Free Republic

“Early retirement” is a strange way to describe a 44-year-old’s acceptance of a new government role, but for Mikk Marran, Estonia’s spymaster, it feels a lot like that. As of next month he will no longer helm Välisluureamet, the Baltic state’s foreign intelligence service, which, long before Vladimir Putin’s faltering invasion of Ukraine, was at the forefront of assessing the threats and capabilities of a resurgent and revanchist Russia.(snip) According to one former high-ranking U.S. intelligence officer, “Estonia punches far above its weight on Russian affairs. The respect for Marran and his service in the U.S. intelligence community is quite...

Click to enlargeAttack On Kerch Bridge: Initial Geolocation Of Damage🇷🇺 This will undoubtedly go down in history as a textbook conventional strategic strike on vital infrastructure. Yet we do not yet know how it was achieved. The fog of war is still thick, just hours after the attack.Ahead of fresh satellite imagery, I have made a first pass at geolocating the damage, caveats apply. It appears to be south of the steel arches over the shipping lane.At least three spans of road appear to have collapsed into the sea. There are two sets of lanes and only the inbound (towards...

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...

PM Mishustin would become acting president and elections would be held, but experts say the substance of a post-Putin Russia is tough to predict. In recent months, the health of Russian President Vladimir Putin has been the subject of much speculation, with claims that he has cancer, Parkinson’s, or has even survived an assassination attempt. But so far, no doctor’s note has been produced. “He can stay in power for 10 years or more if he wants, it really depends on the circumstances,” political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya told Al Jazeera. “I wouldn’t really pay too much attention to the problem...

For Russia, the numbers are catastrophic. From Wednesday to Sunday, Vladimir Putin’s military forces saw at least 338 pieces of important military hardware – from fighter jets to tanks to trucks – destroyed, damaged or captured, according to numbers from the open source intelligence website Oryx, as Ukraine’s forces have bolted through Russian-held territory in an offensive that has stunned the Russians in its speed and breadth. Ukraine’s top military commander claimed on Sunday that more than 3,000 square kilometers (1,158 square miles) of territory had been retaken by his country’s forces since the beginning of September. And for more...

Government appears to turn blind eye to sale, opting not to torpedo deal for ‘advanced defensive technology’ that Defense Ministry has barred companies from supplying to Kyiv. An Israeli defense contractor is supplying anti-drone systems to Ukraine’s military by way of Poland, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site Zman Yisrael reported Monday. A source in the firm told Zman that the equipment was being sold to Poland to circumvent Israel’s refusal to sell advanced arms to Ukraine. The company reported to the Defense Ministry that the sale was to Poland and appeared to be claiming not to be aware...

Ukrainian Intelligence reports that due to successful counteroffensive of Ukrainian forces on several fronts, Russian occupiers are looking for a way to escape, calling their wives and asking the Russian Ministry of Defense to get them out of Ukraine. Source: Ukrainian Chief Intelligence Directorate Quote: "The 237th Guards Airborne Assault Regiment of the Russian Federation no longer exists due to either death or injury of all soldiers. A large part of those who survived are in extremely serious condition." Details: It is noted that the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian troops forces the occupiers to ask the Red Cross for help...

Drunken invaders with machine guns are walking around the ZAES, the shelling is carried out accurately: the station employee told what is happening The Russian military is trying to create a "normal life" for the picture at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, but in fact they pulled their military equipment there, mined the coastline of the hydraulic shop, and "guards"-invaders walk drunk around the territory with weapons. The enemy conducts targeted attacks on ZAES objects, knowing exactly where to hit them. This was stated on condition of anonymity in an interview with Suspilny by an employee who continues to work...