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The Russian military blogger Igor Girkin has issued his latest broadside against how Russian President Vladimir Putin is conducting his invasion of Ukraine. Also known as Igor Strelkov, Girkin is a former Russian intelligence officer who played a major role in Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the conflict in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. He has given perceptive but unflattering assessments of Russia's military failures in Ukraine and his views on the military shortcomings of Putin and his commanders. In a video posted on his Telegram social media channel on Monday, Girkin told an audience in St. Petersburg how...

Footage from a fierce ongoing battle around Vuhledar, southwest of Donetsk, shows Russian soldiers retreating after their five vehicles were hit by Ukrainian artillery. The Russian troops were forced to run away and leave their wounded crawling behind them after being struck by airburst ammunition. -snip- Russia is said to be planning a 'new pre-emptive strike' in Ukraine according to satellite photos which show Putin's forces building up fortifications. The new offensive will reportedly take place ahead of the first anniversary of their invasion on February 24.

Russian lawmakers on Monday proposed placing restrictions on citizens attempting to leave the country. Yevgeny Moskvichev, the head of Russia's State Duma Committee on Transport and Infrastructure Development, put forward amendments to a transport law that would make it a requirement for Russian citizens, and others, to book a time and place in advance to cross the border. According to a copy of the legislative changes seen by Tass, Russia's state-run news agency, "Vehicles belonging to Russian transport companies, foreign transport companies, citizens of the Russian Federation, foreign citizens, stateless persons and other road users" must reserve a date and...

Vladimir Putin is said to have turned against the head of the feared Russian Wagner mercenary group after he 'failed to take the hint' and kept on bragging that his forces were achieving more success than Russia's army. Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has fallen out of favour with the Russian president after he continuously gloated his private paramilitary fighters were more superior and successful than the country's conventional forces, experts say. Earlier this month, Prigozhin bragged that his fighters had single-handedly taken control of the eastern Ukrainian town of Soledar, which has been razed by fighting. Putin is said to...

Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner Group of mercenaries has dominated headlines in Ukraine, has reportedly been sidelined by Vladimir Putin after failing to make good on his promises of military gains. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Prigozhin's "star has begun to set" following his boasts that his forces could capture the Donetsk city of Bakhmut. The think tank said on Sunday that Putin wanted to see what Prigozhin and his previous commander in Ukraine, General Sergey Surovikin could do after the conventional Russian military had suffered disastrous setbacks. "Both efforts failed," the ISW said, as Prigozhin's attempts...

Despite maintaining ‘good relations’ with Moscow, Iran says it will never recognise Crimea and four other regions of Donbas as Russian. During an interview on Thursday, January 19, with the Turkish TV channel TRT World, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Iran confirmed that Tehran did not recognise Crimea and four other regions of Donbas as Russian. This will come as a huge blow to President Vladimir Putin who clearly sees the Republic of Iran as an ally. Abdollahian insisted that Crimea, DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, with reference to the observance of international laws, were Ukrainian...

Vladimir Putin has deployed air defence systems around Moscow, suggesting the despot fears an attack from Ukraine. He has deployed lethal S-400 defence missiles to two locations in the capital, designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range missiles. Local residents say the deployments are new to the Russian capital. The tyrant's latest move comes after two drone strikes on Russian two air bases in Saratov and Ryazan in December, both suspected to be from Ukrainian forces. One S-400 air defence system has been deployed in fields belonging to the Russian State Agricultural University in the northwest of...

The Kremlin has started preparing for the 2024 presidential campaign under the assumption that it will go on as planned despite Russia’s grinding military campaign in Ukraine, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday, citing unnamed sources. President Vladimir Putin, 70, has been in power as president or prime minister since 1999. While Russian presidents are constitutionally limited to two terms, he gained the ability to seek election for a fifth term under 2020 constitutional amendments that reset the number of terms he has served. The Kremlin’s domestic policy bloc believes Putin will seek re-election in 2024, Kommersant reported, adding that...

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov on Thursday criticised a prohibition on Russian soldiers wearing beards, joining Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in the two men's latest outburst against the Russian military leadership. In an interview with the RBC news site on Wednesday, Viktor Sobolev, a retired lieutenant general and member of Russia's parliament, defended the ban on beards, personal smartphones and tablets as an "elementary part of military discipline". Writing on Telegram, the bearded Kadyrov, who has talked up the role of his troops in Russia's war in Ukraine, wrote: "Apparently, Lieutenant General Viktor Sobolev has a lot of free time...

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, an ally of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, warned NATO on Thursday that the defeat of Russia in Ukraine could trigger a nuclear war. Striking a similar tone at what he described as an anxious time for the country, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said trying to destroy Russia would mean the end of the world. -snip- Asked if Medvedev's remarks signified that Russia was escalating the crisis to a new level, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "No, it absolutely does not mean that." -snip- Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church,...

Infamous mercenary organization Wagner Group is feuding with the Russian military over who should get the praise for seizing control of Soledar, a town in eastern Ukraine. Russia's defense ministry said on Friday that its forces had captured the salt-mining town, killing over 700 Ukrainian troops and destroying more than 300 Ukrainian weapons systems over the past three days of battle, according to state media. Russia did not make any mention of Wagner, the paramilitary organization helping Russia fight in Ukraine. Wagner's founder Yevgeny Prigozhin wasn't happy with the apparent snub. Earlier this week, Prigozhin claimed in a statement that...

Yevgeny Prigozhin's feud with the Russian Defence Ministry over Soledar is escalating. Prigozhin shared a post on his Telegram feed that chastizes the Defence Ministry for claiming paratroopers helped Russia in in Soledar and said that Wagner Group fighters did it exclusively.

Vladimir Putin has shown his rage at Russia's collapsing economy and failing war effort, as he publicly humiliated his deputy prime minister during an angry rant. The fuming dictator blasted Denis Manturov in a government video conference for failing to procure military and civilian planes. He accused him of "fooling around" after the politician, a deputy PM and Trade and Industry Minister, flew on holiday to Turkey over New Year. The Kremlin leader also shook up his high command once again, promoting a number of loyalist generals. A video of Putin's furious rant showed the president declaring: “There are no...

The battle for Soledar in eastern Ukraine continues to intensify, with Ukraine denying claims by the private Russian Vagner military group that it had taken control of the salt-mining town. Ukraine's Defense Ministry cited "colossal losses" by Russian forces trying to capture the town in a sustained offensive that the ministry described on January 11 as "maniacal" as the community's fate hangs in the balance. -snip- Yevgeny Prigozhin, said his forces had taken control of Soledar, which lies near another heavily contested city, Bakhmut, after Russian troops regrouped during an Orthodox Christmas pause last weekend. -snip- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov...

The Russian Defense Ministry has demoted General Surovikin to deputy head of the united Russian troops in Ukraine & Valery Gerasimov is the new head. This occurs just after his near predecessor Lapin has been promoted.

Moscow has appointed Colonel-General Alexander Lapin as chief of staff of Russia’s ground forces, despite having been ousted as commander of the Russian Armed Forces' Central Military District in October, as Russian troops pursue a massive offensive in Donetsk, reports said Tuesday. The appointment was met with criticism from Russia hawks as Russian President Vladimir Putin looks to turn the tide in the near-year long war in Ukraine, where it has made little advances since it began losing territory in September. Lapin first received heavy backlash from top players in Putin’s war, including Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Wagner founder...

Russia's defence ministry says its forces are taking part in the battle for Soledar, a town north of Bakhmut in east Ukraine which has been the focus of recent fighting. It comes after the head of Russia's notoriously brutal Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed his fighters were in full control there and boasted that only his troops took part. Mr Prigozhin will most likely use any victory to bolster the reputation of Wagner as an effective fighting force in the eyes of President Putin. But the Russian defence ministry appeared to contradict the controversial oligarch's claims. Spokesman Igor Konashenkov...

-snip- While Xi and Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, pledged last month to deepen bilateral ties, several Chinese officials in private conversations with the Financial Times strove to put clear daylight between Beijing and Moscow on the issue of Ukraine — a message that has been repeated to some European diplomats. Some are scathing. “Putin is crazy,” says one Chinese official, who declined to be identified. “The invasion decision was made by a very small group of people. China shouldn’t simply follow Russia.” The starting point for Xi’s diplomatic reset is a re-evaluation in Beijing about the benefits of its close...

A Ukrainian Himars attack on a town in Russia-held eastern Ukraine flattened completely destroyed a vast building holding several hundred Russian mobilised men inside. Early estimates from Kyiv and from pro-Russian sources suggest the New Year’s Eve attack on the barracks in Makiivka could be Russia’s single biggest loss of life since the start of the invasion last February. The Ukrainian military on Monday mocked Russia over the attack on a former school building in Makiivka, a suburb of Donetsk, attributing it to “smoking in inappropriate places” and claiming that it killed “about 400” people. A former Ukrainian separatist commander...

Megalomania induced by cancer drugs was a factor in Vladimir Putin's decision to launch his disastrous war in Ukraine, new Western intelligence analysis claims. -snip- The analysis comes as the Kremlin yesterday admitted that concerns over Putin's health are now a matter of 'state security' amid Covid mutations and emerging flu strains. This means the Russian leader may retreat even further from public gaze in early 2023 after having cancelled a series of events and appearances in recent months. -snip- The Kremlin has paved the way for Putin to retreat for health-related reasons soon after his annual prerecorded New Year...