Victory in Ukraine (and any outcome will be presented to us as a victory) will be Pyrrhic - on the ruins of the Russian army and navy. The day before, on August 21, another drone was shot down in the area of the Olenya strategic bomber base in the Murmansk region - 1,750 km from the Ukrainian border. The Northern Fleet and the world's only nuclear icebreaker fleet are also based in the region. In particular, this is the basis of the Russian nuclear shield, which Russian politicians love to boast about when threatening their Western adversary. If things continue like this, the Northern Fleet will suffer the fate of the Black Sea Fleet, which in total lost more than 20 ships in two years of special operations, including landing ships, submarines and the flagship cruiser Moskva. The fate of the Olenya base is also unenviable, because, having zeroed in, Ukraine is inflicting increasingly painful blows on military facilities.
A source at the Ministry of Defense, for example, commenting on the recent UAV strike on several airfields, noted that this is not the first strike on the Savasleyka airbase in the Nizhny Novgorod region in the last two weeks. According to Western media citing satellite images, the strike resulted in the destruction of a MiG-31K/I interceptor, two Il-76 military transport aircraft, and damage to about five aircraft, the model of which is not specified. Our source also noted that, judging by the effectiveness of the “arrivals,” no conclusions have been drawn, and sabotage along the lines of Shoigu’s old team cannot be ruled out, based on the principle that the worse for Removich [=Min Def Belousov], the better for Kuzhugetovich [=Shoigu].
https://t.me/moscow_laundry/22792
The blame game:
We have talked a lot here, on this platform, about what is happening along our border. One way or another, they heard us, second echelons, reserves appeared. The troops covering the state border, even in the trenches, must prepare daily, constantly train. I was in Kursk Oblast, I saw how minefields are equipped, but they are ineffective without fire cover. Who planned this? Who thought about this? This is serious. Today, it is impossible to plan such serious operations without our knowledge. I do not believe that they did not know about the concentration of enemy troops.
If there is initial data on the enemy, then, probably, we need to think about what is happening. Unfortunately, the composition of the group covering the state border did not have its own reconnaissance assets. They were the last to be provided with everything necessary. Nobody likes the truth in reports. Everyone wants to hear that everything is fine.
The Russian news site Vestka, citing sources in the government and parliament, reports that because of what is happening near Kursk following Ukraine's invasion, where Moscow has lost control over a territory of 1,000 square kilometers (621 square miles) and 82 settlements, criminal cases may be taken out against representatives of the military, security and civilian authorities, who allowed this situation to happen.
One of its contacts said that when the news of the initial stages of Ukraine's move into Kursk took place on Tuesday, Aug. 6, it was met with apathy amongst officials who did not consider it to be a serious threat.
According to a Bloomberg report, Gerasimov had received intelligence on Kyiv’s plans weeks before, but chose to ignore it and did not inform Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The fact that he had fallen out of favor as a result was when Putin first tasked Alexander Bortnikov, Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and then Secretary of Russia's State Council, Aleksey Dyumin, overall control of the “counter-terrorist operation” to expel Ukraine's forces.
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/37500
кто виноват?