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UPDATES: Western military sources told AFP Tuesday there had been an "incident" involving a US-made Reaper drone flying over the Black Sea, an area of intense NATO military activity close to the Ukraine war frontlines

Former U.S. ambassador to Russia John Sullivan said Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is concerned about his own safety as his lifestyle is being impacted by his ongoing war in Ukraine. CNN host Erin Burnett asked Sullivan during a TV appearance on OutFront about whether he thinks the Russian leader's lifestyle has been affected by the war. She was referring to a recent report that said Putin is now living with his girlfriend at a luxury estate outside of Moscow. Putin's reported luxurious lifestyle has been questioned by some, given the heavy sanctions that the West imposed on Russia...

Russia has lost an estimated five men for every Ukrainian soldier its forces have killed in the battle for Bakhmut, according to a Nato official. Speaking to CNN on condition of anonymity, the official said that Nato intelligence showed that Russia’s losses in the assault on the eastern salt-mining town far outweighed Ukraine’s. The official also said, however, that Ukraine’s losses defending the city were significant. Russia’s use of costly wave attacks have prompted comparisons to the First World War and the commander of the mercenary forces leading the assault has described the battle as a “meat grinder” for Russian...

This war need never have happened if Kissinger’s, and many others’, proposal for a neutral, non-NATO Ukraine had been accepted by the US in 2021, as Russia reasonably requested, and if Ukraine, at America’s direction, had ceased its eight year, US-sponsored war on the Donbas Russian speakers and Russian ethnics, and had enforced the Minsk II accords.But the US Military Industrial Complex wanted a war and got one. The object: To bleed and weaken Russia with a Vietnam-like quagmire.Russia appears to be surviving US sanctions quite comfortably, as new customers pop up in Asia for its natural gas and other...

MOSCOW, March 9 – RIA Novosti. The newspaper specifically asked the US administration’s largest commodity traders not to be afraid of deals on the supply of Russian oil, which is bought and sold at a ceiling price. Finance Times With reference to informed sources. According to the publication, representatives of the US Treasury Department met with executives of trading companies Trafigura and Gunvor. While Washington has never objected to the trade of Russian oil within the ceilings agreed by the G7, major oil traders have been wary of the market.

Ministry of Defense: Russian Armed Forces launched a retaliatory strike in response to the terrorist attacks of Ukraine in the Bryansk region Moscow, March 9-RIA Novosti. The Russian Armed Forces launched a major retaliatory missile attack on the military infrastructure of Ukraine in response to a terrorist attack in the Bryansk regions, according to a summary of the Ministry of Defense on the progress of the special operation. "High precision long-range air, sea and land-based weapons, including the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system, hit key elements of Ukraine's military infrastructure, enterprises of the military-industrial complex, as well as the energy facilities...

TLDR update Russian troops launched massive strikes at night on critical infrastructure in Ukraine.The list of the weapons involved in the attack has significantly expanded: the RF Armed Forces used kamikaze drones, cruise missiles, and even the Kinzhal hypersonic complex.What is known by now?Kiev: the engine room and boiler room of CHPP-5, a large generating station in the capital, were hit. Together with other hits, the city experienced significant problems with electricity and communications. Previously, the facility has repeatedly become the target of attacks by Russian troops, but the station still continued to work. If the Armed Forces of the...

Bakhmut and Debáltsevo

In what may be the biggest news regarding the conflict in Ukraine since it began, The New York Times is now reporting that U.S. officials believe a pro-Ukrainian group blew up the Nordstream 2 pipeline. That comes via “new” intelligence that has apparently been kicking around for a while. WASHINGTON — New intelligence reviewed by U.S. officials suggests that a pro-Ukrainian group carried out the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines last year, a step toward determining responsibility for an act of sabotage that has confounded investigators on both sides of the Atlantic for months. U.S. officials said that they...

Multiple high-level accusations of hohos using banned chemical weapons near Soledar and Bakhmut Bakhmut falls, ans there is nothing but open steppe between the Russians and the Dnieper river, no place for hohos to run or hide...