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“ Frolov 'sacrificed his life so that children, women and the elderly in Donbas would not hear bombs exploding again”, the St Petersburg governor said as his friend was laid to rest. The general was from a military family and 'died the death of the brave in battle against Ukrainian nationalists', Alexander Beglov added. He was 'a true patriot, a brave and courageous man' who 'honestly and to the end fulfilled his military and human duty. 'People will not forget their heroes. Eternal memory to him.' Russia also lost its 34th colonel of the war, tank battalion commander Miras Bashakov,...

Top FSB general is 'moved to high-security Moscow jail' as Putin steps up purge of spies who 'told him Ukrainians would welcome invasion' Sergei Beseda, head of the 5th Service of the FSB, was earlier under house arrest He has now been placed in pre-trial detention in notorious Lefortovo Prison The move will be seen as a warning to other senior aides of Vladimir Putin A top FSB intelligence official has been moved to a high security jail in Moscow as Vladimir Putin purges his secret services over the botched Ukraine invasion, say reports. Col-General Sergei Beseda, 68, head of...

PROOF Putin's soldiers and Wagner mercenaries carried out Bucha atrocities: German intelligence 'intercepts Russian troop messages discussing murders as part of strategy to sow terror' German intelligence agency BND has intercepted audio messages from Russian soldiers discussing killings Messages indicate the massacre was part of everyday Kremlin tactics and the Wagner Group was involved Spy chiefs believe there are similar scenes in other Ukrainian cities after further recordings were heard The barbaric atrocities at Bucha were part of a deliberate Kremlin strategy carried out in part by the feared Wagner Group of mercenaries, intercepted Russian radio transmissions have revealed. Germany's...

YouTube has suspended the account of Odessa-based Chinese national Wang Jixian after he reported on atrocities committed as Russian troops withdrew from Bucha, RFA has learned. Odessa-based programmer Wang has been uploading videos since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began last month, but hasn't published any new videos since one on March 30 in which he hits out at pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) critics as "human trash," and translates news reports of gang rape being committed by Russian troops in Bucha, including of a young girl. Wang had been uploading to the site daily, with the same introduction every time:...

Desperate Vladimir Putin is recruiting a Dad’s Army of old folks to prop up his creaking Ukraine invasion. The Russian army has put out an SOS for volunteers aged up to 60 after sustaining heavy losses during the disastrous six-week campaign. The military wants ex-soldiers nearing retirement age to rejoin in the Siberian cities of Chelyabinsk and Tyumen, according to Russian media. Moscow desperately wants old tank commanders, snipers and engineers. They would join up to 60,000 reservists recently called to active service along with 134,500 new conscripts forced into action. The conscripts - men aged 18 to 27 -...

Hundreds of dogs have been found dead at an animal shelter in Ukraine after Russian occupiers left them to starve in their cages for weeks. The UAnimals shelter in Borodyanka, just north of Kyiv, said that up to 485 dogs were locked in their cages by Russian forces shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24. There they remained without food or water for about a month as the occupiers left them to die, until staff were able to return to the compound on April 1 once the Russian soldiers had retreated. Footage released by the animal shelter...

A regiment of elite Russian fighters have suffered heavy losses at the hands of the fierce Ukrainian resistance, it has been reported. The 331st Guards Parachute Regiment are considered among the most fearsome and well-trained in the Russian army, having fought for the city of Ilovaisk in the Donbas in 2014. Their involvement in Russia's invasion of Ukraine this year, and fatalities they've suffered, is indicative of how the invasion hasn't gone as planned. The regiment's commanding officer, Col Sergei Sukharev, was killed in Ukraine on 13 March - a major blow for any military unit. His deputy Major Sergei...

The Russian departure was part of a planned withdrawal announced by Moscow a week ago but it ended in a chaotic and bloody retreat after a fierce tank battle last Thursday, said soldiers and volunteers who took part, and residents of the town. On Monday Ukrainian soldiers were piling the bodies of dead Russian soldiers into a trailer pulled by an army jeep. The soldiers were killed when a Ukrainian tank sneaked close to the entrance of the town and opened fire on the Russian checkpoint guarding the main intersection, according to soldiers and volunteers who took part. “It’s the...

Russian conscripts are being given 19th century rifles, made to drink from ponds filled with dead frogs and ordered to draw enemy fire, they have revealed. Soldiers in the Russian-backed Donbas region have spoken of how they have been sent to fight Ukraine's forces with no training, a lack of food and water, and inadequate equipment - as Moscow's armies continue to suffer heavy losses. -snip- The Donbas armed forces are fighting alongside Russian soldiers but are not part of the Russian armed forces, which have different rules about which troops they send into combat. Several Donbas draftees have been...

Given Russia's reliance on Ukraine for military components, UK defence sources say Russia's war effort is in serious trouble. Last night a source said: 'Serious amounts of components for Russian weapons systems were made there [Ukraine]. That won't be happening any more. 'Russia cannot manufacture this equipment itself or import it, so it won't be getting any of these materials any time soon. The hardware expended in Ukraine came from historic stockpiles, developed when there was greater cooperation between Russia and Ukraine. 'The integration of their industrial complexes meant a severing of relations would jeopardise Russia's ability to sustain military...

Flight tracking info suggests Putin may be in a hideaway near Surgut, in Siberia Defence minister Sergei Shoigu is believed to be in a bunker in Ufa, in the Urals Use of bunkers would be alarming as they suggest nuclear option is on the table New evidence has emerged Vladimir Putin and his highest ranking commanders are running the war in Ukraine from top secret nuclear bunkers. Movements of planes used by top Kremlin officials show Putin may be in a hideaway near Surgut, in western Siberia, it has been claimed. His defence minister Sergei Shoigu - who has been...

Russian state television has broadcast an extraordinary rant about the state of the war in Ukraine, warning Vladimir Putin’s regime faces “final and complete defeat”. Yakov Kedmi, an Israeli-Russian pundit and former diplomat, is usually a reliably pro-Kremlin voice. But in an appearance on the prime time show Tonight with Vladimir Soloviyev, he was remarkably negative about the situation in Ukraine. Mr Kedmi said Russia could not afford to compromise on the initial goal of its invasion, which was to take major Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, and overthrow the government. In his view, anything less than that –...

'Depressed' Vladimir Putin is 'set to hold a nuclear evacuation drill' with the Kremlin's doomsday plane after moving his family to a 'secret underground city' in Siberia, 'insider' account claims Questions have been raised over health and mental state of Russia's president Fears of nuclear conflict increased when he threatened NATO with 'consequences' if it intervened in the war, and put his nuclear forces on standby Now, a source has claimed he has told his close allies to prepare for nuclear drills An element of Russian plans for a nuclear war are a fleet of 'flying Kremlins' The doomsday planes...

Ukraine claimed today that its forces had shot dead the deputy commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in another significant blow to Vladimir Putin's forces. First rank captain Andrey Paliy, 51, is the only senior naval officer allegedly killed in the war in Ukraine, although Kyiv claims to have slain five army generals. Col Sergei Sukharev, of the 331st Guards Parachute Assault Regiment from Kostroma, was killed on March 18 and Andrei Sukhovetsky, 47, was killed during a special operation by a sniper on March 3. In addition, Major-General Oleg Mityaev, 47, commander of the army's 150th motorised rifle division,...

The signs are abundant of how Ukraine frustrated Vladimir Putin’s hopes for a swift victory, and how Russia's military proved far from ready for the fight. A truck carrying Russian troops crashes, its doors blown open by a rocket-propelled grenade. Foreign-supplied drones target Russian command posts. Orthodox priests in trailing vestments parade Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag in defiance of their Russian captors in the occupied city of Berdyansk. Russia has lost hundreds of tanks, many left charred or abandoned along the roads, and its death toll is on a pace to outstrip that of the country’s previous military campaigns....

#Ukraine: A new montage of clips from the Ukrainian Air Force's TB-2 drones, both observations of artillery fire on #Kherson Air Base a few days ago, and unspecified/older footage of artillery and drone munition strikes against Russian convoys. Ukraine Weapons Tracker @UAWeapons

Ukraine has accused Russia of staging airstrikes in Belarus to get its ally to join the conflict. Meanwhile, shelling hit a mosque sheltering more than 80 people in the port city of Mariupol.

The Ukrainian military has mounted an unexpectedly fierce defense against invading Russian forces, which have been dogged by logistical problems and flagging morale. But the war is barely two weeks old, and in Washington and European capitals, officials anticipate that the Russian military will reverse its early losses, setting the stage for a long, bloody insurgency. The ways that Western countries would support a Ukrainian resistance are beginning to take shape. Officials have been reluctant to discuss detailed plans, since they’re premised on a Russian military victory that, however likely, hasn’t happened yet. But as a first step, Ukraine’s allies...

Truncated title. Full title:Is Soros Funding An Agitprop Protest Movement to Destabilize Poland’s New Democratically Elected Government? As I have written about at length in these pages; on October 25th the Polish people decisively elected a new government delivering the largest popular mandate in modern Polish history (the post-1989 period) to the right of center Law & Justice party (PiS- Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc). This election was a stunning rebuke of the last ruling party, Civic Platform (PO- Platforma Obywatelska), which was founded by the current head of the European Council Donald Tusk, and their junior coalition partner PSL (the Marxist...

This election [Oct 25th] was a stunning rebuke of the last ruling party, Civic Platform (PO- Platforma Obywatelska), which was founded by the current head of the European Council Donald Tusk, and their junior coalition partner PSL (the Marxist farmers party). This ejection from power was galvanized by the widespread acceptance of their brazen years of corruption as well as their loudly telegraphed desire for deeper European Union (EU) integration, which was wholly unappealing to the mass of Poles on the ground. The debate reached fever pitch ahead of the parliamentary elections over the migrant crisis and the Brussels mandated...