caution about such a prospect. They hint that they “don’t want to jinx it.” At the same time, the General Staff does not hide its irritation at this information.
“We had to kill a lot of guys to take Avdiivka on time. Where is Shoigu’s credit here?”, asks a general from Valery Gerasimov’s entourage.
It is worth recalling that Shoigu first became a Hero of Russia in 1999 by decree of Boris Yeltsin. Then the current minister was noted for his participation in peacekeeping operations. In particular, in hot spots in the post-Soviet space.
It is also worth emphasizing that in the history of modern Russia there have not been two Heroes of the Russian Federation. Shoigu may be the first.
OilPrice.com reports:
“Russia’s oil refinery rates have slumped this month by 380,000 barrels per day (bpd) compared to December levels as several refineries are under repairs after being hit by Ukrainian drone attacks...
...Russia’s daily crude oil processing dropped by 4% in the first half of February compared to the first half of January, and by 8.6% versus the first half of February 2023, data from Reuters’ sources and calculations showed last week...
...Ukraine’s security services have been hitting with drones Russian refineries, especially those in southern Russia, in attacks that have intensified since the beginning of the year...
The Ukrainian attacks and the damages they caused to Russian refineries have reduced Russia’s capability to process crude, which has the potential to raise crude volumes shipped out of Russia but has decreased diesel and other product exports.
The lower supply of middle distillates, which include diesel, from Russia has been tightening the global product market in recent weeks, on top of trade flow shifts as tankers avoid the Red Sea/Suez Canal route due to the Houthi attacks on commercial vessels.”
Kremlin snuff box
https://t.me/s/kremlin_secrets
Gerasimov secretly called the NATO commander. Apologized and talked about nuclear war
A secret telephone conversation between Valery Gerasimov and the Commander of NATO Allied Forces in Europe, Christopher Cavoli, took place on the initiative of the Chief of our General Staff.
The reason for the call was this post by Dmitry Medvedev, in which he threatened strikes against Berlin, London and Washington, directly hinting at a nuclear war.
According to our sources in the General Staff, Gerasimov “behaved like a responsible person and decided to call Cavoli in order to prevent unnecessary aggravation of relations with the West and possible attacks on strategic targets on Russian territory.”
“Valery Vasilyevich contacted Cavoli himself. He apologized for the thoughtless statements of some of our politicians and said that no one here wants a nuclear war, therefore it should not be allowed.
“He asserted that, despite the unconstructive behavior of the West regarding the supply of weapons to Ukraine, Russia does not seek direct confrontation with NATO. And she hopes that she will never have to shoot at Berlin,” a general close to the head of the General Staff told us.
Cavoli, he said, was surprised by the call. But he agreed with Gerasimov that under no circumstances should nuclear war or attacks on Moscow or Western capitals be allowed.
The parties agreed to maintain constant contacts.
At the same time, when asked whether this conversation removed the threat of our military clash with NATO, including a sudden one, all sources found it difficult to answer.
Swede in!
(AP) — “A vote in Hungary’s parliament on ratifying Sweden’s bid to join NATO could come as early as Monday(26 Feb), according to a senior member of the country’s governing Fidesz party...
In a letter on Tuesday (20 Feb) to the speaker of the parliament, the head of the Fidesz caucus, Máté Kocsis, requested that a vote be scheduled for the opening day of the spring session, which begins on Monday.
Kocsis wrote that Fidesz, which has repeatedly blocked a vote on the matter, will opt to support Sweden’s bid to join the trans-Atlantic military alliance...
...(Orban’s) government has insisted that Sweden’s Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, make a visit to Budapest to assuage concerns that Swedish politicians had spoken disrespectfully about the health of Hungary’s democracy.
But in a state of the nation speech in Budapest on Saturday, Orbán indicated that Hungary’s legislature might soon relent.
“It’s good news that our dispute with Sweden is nearing a conclusion,” he said. “We are moving towards ratifying Sweden’s accession to NATO at the beginning of the spring session of Parliament.”
Orbán’s press chief announced that Kristersson will visit Budapest on Friday (23 Feb) for discussions on defense and security cooperation, adding that the results of the meeting will be announced in a news conference.
Kyiv Independent reports:
“The Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will hold a special meeting on Feb. 23 to highlight the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine the following day, Ukrinform reported on Feb. 20...
...The UN General Assembly is also scheduled to ‘discuss the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine’ this Friday. The Security Council will hold an open debate on Ukraine the same day... The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to make a speech.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.”
Kyiv Post Reports:
“Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State under former President Donald Trump, said Monday (19 Feb) that Ukraine can be optimistic about US assistance, despite the $60 billion in US military aid for Ukraine currently being stalled in Congress...
...Pompeo said that were former President Donald Trump reelected this year, it would not necessarily mean the diminishment of US support for Ukraine.
“Don’t let the media deceive you. Let the reality set in. Let the reality of the Trump administration and its policy towards Ukraine suggest to you what the second Trump administration looks like,” Pompeo said.
“Which administration was the first administration to provide defensive weapons systems to this country? It was not the Obama administration. Indeed, it was the Obama administration that was unable to deter Vladimir Putin from taking a fifth of your country. It was the Trump administration that for four years deterred Vladimir Putin,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo said that in the conversation about Russia’s war against Ukraine, politicians rarely talk about victory.
“We collectively must win. We have to win. We have to win in a way that decisively proves that our model, the model of the West, the model of the people of Ukraine, the model of the people of Europe, the model of the people of America, and those who believe in human dignity and property rights, and all of the things that have made America so successful for 250 years, we have to demonstrate that that’s the victorious model,” he said.
For the last month (since 21 January), the Russian Ruble has shown an extremely unusual trading pattern - indicating extremely intense market intervention, or some automated transaction pattern. (https://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=CNY&to=RUB )
My guess is that the Central Bank of Russia is going all in before the March 17th Presidential election, to stabilize the ruble, just like the Military went all in in Avdiivka, to achieve Putin’s political objectives.
After the election, there are reports (PIF posted at #677) of major tax hikes across the board on incomes being prepared for after the election, to pay for the war.
I’d also expect further mobilization, and a fall in the ruble as well (at some point this year, likely by Summer). More sanctions seem likely, especially after Putin’s brutal assassination of Alexi Navalny (May God rest his soul).
Economic and financial pressures continue accumulating, and effects that have been kicked down the road until after the election, will come snapping back then, like an accordion effect. We keep approaching higher stress levels, where things will eventually break.
“Russia Loses Appeal Against $50 Billion Payout to Ex-Yukos Shareholders”
Let’s seize a few (more) mountains of Russian assets.
For perspective, before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s 2021 Defense budget was about $66 Billion.
OilPrice.com reports:
“The Amsterdam Court of Appeal rejected on Tuesday Russia’s final argument in an appeals case against an arbitration award in which Moscow has to pay $50 billion to the former shareholders of Yukos for deliberately bankrupting Russia’s biggest oil firm in the early 2000s and prosecuting its CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
The former shareholders of Yukos and the Russian state have been dragging the case through various courts in the Netherlands for over a decade.
Former Yukos owner and critic of the Kremlin, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was arrested in 2003 and convicted of theft and tax evasion two years later. Yukos was broken up and sold off to state companies, including Rosneft. Khodorkovsky was released from jail in 2013 after Vladimir Putin pardoned him. Khodorkovsky is now in exile and lives in London.
In the meantime, former Yukos shareholders sued for compensation for the assets they lost, which they claim were expropriated by the Russian government.”
Sweden is so ready to be in NATO.
(Reuters) - “Sweden’s defence ministry said on Tuesday (20 Feb) the Nordic country will donate military aid to Ukraine worth some 7.1 billion Swedish crowns ($682 million), including the transfer of equipment and fresh cash for arms procurement.
It will be Sweden’s 15th round of aid for Ukraine and the Nordic country’s biggest such package to date, taking its overall aid since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 to around 30 billion crowns.
“We will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Defence Minister Pal Jonson told a press conference.
The package includes around 2 billion crowns worth of artillery ammunition as well as anti-aircraft artillery and recoilless rifles, Sweden said.
It also includes maritime assault vessels and other vessels, and underwater arms such as mines and subsea drones.”