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A Telegram channel linked to the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary outfit involved in current offensives in Ukraine's eastern region, has released footage that purportedly shows Russian tanks running over troops in the city of Vuhledar. -snip- Grey Zone, a pro-Kremlin Telegram channel, posted footage purportedly from the recent clashes in Vuhledar. "In Vuhledar, a complete f****** is happening, and it is happening over and over again, often in commanding of the same units that were trumpeting about problems previously, but the problems are not ending," the channel said in a post accompanying the videos. -snip- "At least 30 pieces...

Russia's federal media watchdog tasks its spooks with protecting Vladimir Putin from memes that portray him as a 'bald dwarf', 'a crab', or 'a Hitler wannabe'. That is according to reports on a leak out of Roskomnadzor, the main agency behind online censorship in Moscow that is responsible for blocking material about the on-going invasion of Ukraine and any disparaging posts about the Russian president. Analysis of the leaks found that the agency compiles reports on all 'negative publications', and sends them 'upstairs' to the Kremlin and Russia's security services to brief them on all of the despot's critics via...

The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group has said in a rare interview that it could take two years for Moscow to control the whole of two eastern Ukrainian regions whose capture it has stated as a key goal of the war. Yevgeny Prigozhin said his understanding of Russia's plan was that it needed to fully control the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that Moscow last year claimed as "republics" of Russia, in a move condemned by most countries of the United Nations as illegal. "As far as I understand, we need to close off the Donetsk and Luhansk republics and...

Chechen warlord and close Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov has signalled his intent to invade Poland next should Russia be victorious in Ukraine. ‘I have repeatedly stated that the fight against Satanism should continue throughout Europe and, first of all, on the territory of Poland,’ he said on Telegram. Kadyrov added: ‘What if, after the successful completion of the NMD (National Missile Defence), Russia begins to denazify and demilitarise the next country? ‘After all, after Ukraine, Poland is on the map! I will not hide that I personally have such an intention.’ Elsewhere this week, Kadyrov, 46, was awarded the title...

Ukrainian forces have put an advanced Russian BMPT Terminator armored fighting vehicle out of commission for the first time, according to the Ukrainian Marines. The Terminator is a relatively new addition to Russia's ground arsenal and only a small number of them are known to be in service, making this kill quite the trophy for the Ukrainian military. Members of the Ukrainian Marine Corps’ 140th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion helped destroy the BMPT, according to a post on the service’s official Facebook page. The post explains the Marines belonging to the unit shared the Terminator’s coordinates with nearby artillery forces, who...

Belarus on Friday condemned as "catastrophic" a decision by Poland to close a border checkpoint between the two countries, saying it could lead to a collapse on both sides of the border. Poland said on Thursday, citing security concerns, it would close a key border crossing into Belarus at Bobrowniki, starting at 12 p.m. (1100 GMT) on Friday, driving already hostile relations between the two countries to a new low. -snip- Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Poland might close further border crossings. "We are not excluding closing other border crossings with Belarus," he told a news conference in...

Despite disagreements between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev, the prelude to the transit of power continues. Personnel changes in the Security Council are one of the manifestations. If the transit scenario is implemented, simultaneously with the appointment of Dmitry Patrushev as prime minister, his father Nikolai Patrushev leaves the Security Council, and Rashid Nurgaliev takes his place. Averyanov was sent to "look after" the Medvedev, just in case.

Ukraine is bracing for a grisly Russian offensive in the Donbas. Moscow has concentrated hundreds of thousands of troops in the country’s east, using brute-force tactics and human waves in a bid to chip away at the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ defenses. Amid a recent surge in fighting, many military analysts believe the long-awaited Russian offensive is already underway and is expected to accelerate as the first anniversary of the invasion approaches. “Something is brewing in the east,” said Jonatan Vseviov, secretary-general of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “More and more Russian soldiers are arriving on the front,” he said....

A slide in Russian revenue from oil and gas clashed against the Kremlin ramping up spending on its nearly year-long war against Ukraine, resulting in a wider budget deficit for the country in January. Oil and gas revenue tumbled 46% in January from the same month a year ago to 426 billion rubles ($5.96 billion), Russia's finance ministry said Monday in a preliminary release. It attributed the decline largely to a drop in prices for its Urals blend — its largest crude oil export — and to a fall in exports for natural gas. Russia sold Urals at an average...

Russian President Vladimir Putin himself held only a meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council of the Russian Federation via videoconference. After the main part, the meeting continued in a narrow format. We discussed the state of affairs at the front and a number of related topics. The President was informed that in connection with the resumption of the offensive in a number of sectors of the front in the last five days, Russian troops have suffered heavy losses both in manpower and in equipment. Putin was also informed about the problems with the provision and the possibility...

Russia’s widely-anticipated winter offensive has begun. Aiming to extend its control over eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, Russian troops are attacking north and south of Donetsk city. In the northern sector, around the city of Bakhmut, the Russians slowly are advancing—albeit at staggering cost. In the south, around Vuhledar, the Russians’ losses are just as steep—but they’ve made no clear gains that could justify the casualties. Vuhledar is turning into a meatgrinder for the Russian army, with enormous implications for the wider offensive. The latest Russian attack on Vuhledar—a town with a pre-war population of just 14,000 that lies a mile...

The heavy casualties suffered by Russian paratroopers in Ukraine has one Russian expert calling for a rethink of Russia's airborne units. Many of the recent criticisms about the performance of Russia's elite parachute force, known as the VDV, have been voiced about lightly armed airborne units since World War II. The problems range from poorly designed vehicles to parachute drops conducted without first suppressing enemy air defenses. -snip- Russia's huge airborne force, composed of 45,000 paratroopers in four divisions, is actually a separate military branch that serves as shock troops and a rapid-intervention force. Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February...

Vladimir Putin's underfire defence minister Sergei Shoigu was seen limping through a palace hall in Belarus today, months after the Kremlin denied that he had suffered a heart attack. The Russian defence minister — notionally in charge of Russia's invasion of Ukraine — was seen limping in the Palace of Independence in Minsk, with his right hand in his pocket. No explanation was immediately given for his condition.

Russian troops DESTROY Ukraine dam then flee Kherson dressed as CIVILIANS in the face of furious Ukraine fire as liberated locals celebrate and shamed Putin suffers 'significant reputational damage' from retreat -Russian troops destroyed a key Ukrainian dam before fleeing Kherson dressed as civilians as they fled region -Video showed moment Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River was blown up by retreating Russian soldiers -Antonovsky Bridge has also been destroyed, which is the other main crossing point into Kherson Region -Satellite images emerged showing damage to Nova Kakhovka dam analysts say was 'deliberately destroyed' -Breaching Soviet-era dam could see...

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday ordered his troops to withdraw from the occupied Ukrainian city of Kherson and take up defensive lines on the opposite bank of the River Dnipro. The announcement marked one of Russia's most significant retreats and a potential turning point in the war, now nearing the end of its ninth month. In televised comments, General Sergei Surovikin, in overall command of the war, said it was no longer possible to keep Kherson city supplied. -snip- The announcement had been anticipated by Russia's influential war bloggers, who described it as a bitter blow. "Apparently we...

Videos show desperate Russian troops fleeing from their burning tanks and a group of soldiers being blown up by Ukrainian missiles during a disastrous assault on a town in eastern Ukraine that saw 300 soldiers reportedly killed or wounded. Footage shows Russian marines from the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade driving a burning T-80BVM tank, along a road in the largely destroyed town of Pavlivka, as flames and black smoke erupted from the vehicle following a Ukrainian strike. A group of Russian soldiers can be seen climbing on top of the tank and jumping down before they ran away from the...

A Russian-installed occupation official in southern Ukraine said on Thursday Moscow was likely to pull its troops from the west bank of the Dnipro River, signalling a huge retreat that, if confirmed, would be a major turning point in the war. Still, Ukrainian officials and Western analysts remained cautious about signs that Russia was abandoning the area, and there was silence from higher-ups in Moscow over what would amount to one of Russia's most humiliating retreats so far. Kyiv said it was still fighting in the area and was wary that Moscow could be setting a trap by feigning a...

Vladimir Putin does have early stage Parkinson's disease and pancreatic cancer, leaked spy documents have alleged in the latest unverified claim about the tyrant's ill health. The Russian leader has been plagued with rumours about his illnesses for months and he has regularly appeared twitching and unsteady in public, sparking hope in Ukraine and the West the despot could soon relinquish power. Claims have been circulating among opposition figures, fuelled by his unexplained absences and his shaky public appearances, that he is battling serious health problems but they have always been rubbished by the Kremlin. -snip- 'Putin is regularly stuffed...

Vladimir Putin's conscripts have been filmed drunkenly battering each other in an alcohol-fuelled brawl at a training barracks ahead of their deployment to the battlefields of Ukraine. An extraordinary leaked video shows the 'drunk' soldiers punching each other, with some ending up unconscious on the floor during the fight at the barracks in Yurga, Siberia. The video shows Putin's army intelligence and military police dragging the unconscious troops, who are from the 74th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, along the street and away from the bloody brawl. The footage tallies with reports of low morale and drunkenness among Russian recruits and...

Nearly 1,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in one day in Ukraine, Kyiv has claimed, marking the deadliest day for Vladimir Putin since his troops invaded eight months ago. Ukrainian forces have been making gains across Russian-occupied areas, with fighting intensifying in the country's east and in the southern city of Kherson. -snip- And in yet another example of his forces' incompetence, video shows panic-stricken Russian soldiers fleeing a Ukrainian attack on an armoured vehicle - only for it to flip over and fling the troops into the air. Footage, apparently from Kherson, shows Russian soldiers running towards an armoured...