VIDEOS
1. 25 Mar: Ukrainian Drones WREAK HAVOC ON A RUSSIAN BASE | War in Ukraine Explained
Reporting from Ukraine
209K subscribers
3-25-2023 9:30 p.m. DST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhGeP_sCp7s
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I am a Ukrainian. My country has been invaded by Russia. In this video I will tell you what happened on the three hundred and ninety fifth day of the war.
Day 395: March 25
Last time I told you that Russians faced huge difficulties establishing a foothold near Vuhledar because Ukrainians have successfully adopted special artillery shells that scatter anti-armor mines. I also told you that Russian forces started summoning recently wounded soldiers for unspecified offensive actions during the last week of March.
The freshest reports suggest that Russians are not ready to launch another offensive operation. The Russian side recently released a video showing how they tried to suppress Ukrainian firing points and observation posts in the high-rise buildings by targeting them with Anti-Tank Guided Missiles. Unfortunately for Russians, facing such a high number of windows in front of them, where each can be used by Ukrainians at any time, suppressing fire and moving closer to the town proved to be extremely difficult.
Russians are also using artillery to shell the town. Russian sources reported that Russian forces primarily resort to devastating 240mm Tyulpans, which is the largest mortar system in use today. The footage from the Ukrainian side shows that even houses that were not hit directly have no windows and doors due to the shockwaves.
Russians also found that they could not destroy Ukrainian vehicles inside the town because they are usually parked close to the northern side of the building. Given that shells do not fall vertically, the houses proved to be a great shelter, even though they may be in plain view from Russian drones.
That is why Russians started to actively use different tactics. Recent footage reveals that Russians are using incendiary munitions to burn everything on the ground. Unlike shells, they fall vertically, which allows for targeting cars and armored vehicles that are not in the shelter.
Ukrainians are also attacking Russian positions. As most Russian attacks are currently being launched from Mykilske, it became an area with significant forces concentrations and plenty of targets.
Ukrainian 72nd Mechanized Brigade recently released a video showing how they identified and destroyed fuel storage in the southeastern part of the village, near the farm facilities, and also targeted a big building with Russian manpower. Ukrainian 79th AirAssault Brigade showed a video of how they destroyed a Russian tank in the vicinity of Vuhledar.
Finally, Ukrainian drone operators from the 72nd Mechanized Brigade showed how they hunted down armored vehicles on the Russian base in Mykilske: they managed to throw a grenade right in the open hatch of an armored vehicle and also chase down several moving armored vehicles that were driving in and near Mykilske.
Some Russian sources reported that judging by the concentration of Ukrainian forces in the area, it is possible that Ukrainians will exploit the fact that Russian manpower is exhausted from constant attacks and will conduct a counterattack on Mykilske, pushing Russians to the other side of the river.
Firstly, such actions would completely eliminate any possibility of a sudden resumption of offensive operations on Vuhledar, which will allow Ukrainians to reduce the number of troops in this direction and get more flexibility with their reserves.
Secondly, such actions would set better conditions for a counteroffensive operation in the direction of Volnovakha and Mariupol. Ukrainians had previously conducted a small counteroffensive here in summer, which involved fording the river, and they managed to establish a good bridgehead very rapidly, so the topography of the region should allow them to repeat the same success, especially as the quality of the country roads has noticeably improved, judging by the latest videos from Vuhledar.
Overall, the continuous use of ATGMs, artillery, and incendiary munitions by Russians and HIMARS and drones by Ukrainians suggests that both sides are trying to take advantage of the increased concentration of forces in the area and destroy as much enemy manpower and equipment as possible. If Ukrainians continue combining these efforts with localized counterattacks, and push Russians from Mykilske, then they can set suitable conditions for a counteroffensive operation and increase the number of options on the table by late spring or summer.”
ARTICLE
Russian Ex-Diplomat on How West Can Isolate, Topple Putin
By David Brennan
3/25/23 3:00 AM EDT
https://www.newsweek.com/how-west-isolate-topple-putin-boris-bondarev-1790174?spot_im_redirect_source=pitc
Russian President Vladimir Putin faces a mammoth task to transform his quagmire in Ukraine into the ideology-affirming imperial conquest he and his Kremlin allies envisaged just over a year ago.
Putin has become a pariah in the Western world, while an unprecedented sanctions offensive seeks to isolate the Russian economy and strangle the lucrative fossil fuel profits that fund Moscow’s war. Though he retains a strong grip on power at home, rumors of discontent among political and business elites are rife.
Last week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) delivered the latest humiliation for the president, issuing an arrest warrant related to the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, which could constitute a war crime.
Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat at Moscow’s United Nations mission in Geneva, told Newsweek that Western nations should use the ICC decision as a springboard to undermine Putin’s authority, unsettle influential Kremlin figures, and buoy the pro-democratic opposition movement in exile.
“Putin is already under suspicion of war crimes; we have this arrest warrant,” Bondarev said, referring to the ICC measure that prompted threats of missile strikes and world war from Putin’s allies. “The next step would be that the Western countries would declare Putin illegitimate, deny that he is a legal, lawful, and just president.”
“Thus, that may be a declaration that Putin is the only obstacle to peace—the real peace—so he must be removed, one way or another,” said Bondarev, who resigned his position at Russia’s United Nations mission in Geneva in May 2022 in protest of the invasion.
Such a signal, Bondarev said, might help embolden Russian elites who are secretly against the war in Ukraine, or at least dissatisfied with its outcomes. This should be combined, he suggested, with an “open declaration” of opportunity for dissenters.
“In this declaration, there can be an invitation: ‘Do the right thing, and we will treat you in the most favorable way,’” Bondarev said. “Of course, I understand that Western countries may be very much reluctant to do this because it will be a very huge escalatory step. I argue that it should be done—this declaration, this approach—should be voiced by the Russian opposition organizations in exile.”
The pro-democratic opposition that has been silenced within Russia and abroad is divided into multiple—often feuding—camps. Though all agree on the need to unseat Putin, the various factions and organizations are divided on key issues.
A unified opposition, Bondarev said, could function akin to the World War II-era Free France, which worked with allied governments while in exile. “This political structure should produce a unified political platform on how Russian people would see Russia’s future,” Bondarev said.
“The platform should be presented to Western governments, and this political structure can act like an alternative Russia,” he added, noting the success of Belarusian opposition leader-in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. “So then Western capitals have someone to negotiate with who is not Putin,” Bondarev said.
But the decades-long absence of fair elections in Russia, and the unreliability of polling, means it is difficult to say who should fill those shoes. Even the most well-known opposition figures abroad—among them jailed politician Alexei Navalny; oligarch-turned-dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky; and former chess master Garry Kasparov—have little claim to represent the people.
“Today, no opposition leader, or opposition speaker, or anyone has this legitimacy,” Bondarev said. “They can say, ‘I have the support of millions of people,’ but they cannot produce any proof.”
A system of online voting might go some way to addressing this issue, the former diplomat said, if the leaders in question can be convinced to risk their own prominent positions. Several opposition groups have proposed similar systems, though as yet there is no unified way forward.
A new generation of voices, Bondarev said, would inject life into the pro-democracy movement. “We need new political activists, new political leaders,” he said. “There is a public demand for this, but there is no supply.”
“That’s why I think we need some influencers with their huge audiences to promote this idea,” Bondarev proposed, adding that he has no grand ambitions of his own.
“Politically, I am a no-name,” he said.
Newsweek reached out to the Kremlin by email to request comment.