Russian Forces Driven Away From Kyiv as Ukraine Regains Territory and Kills Top Commander

Ukraine’s military says they have “eliminated” another Russian colonel, adding to a long list of high-ranking Russian military personnel wiped out in Putin’s war against Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces announced on Tuesday that Colonel Denis Kurilo, the commander of the 200th separate motorized rifle brigade, was killed outside Kharkiv.

Kurilo’s reported death, on the 34th day of the Kremlin’s “special operation,” comes after at least seven Russian generals were killed in Ukraine, according to both Ukrainian and Western officials.

It also comes as the Ukrainian military announced several territorial gains, with the northeastern town of Trostyanets liberated from Russian troops and several areas outside Kyiv reported back in the hands of Ukraine. The military said territories in the Chernihiv region were also liberated.

‘They’ll Give Me a Medal’: The Dark Reality of Russian Troops’ Alleged War-Crime Rapes

The mayor of the town of Irpin outside Kyiv—which has been decimated by Russian bombs as Putin’s troops sought a foothold over the Ukrainian capital—said Russian forces had been completely pushed out.

Authorities there have begun the grim task of clearing out the dead, he said, adding that some of the bodies of those killed by Russian troops had apparently been mined.

Meanwhile, perhaps in light of these setbacks, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced a decision Tuesday to drastically reduce operations around Kyiv and Chernihiv.

CNN’s Jim Sciutto, citing two senior U.S. officials, reported that Russia had already begun to withdraw troops from around the capital, with Battalion Tactical Groups seen moving out.

But Western officials were largely skeptical of the announcement, with many pointing out that Moscow seemed to only be promising de-escalation in areas where they were already losing ground.

A U.S. official cited by Reuters went even further, describing Russian troop movements around Kyiv as a “redeployment, not a withdrawal,”

[If you’d read the text in full, it is clear that it is a self-contradicting propaganda.]

Reasons for Russian optimism:

1. 4 of our 5 axes of advance are defeated, but that is just as planned as they were actually all feints.

2. Rather than using our strengths against Ukrainian weaknesses, as is the normal maneuverist approach, we cleverly turned this on its head and used our weaknesses against Ukrainian strengths. This is Russian style.

3. We launched the biggest and highest casualty war in Europe since WW2 in order to slightly expand the territory we already de facto controlled. At least until we have to revise our past aim next week.

4. We have demilitarized Ukraine. Its forces are bigger, better equipped and with higher morale than when the war started, but we have shot missiles at a lot of barracks.

5. Something about “biolabs.” Literally defined as laboratories which deal with biological issues, like PCR tests.

6. We have hypersonic missile, so it doesn’t matter that we are second best military in Ukraine. We would still easily beat NATO!

7. Something about Ukraine developing nukes.

8. Something about Azov, despite the invasion making them heroes.

9. We have crushed Ukrainian nationalism.

10. Our Potemkin exchange rate shows how great our completely non-primitive farming and resource extraction economy is.

11. We never invaded.

12. We would invade again.

13. Ukraine deserved it.

14. We have very few casualties.

15. India didn’t actively sanction us, nor did Congo.

16. Ukrainian rightists won’t accept the peace deal that everyone thinks humiliates Russia, so Ukraine will have civil war, and then we will take all of Ukraine.

17. Ukrainian civilians will rebel when they find out real costs of war.

18. Neighbors of Ukraine will take advantage of Ukrainian weakness and will pick back up old conflicts to Ukraine’s disadvantage.

19. Numbers 16, 17 and 18 aren’t just projections of our own fears!

20. We are happy that our best and brightest have run away.

21. Cauldron encirclement cauldron encirclement pocket deep war encirclement master Russian tactics is coming really soon.

22. The US Dollar system is over.

23. But what about Western censorship?

24. But what about people not liking Russians after our invasion?

25. The war has just started. We always wanted a war of attrition with our supposedly brand spanking new professional army.

26. Russia has done amazingly well. We had so much less manpower. We have truly, by our advances only being defeated so far, rather than routed, won a David versus Goliath victory against hegemon Ukraine.

27. We’re going to start trying real soon.

28. No really, we were just letting the Ukrainians win.

29. We’ve been winning all of this time. Can’t you see that we are now at 10% of Ukraine’s territory, and even two weeks ago, were at 15%. This is tremendous.

30. We are not retreating. We are making tactical advances.

31. We’re going to keep the nuclear power stations in Ukrainian territory and own the Ukrainians’ electricity market.

32. The Chinese didn’t sanction us. They are our greatest friends.

Maybe. Or not. Kinda’ like the absence of any reports, at all, of Uke losses. No #’s on killed or captured Uke soldiers - even as the russkies capture more and more territory, towns, encirclements, raining down artillery and bombs. I guess that means the Ukes have all been at Disneyland.

At least CNN had a running tally of dead/wounded Americans when the US invaded Iraq. That is when there was a repub in the WH.

The MSM lied about Sinovirus, vaxxes, masking, laptops, and on and on, and yet you swallow this jizz! Geez! Get a logic filter already!

This is not pro/anti Putin or Uke. It is anti-lies. If you can’t or won’t recognize the propaganda, you have war fever. I prefer to make decisions [like going to war against a nuclear armed Russia] based on actual facts. And I can’t believe I have to keep posting this “disclaimer” in FR.

Why not post what logically makes sense? This is deescalation that is taking place as part of the peace process (exactly as Putin promised from day one). Peace breaking out really frustrates these bloody neocons.

From Tass this morning
The Russian delegation in Istanbul has received from their Ukrainian counterparts a “clearly phrased position,” Medinsky said. Kiev’s proposals, he said, will be studied in the near future and reported to the president, and then Moscow will come back with a response.

In addition, the official said, Russia is making two de-escalation steps, in the political and military areas. The first step is that Russia is offering Kiev to move forward the possible meeting between the countries’ leaders. While initially Putin and Zelensky were supposed to meet after their Foreign Ministries initial a peace treaty, now these two events are proposed to be held simultaneously.

The second step was announced by Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin. “As the talks <…> are moving on to the practical terms, the Russian Defense Ministry <…> has decided to drastically <…> reduce military activity toward Kiev and Chernigov,” he said.

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