Update from Ukraine | Big Drama in Soledar Ukrainian Soldiers hold on | Ruzzian losses are huge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmDltUgQ9Js

Follow on Instagram up to date uploads. https://www.instagram.com/denys_pilot/

SUMMARY Military MAPS & COMMENTS here: https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-322-summary/

A look at Putin’s war and a $47B Russian deficit in 2022
https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2023/01/11/russia-deficit-economic-impact-war-ukraine-putin-sebastian-pkg-qmb-vpx.cnn

Former Russian Commander Pours Cold Water on Putin’s Success in Soledar
By Fatma Khaled On 1/12/23 at 10:10 AM EST
https://www.newsweek.com/former-russian-commander-pours-cold-water-putins-success-soledar-1773337

Retired US general calls Putin’s battlefield change a ‘bizarre move’
https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/01/12/ukraine-putin-replaces-general-appoints-gerasimov-mark-hertling-sot-vpx-ebof.cnn

Intercepted Phone Calls That The Russian Government Doesn’t Want You To Hear!
1-11-2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4CretiXgRk

Russia’s War on Ukraine Latest: Battle for Salt Town Rages On
By Reuters|
Jan. 12, 2023, at 10:06 a.m.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2023-01-12/russias-war-on-ukraine-latest-battle-for-salt-town-rages-on

Putin Scolds Minister on Live Video Call: Why Are You ‘Fooling Around’?
By Isabel van Brugen
NEWSWEEK
1/12/23 at 7:34 AM EST
https://www.newsweek.com/putin-scolds-minister-live-video-call-denis-manturov-1773268

Keep replying to yourself because it is a good look..... It shows that your propaganda is so bad that it does not engage many Freepers - only the idiotic trolls. Yourself excluded of course....

Russian TV Debates Whether Ukrainians Should Be ‘Eliminated or Re-Educated’
By Aleks Phillips
1/12/23 at 6:26 AM EST
https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-war-russia-tv-debate-eliminated-reeducated-kremlin-1773203

Pundits in Russia have taken to daytime television to discuss whether Ukrainians should be “eliminated” or “re-educated” as the war continues.

In a clip of a TV discussion on Channel 1 Russia, panelists repeated the propaganda lines that Russia has used throughout its invasion of Ukraine, including describing Ukrainians as Nazis and suggesting they were somehow to blame for the conflict.

Yuri Kot, a pro-Kremlin journalist who has previously threatened nuclear attacks on the U.S. and Britain, made reference to the “illness of Ukrainianism” and suggested Russia’s enemies should be “strictly eliminated.”

The words come as Russian forces appear to have made an advance in recent days on the salt-mining town of Soledar—a strategic outpost for either side, lying 6 miles from Bakhmut, which Ukrainian forces recaptured in the last month. The Russian military has failed to make any significant territorial gains in recent months, typified by a retreat from Kherson—the only regional capital it had been able to completely subjugate—in November.

In an apparent recognition of Russia’s setbacks on the battlefield, General Sergei Surovikin, the head of the Russian forces in Ukraine, was demoted after just three months, and replaced by General Valery Gerasimov. In an intelligence update on January 11, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said the move was “an indicator of the increasing seriousness of the situation Russia is facing, and a clear acknowledgment that the campaign is falling short of Russia’s strategic goals.”

It added that this would likely be greeted with “extreme displeasure” from Russian ultra-nationalists given Gerasimov’s role in the planning of the initial invasion, which Russia maintains is a “special military operation.”
That balance of the war would not be easily gleaned by watching Russian TV, however, which continues to craft a narrative in which Ukraine and its people continue to misunderstand Russia is a civilizing force.

discussion, a presenter referenced a recent interview with Daniil Bezsonov, the Russian-installed minister for the Donbas region of Ukraine, in which he “asks himself the question: is it not now time to recognize them as enemies?”

In response, Kot differentiates between “involuntary Russians” who “are the same nation as us”—a reference to the stated objective of the Russian offensive to successfully annex the Donbas, which since 2014 had been held by Russian separatists—and “Russophobes who have caught the illness of Ukrainianism [and] who are holding our brothers hostage.”
In the clip, another presenter asks of “call the mothers of our soldiers and say ‘your son has died,’ when he hasn’t”, an apparent allusion to a Ukrainian tactic of contacting the families of dead Russian soldiers to ask them to collect their bodies.

“Absolutely right, those are guns too,” Kot replies. “You know, there are different types of guns. Words are also guns in this situation. That is to say, such people have taken the dark side and are proving themselves to be Russophobes, so it’s simply pointless trying to talk to them in human terms.”

The Kremlin has often claimed the invasion of Ukraine was an effort to “denazify” the country, without clear explanation as to what it means. Ukraine’s Azov battalion, a paramilitary group, has links to far-right and neo-fascist organizations, but has been used as an effective fighting outfit by Ukraine’s Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Asked if Russia’s enemies should be “eliminated or re-educated,” Kot responds: “Strictly eliminated! The enemy’s children can be re-educated but the enemy himself must be eliminated.” Russia has been found to have deported Ukrainian children from their homeland to Russia in order to make them citizens, The Associated Press reported in October.

“In many countries, daytime TV consists of anodyne cookery or travel shows,” Francis Scarr, a BBC Monitoring journalist, commented. “Meanwhile in Russia, they’re discussing whether Ukrainians can be ‘re-educated’ or need to be ‘eliminated’.”

I check these regularly. And agree with your tag line. Thanks for posting.

Kremlin Knows Russia Is Failing in Ukraine: U.K.

Story by Kaitlin Lewis • Yesterday 11:16 PM

Russian President Vladimir Putin is showing signs that he is aware his military is "falling short" in its war against Ukraine, according to the latest British intelligence update.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov attend an expanded meeting of the Russian Defense Ministry Board at the National Defense Control Centre in Moscow, on December 21, 2022. The U.K. Ministry of Defense reported Wednesday that Gerasimov's recent shift to head of Russia's military is a sign Putin is aware of his military's failures in it war with Ukraine.© Mikhail Kireyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

In its intelligence briefing posted to Twitter on Wednesday, the U.K. Ministry of Defence pointed to reports of Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov being promoted to head of the Russian military as "a significant development in Russian President Vladimir Putin's approach to managing the war."

Reuters reported earlier in the day that Gerasimov was appointed to the new position by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, overtaking the role from Sergey Surovikin.

"The deployment of the [Chief of the General Staff] as theatre commander is an indicator of the increasing seriousness of the situation Russia is facing, and a clear acknowledgement that the campaign is falling short of Russia's strategic goals," the British ministry said in its report.

Gerasimov's promotion comes after a series of setbacks in Russia's war in Ukraine, where the Kremlin's army has reportedly lost over 110,000 soldiers since it invaded its neighbor in February. Surovikin had served as head of Putin's military since October, and will stay on as deputy to Gerasimov, according to Russia's Defense Ministry.

Despite the list of failures from Russian troops under Surovikin's lead, however, the official was anticipated to turn the tide for the Kremlin just a few months ago when appointed in October, and has been nicknamed "General Armageddon" for his brutal battlefield tactics. U.K.'s defense ministry wrote in its update that Gerasimov's appointment was likely to receive pushback from some of Russia's more conservative voices.

Turn that logo palm up and it will be perfect.

Interesting in that it was only 80 years ago that they previously tried to kill off the whole population (well documented now.)

Pretty much what you expect by troops assaulting well prepared positions.

There doesn't appear to be a great strategic advantage here.

But the Russian generals are afraid to admit a loss... so keep sending troops into the meat grinder.

I am sure the Ukrainians are also losing troops... it could easily be a 3-10 to one advantage for the Ukrainians.

Update from Ukraine | Big Drama in Soledar Ukrainian Soldiers hold on | Ruzzian losses are huge

It's about what I expected. The Ukies need to mount a counter strike to save the troops in the town.

Good update and analysis here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jqZtEUh1vY

Russia’s Greatest Military Strength Has Now Become Its Weakness
By Brendan Cole On 1/12/23
3:00 AM EST
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-winter-war-putin-1773021

ladimir Putin had his eye on his place in Russian history when he compared his invasion of Ukraine to the expansionism of Peter the Great. “It has fallen to us, too, to reclaim and strengthen,” Putin said in June 2022.

But the tsar was the beneficiary of cold weather in 1708 and 1709 during the Great Northern War, which helped stop Sweden’s Charles XII’s troops from advancing on Moscow, military historian Antony Beevor wrote in Foreign Affairs last month.

Beevor noted that while the winter has been an asset for Russian war efforts, such as Napoleon’s Grande Armée retreat from Moscow in 1812 and the turning back of Adolf Hitler’s forces from the capital in World War II, Putin cannot count on the coldest season being the same ally.

“It may be Russia, rather than its adversary, that suffers the worst consequences,” Beevor wrote as reports abound of shortages of body armor, equipment and training for Putin’s troops, especially the estimated 300,000 newly mobilized reservists.

“The curious thing about the Napoleonic and the Hitler invasions is that in both cases, the invaders thought they were going to be achieving victory before winter set in and so they didn’t properly prepare their troops for the winter climate,” William Courtney, a former U.S. ambassador to Georgia and Kazakhstan and now an adjunct senior fellow at the non-profit Rand corporation told Newsweek.
“In the current circumstances it looks like Russia is making the same mistake,” Courtney said.

“The Ukrainians seem to be better prepared with winter provisioning than the Russians are so it’s not clear that Russia would see winter as having an advantage than in Stalingrad for example,” he added, referring to the pivotal World War II battle.

Putin’s troops have complained they are short of basic equipment, with Russian citizens reportedly having to crowdfund to pay for socks, winter clothes and even body armor.

“Think about that at scale compared to the Ukrainians who are getting literally the best uniforms, boots and equipment in the world shipped to them,” said Dale Buckner, a former Green Beret and CEO of the international security firm Global Guardian, which has intelligence teams in Ukraine.
“We think that Ukrainians are postured both at the individual level and their supply chain that they would have the advantage, not the Russians, in extreme cold weather,” Buckner told Newsweek.

The Mobilization Factor

Kyiv has repeated its claims that Putin is planning another mobilization. The partial call-up he announced in September was widely criticized for thrusting people not fitting draft criteria onto the front line.

But this is still providing Russia with more manpower and much depends on how well recently mobilized soldiers can eventually be integrated into an effective fighting force.
“If you can train soldiers, that mass can be an important factor on the battlefield,” said Courtney, explaining that “mass is more important for defensive rather than offensive operations” even if the ability “to be effective in offensive operations will be limited.”

Ukraine’s forces entered the winter with momentum following an offensive at the end of August which saw gains including retaking Kharkiv Oblast, parts of the Donetsk Oblast, and the right bank of Kherson Oblast.

Both sides have committed significant resources to the monthslong battle for Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, with Russian forces spearheaded by the Wagner Group of mercenaries.

But the 2023 Global Risk Forecast by international risk management firm Crisis 24, seen by Newsweek, predicted that winter will likely see Putin’s troops maintain a mostly defensive posture which will give time for their remaining new reservists to be trained.

There may be a decrease in combat intensity, except for some Ukrainian offensives to maintain momentum, and Russia trying localized advances and long-range strikes on infrastructure, it said.

Buckner said that even if Russia could mobilize 300,000 people they were likely to be used to maintain the terrain Moscow controls out of Crimea and the Donbas region, and not focus on more offensives. If Russia is in that posture, “it’s much easier to sustain that and just stay static for an enduring period of time,” he said.

Meanwhile, Crisis 24 predicted that after integrating its mobilized troops, the Russian high command may try a late winter or early spring offensive to break through Ukrainian lines, most likely in the Donetsk or Luhansk regions.
“However, any such operation will almost certainly fail to achieve its main objectives,” it said, due to Russian military command-and-control problems, low troop morale, and ineffective supply and logistics.

“The Russians are investing a lot of hope in the coming winter,” Vuk Vuksanovic, an associate at the London School of Economics foreign policy think tank, LSE IDEAS said, referring to strikes against energy infrastructure aimed at freezing the Ukrainian population.

But he told Newsweek that reports of Russian equipment shortages, which have been around since the start of Putin’s invasion on February 24, should be treated with caution.
“Confirmation of whether these reports are true will probably arrive on the battleground since Ukraine is also faced with a tough time of being entirely dependent on the support of Western allies to preserve its economy and military.”

This includes the Patriot Missile systems which Ukrainian servicemen will start training on in Oklahoma next week. The United Kingdom is also reportedly considering supplying Challenger 2 tanks which could push Germany to give Ukraine the Leopard II tanks it has long requested.

Ukrainian Forces Still Vastly Outnumbered

Military and strategic studies specialist Allan Orr believes some western assessments of the progress of Ukraine’s offensives have been overly optimistic. He said that whatever happens over winter, Ukraine’s troops are vastly outnumbered by Russian forces which they cannot wear down at a level high enough to win.

“This winter will show if Russia takes the conservative route, and just keeps methodically punching forward, or gets imaginative. If it gets imaginative, it would be an indication Putin knows he’s pressed for time in the east,” he told Newsweek.

“Unless the West bites the bullet and provides Ukraine much more wherewithal and finds a workaround to Ukrainian losses, all while navigating the un-navigable nuclear risk, every winter from here out will be risky for Kyiv,” he said.
“General Winter will again do to the war what it did to Napoleon. But nobody can say whether Putin or Zelensky will be the 21st-century Bonaparte.”

Bahmut... Frostbite

“I check these regularly. And agree with your tag line. Thanks for posting.”

Thank you. I appreciate your kind comments.

Ukraine war latest: Russia sends conscripts in combat zones as Ukrainian military conducts counterattacks in Soledar
Thaisa Semenova
January 12, 2023

Satellite imagery shows magnitude of destruction in salt-mining town near Bakhmut.

As fierce fighting in and around Bakhmut is raging on, the Ukrainian military said it was conducting counterattacks in the devastated salt-mining town of Soledar.

“After several days of pulling back, we’ve even made a small advance,” Ukraine’s 46th Airmobile Brigade said, adding that “the railway station is ours, the mine is ours.”

“We are waiting for support. Soledar is Ukraine,” the brigade said.

Earlier in the day, President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged that the units defending Bakhmut and Soledar would be provided with ammunition and everything necessary “promptly and uninterruptedly.”

He added that Ukraine’s Armed Forces are reinforced with equipment and weapons supplied by the West.

Kyiv states that the battle for Soledar between Ukrainian forces and the Russian army and the Kremlin-controlled Wagner Group is underway, despite some claims that Moscow controls the town.

Soledar is located 10 kilometers north of Bakhmut — a city Russia has tried to seize for over five months.

Russia looks to capture the area as part of its larger goal of taking control of the entirety of Donetsk Oblast, which it has partly occupied since 2014.

The General Staff Deputy Chief Oleksii Hromov said on Jan. 12 that the military expects Russian forces to attempt to capture all of Donetsk Oblast in the near future.

“The enemy’s main goal remains to seize our country’s entire territory and destroy Ukraine’s statehood,” Hromov said.

Over 100 Russian soldiers killed in Ukrainian strike in Soledar, military says

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces reported that more than a hundred Russian soldiers were killed in the battle of Soledar after Ukrainian forces launched a missile attack.

A group of Russian soldiers was identified by Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, according to the special ops command. Artillery was directed at the concentration of troops, followed by a Tochka-U missile, killing the Russian soldiers in the area, the command said.

Along with 100 troops, the strike destroyed Russian military equipment.

At the same time, the Ukrainian military spokesperson Serhii Cherevatyi reported that Soledar came under Russian attacks 91 times over the past day.

“Attempts to encircle Bakhmut also continue,” Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said.

The U.S. satellite imagery company Maxar showed recent pictures of Soledar. The town is “almost completely destroyed.”

Russia deploys more conscripts to combat zones in Ukraine

As Moscow troops struggle to capture Soledar, the Kremlin is accumulating its forces in Ukraine.

According to Maliar, the mobilized conscripts from the training grounds in Russia and Belarus are deployed to the combat zones and border areas.

“As of Jan. 10, about 280 formations operate as part of the Russian forces, taking into account the operational reserve, compared to 250 (formations) last week,” Maliar wrote on Telegram.

Maliar added that lacking combat equipment, the Kremlin actively uses human resources to achieve success on the battlefield.

Suffering heavy losses, Russia is planning a new wave of mobilization for the war against Ukraine, Andriy Chernyak, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence, said on Jan. 7.

As many as 500,000 conscripts could be called up, in addition to 300,000 that were already drafted, Chernyak reported.

Vadym Skibitsky, Ukraine’s deputy military intelligence chief, earlier said the conscripts would likely be sent to the front lines in the east and south of Ukraine and would be part of renewed Russian offensives in the spring and summer.

According to the General Staff, as of Jan. 12, Russia has lost 112,960 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24.

The death toll of Russian troops is the highest the country has suffered since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan or arguably since World War II, Zelensky earlier said.

https://kyivindependent.com/national/ukraine-war-latest-russia-sends-conscripts-in-combat-zones-as-ukrainian-military-conducts-counterattacks-in-soledar

ARTICLES

1- Wounded Russian Soldiers Returned to Front Without Proper Treatment – Agentstvo
The Moscow Times
1-12-2023
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/01/12/wounded-russian-soldiers-returned-to-front-without-proper-treatment-agentstvo-a79932

“A number of injured Russian soldiers are being sent back to the frontlines in Ukraine without permission from the military medical commission, the Agentstvo investigative outlet reported Thursday.

The presidential Human Rights Council is investigating cases in which servicemen didn’t receive proper medical treatment before being sent back into battle, council member Olga Demicheva told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency on Tuesday.

“We learned about a situation when soldiers who received high-tech medical care and with recommendations for rehabilitation were immediately sent to the front instead of rehabilitation,” Demicheva said.

Valentina Melnikova, the secretary of Russia’s Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers, also confirmed to Agentstvo that some soldiers were not receiving proper rehabilitation.

Russia has faced heavy casualties since invading Ukraine last February, and soldiers injured in battle are entitled to state benefits including financial compensation.

Over 10,700 Russian soldiers have been killed in the nearly 11 months since Moscow invaded Ukraine, according to a tally of confirmed military deaths kept by the BBC Russian Service and independent media outlet Mediazona.

Last September, Russia officially admitted to just 5,937 military deaths in Ukraine, while Western estimates put the figure at about 100,000.”

2- Russian Critic Navalny Says Prison Denying Hospital Care
1-11-2023
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/01/12/russian-critic-navalny-says-prison-denying-hospital-care-a79927

“Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said Wednesday that he was being refused access to hospital treatment by prison officials after falling sick, in what his team called an underhanded attempt to kill him.

Navalny, the most prominent opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said he had flu symptoms including a fever but was being kept in a punishment cell at his maximum-security prison outside Moscow.

He also requested during a court hearing on Wednesday that it be postponed because of his illness.

“I am not being hospitalized even though I requested this,” Navalny was quoted by his team as saying during the hearing, adding that prison officials had also refused to provide basic drugs.

Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, told AFP that judges had granted the postponement.

For the past two years, the 46-year-old has been held outside Vladimir, a town around 230 kilometers (145 miles) east of Moscow, after an embezzlement conviction, one of several rulings Navalny has denounced as an attempt to silence him.

A lawyer by training, Navalny has filed several lawsuits against penitentiary officials, claiming they have infringed his constitutional rights.

Earlier this week, Navalny said he was sharing his cell with a flu-stricken man, accusing officials of using the fellow inmate as a “biological weapon” to infect him.

Authorities have also placed a “mentally unwell person” in a nearby cell who has been “howling at night,” Navalny said.

His wife Yulia Navalnaya accused staff at the IK-6 prison of “torturing” him.

“Are you human?” she said in a post on Instagram
A post shared by Юлия Навальная (@yulia_navalnaya)

Navalny’s team claimed that the Kremlin wanted Navalny to die in prison.

“Putin is still trying to kill Navalny but in a quieter and slower manner compared to the Novichok poisoning,” the team said on the Telegram messaging app.

Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet-made nerve agent, on a trip to Siberia in 2020. He barely survived, and accused Putin of being behind the attack.

In an open letter, hundreds of Russian doctors urged the authorities to stop “tormenting” Navalny and provide him with adequate care.

“The refusal of representatives of the Federal Penitentiary Service to hand Alexei the necessary medicines creates a direct threat to the life of Russian citizen Alexei Navalny,” the letter said.

U.S. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price tweeted on Wednesday: “We echo the concerns of more than 170 Russian doctors who are calling for an end to the mistreatment of Navalny and for provision of all appropriate medical care.”

3-Two hundred Russian doctors sign petition urging Putin to ‘stop abusing’ rival
Emma Brazell
Wednesday 11 Jan 2023 4:42 pm
https://metro.co.uk/2023/01/11/russian-doctors-sign-petition-urging-putin-to-stop-abusing-rival-18078358/

Russian doctors have united to condemn Vladimir Putin for ‘abusing’ a prominent political opposition leader whose ‘health is being deliberately harmed’ in jail.

More than 200 medics have signed a petition saying they are ‘greatly concerned’ for Aleksei Navalny’s life and can’t stand aside and watch him deteriorate.

The stand against the Kremlin is surprising, given the CLAMP-DOWN ON FREE SPEECH in the country following the Ukraine invasion.

Mr Navalny was handed a nine-year sentence in March after being found guilty of large-scale fraud and contempt by a Russian court. He pleaded not guilty.

He recently claimed he was placed in solitary confinement for the tenth time in a year because he washed his face half an hour before the prison schedule allowed.

Putin’s main political rival fell ill after sharing a cell with someone who had been ‘deliberately placed in the prison’s medical ward full of flu patients’, his lawyers have said.

In the letter, doctors said: ‘The detention conditions and the appearance of Aleksei Navalny make us greatly concerned for his life and health,

‘From the medical point of view, it is clear that Aleksei is not receiving sufficient medical help.’

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is Putin’s main rival in politics

Navalny says that he is facing new accusations that could extend his current nine-year prison term. Navalny said on Instagram that an investigator visited him in prison to declare that the authorities have opened a new criminal investigation against him on charges of ???creating an extremist group to fan hatred against officials and oligarchs??? and trying to stage rallies.

Russian authorities have levied new criminal charges against imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Russian authorities have added imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny and some of his top allies to the registry of terrorists and extremists, the latest move in a multi-pronged crackdown on opposition supporters, independent media and human rights activists.

Mr Navalny’s legal reps have warned he needs medication as he is said to be suffering from coughing fits, a fever and chills.

They say he needs to be examined by doctors outside the penal colony and transferred to a regular hospital for treatment if it’s thought necessary.

The politician is the leader of the Russia of the Future party and has repeatedly challenged Putin by organising anti-government demonstrations and exposing corruption.

In September 2020, he was hospitalised in a serious condition after being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.

American intelligence agencies believe that Russian security police agents were behind the attack on his life.

In January 2021, Mr Navalny was arrested on accusations of violating parole conditions while he was hospitalised in Germany – which were imposed as a result of a 2014 conviction for alleged embezzlement.

He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, before being handed nine further years when prosecutors accused him of embezzling donations from his supporters last year.

The politician has dismissed criminal cases against him as politically motivated and previously named Russia’s ruling party, United Russia, as a ‘party of crooks and thieves’.

Following the last court hearing into the most recent case, he wrote on Instagram: ‘If the prison term is the price of my human right to say things that need to be said … then they can ask for 113 years. I will not renounce my words or deeds.’

Perhaps you could lead us to your oracle of news with its insights and truthful reports.

Pls, post it for us to view.

You’re giving lying sacks of ape-dookey a bad name all over the world...