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Reporting From Ukraine:
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The complete transcript.
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[ Ukrainians Undermine Russian Kharkiv Offensive by Striking in Kherson ]

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Day 810: May 13

Today, there are a lot of updates from the Kherson direction.

Here, the Ukrainians continue to create problems for the Russians across the Dnipro River by using every opportunity to win back territory and establish new footholds.

The latest stunning move by the Ukrainian forces was the liberation of the island of Nestryga.

Nestryga is one of the largest islands in the delta of the Dnipro River, southwest of Kherson City, and plays an important tactical role due to its location.

This fact was confirmed by the Ukrainian South Defence Forces spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk who stated that there are several important reasons behind this move.

Firstly, the liberation of the island will greatly improve the quality of counter-sabotage measures.

Secondly, it plays an important part in the Ukrainian strategy in the region to portion battles by dividing Russian attention from the bridgehead in Krynky, which will offload pressure from Ukrainian forces there.

Thirdly, it holds significant tactical importance because it prevents the enemy from approaching Ukrainian positions on their side of the river, and it’s the last island near the enemy’s shore.

The first stage of the battle for the island started with the Ukrainian forces using the village of Velykanske, recaptured back in autumn 2022 during the counter-offensive, as a starting point from which they crossed the river at dawn using the darkness as cover, which can be seen from the published geolocated video of Ukrainian fighters.

The liberation was confirmed publicly by the Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief General Oleksandr Syrsky, which marked the 2nd stage of the battle for the island.

Russians tried to surprise Ukrainians before their operation was completed with fierce attacks, which started with mass shelling of the islands and continued with attempts to land their forces to engage Ukrainian troops on the ground.

Ukrainians were expecting this and used the night to their advantage by not only moving more troops and supplies to the island but also by targeting Russian forces on the other side of the river with mortar fire and drones in order to disrupt their counterattacks.

As you probably remember, Russians are struggling in this part of the frontline due to the lack of electronic warfare capabilities and drones. One Russian military blogger called this a fatal problem for their troops in this direction.

Geolocated footage from one Russian landing attempt confirms this statement. A Russian motorboat carrying around 10 soldiers was moving at high speed on the river, but was monitored by a Ukrainian surveillance drone.

Shortly after, it was hit by an FPV drone, which drowned the boat, and the impact sent the crew flying into the water.

The images of the aftermath show an interesting fact: how dense the air in the region is and how dangerous it is for both sides to conduct this move across.

If you look more carefully, you can see two other drones hovering above the scene of the successful Ukrainian hit and looking for possible Russian survivors to finish off.

Due to all these high-cost attempts by the Russians, the Institute for the Study of War stated that even though Russian sources claimed that the island is in the grey zone, all their attempts have been rebuffed by heavy Ukrainian fire, and the attackers are suffering significant losses.

This situation forced the Russians to intensify their counterbattery efforts in the region with all available means, including conducting guided glide bomb strikes on the west bank of the Dnipro River and targeting Ukrainian assets with Lancet drones, like in this geolocated video, which shows the destruction of a Ukrainian M777 howitzer.

This paved the way for the fourth stage of the battle for the Nestryga island.

A Russian source claimed that the usual seasonally high water levels are complicating any offensive operations, which led to Russian forces trying a dangerous approach by using jet skis to reach the island to leverage their superior speed, but this again didn’t lead to any success.

In the rare cases when they managed to get to the shore, they were quickly spotted and eliminated by the Ukrainians, as can be seen in this combat footage.

Ukrainian sources report that Russians are losing approximately 115 soldiers every day in their attempt to recapture the island, with half of them being killed and the other half wounded

Overall Ukrainian forces managed to catch the Russians by surprise and liberated the island of Nestryga to gain an important tactical position which secured their assure, but also allowed them to stretch Russian forces on the other side

Given the current situation on the front line and the newly launched Russian offensive operation in the Kharkiv region, the successful Ukrainian advancement in the Kherson region plays a strategic role

The increased Ukrainian activity in this region does not allow Russians to relocate much needed forces from the Dnipro group to support their offensive in Kharkiv significantly undermining the Russian plans for the summer campaign

Kremlin snuff box, 05/13/24
https://t.me/s/kremlin_secrets

“It’s not for long”?

The Ministry of Defense spoke about Shoigu’s resignation and whether he will return to the post of minister

Many generals in the Ministry of Defense are disappointed by the resignation of Sergei Shoigu and the arrival of the new minister Andrei Belousov.

Several sources in the ministry told us about this.

“Sergei Kuzhugetovich was, to put it mildly, not ideal. To put it mildly, I will repeat. But over the years of working as a minister, he understood many of the needs of the army.

“And it’s not all that bad with our SVO, is it? I would even say quite good. And a completely civilian minister ... We already had this, Serdyukov is the same. I wouldn’t want to repeat what everyone still remembers,” said one of the interlocutors.

According to another, Shoigu’s parting wish was to the generals of the Ministry of Defense “to hold on and wait, because this won’t last long.” The source refused to explain what this meant.

At the same time, interlocutors close to Shoigu admitted that he would like to return to the post of Minister of Defense.

“Sergei Kuzhugetovich is confident that the effectiveness of his work will be visible over time. In this regard, he thinks that he can return to the post of minister.

“Understanding that some time will pass before this - from a year to several years,” one of the generals close to the former head of the Ministry of Defense told us.

Kremlin snuff box, 05/14/24
https://t.me/s/kremlin_secrets

After Shoigu left, a top official of the Ministry of Defense was detained. And this is just the beginning

The night before, information appeared that investigative actions had been carried out against the head of the main personnel department of the Ministry of Defense, Yuri Kuznetsov. He was detained, which was confirmed by our sources.

In fact, many have already written - Kuznetsov was charged because of his actions at his previous place of work. He headed the Eighth Directorate of the General Staff, which manages the State Secrets Protection Service. In essence, Kuznetsov is being charged with high treason. And this is very significant.

Firstly, do not forget the arrest of Timur Ivanov - he was accused of corruption. It was corruption that became one of the reasons for serious changes in the power vertical and the arrival of Andrei Belousov in the Ministry of Defense.

But if Shoigu was promoted to the honorary post of Secretary of the Security Council, no one gave any guarantees to other high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Defense.

And then “secondly” - they will investigate, investigate and imprison, not only for corruption, but also for the classic case of high treason. This profile can be taken into account by almost anyone, if there is political will. And, apparently, there is.

Interlocutors in the Kremlin and the Ministry of Defense do not hide that the detention of Kuznetsov is likely to be just the beginning.

“Many heads will roll - deputies, mid-level officials. Contractors will probably change too. The new broom will sweep in a new way,” the source said. Another source noted that in this situation Shoigu “only cared about his own skin.”

Here is a real secret about the Russian power hierarchy:
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Kremlin snuff box, 05/14/24
https://t.me/s/kremlin_secrets

Before his nomination, Belousov visited the Diveyevo Monastery

Andrei Belousov, who will replace Sergei Shoigu as Minister of Defense, before being promoted to a new position, went to a convent in the village of Diveevo in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

This is a difficult place and you will not find information about its real value for certain groups of the domestic elite.

Diveevo is the gathering point of the so-called “Diveevo brotherhood”. Perhaps the most famous closed community of representatives of top officials, businessmen and Russian VIPs in general. Belousov is one of the patrons of the monastery, although he does not advertise his visits there.

This time, as his interlocutors say, he walked alone along the famous Canal of the Virgin Mary. In general he was taciturn.

In total, Belousov’s visit to the monastery lasted no more than 2 hours. Interlocutors say that Belousov warned about plans to visit the holy place no more than 3 hours in advance.

Here it is worth clarifying for the uninitiated that the Diveyevo Brotherhood is a closed club, which is not so easy to get into.

In fact, its creator is Sergei Kiriyenko, but it includes all the cream of society, including the President. It is surprising that Belousov arrived at the monastery himself.

Interlocutors suggest that he had a short face-to-face meeting with someone during a meal, but it is not known with whom exactly.

While US shipbuilding remains moribund, and China has 228 times more shipbuilding capacity than the US, Russia is seeing the need for more ships. US presence in the Arctic approaches zero.

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Kremlin snuff box, 05/14/24
https://t.me/s/kremlin_secrets

About the new post by Nikolai Patrushev

Many believe that Nikolai Patrushev’s new post is some kind of demotion and almost humiliation. This is wrong.

Firstly, it was not for nothing that Dmitry Peskov said that Nikolai Platonovich will have “other functions.” As far as we know, these are very important functions. Of course, secret.

Secondly, according to our data, Vladimir Putin is confident that shipbuilding is the most important task.

We definitely need to develop it, after the Kiev regime inflicted serious losses on the Black Sea Fleet during the years of the Northern Military District.

In addition, our increased activity in the Arctic also requires the expansion and strengthening of the Russian fleet. Here Nikolai Platonovich’s experience is simply necessary.