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Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, Commander of the Tavriia Operational and Strategic Group of Forces (OSGF), has reported that Ukraine will appeal to international humanitarian organisations and intermediary countries over "a certain number" of Ukrainian soldiers captured in the war-torn town of Avdiivka. The withdrawal of personnel from Avdiivka took place in accordance with a plan developed with due regard to various scenarios and possible changes in the operational situation. Nevertheless, at the final stage of the operation, under the pressure of the enemy's superior forces, a certain number of Ukrainian soldiers were captured."

Average age of ukie soldiers is now around 43Ukie army apparently is now a sort of an old folks home...

Volodymyr Zelensky has asked Marina Abramović, the performance artist, to be an ambassador for Ukraine.‌Ms Abramović, a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion, said the Ukrainian president had asked for her help in rebuilding schools.‌The 76-year-old Serbian is holding her first solo exhibition in the UK and is the first female artist to have a major show in the Main Galleries of the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Russia has sparked a "mad panic" as it evacuates a town near the contested Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, a Ukrainian official says. Russia has told people to leave 18 settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region, including Enerhodar near the plant, ahead of Kyiv's anticipated offensive. The Ukrainian mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, said there were five-hour waits as thousands of cars left. The UN's nuclear watchdog warned a "severe nuclear accident" could occur. Speaking to the BBC's Newshour programme Rafael Grossi - the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - said the evacuation of residents near the nuclear plant...

Putin visited the grouping in the Kherson region and the Vostok grouping in the LPR. Video at link

Russia's mounting offensive in eastern Ukraine has left the West in panic. EU foreign affairs chief Joseph Borrell warned member nations that the war in Ukraine will be over unless the bloc finds a way to speed up provision of ammunition to Ukraine within weeks. The EU defence minister will hold a special meeting next month to discuss further military aid to Ukraine from their existing stocks. Borrell said "much more has to be done much quicker'. ...

Alternative suppliers and a warm winter have brought European gas prices below 50 euros per megawatt hour. That marks an 85% drop from the price peak last year, when Russia cut gas exports and sparked a price spike. Natural gas prices are now equivalent to $85 per barrel, nearly on par with Brent crude oil at around $83. Thanks to a warm winter and support from new suppliers, European natural gas prices have dropped below 50 euros per megawatt hour and hit the lowest level in 18 months. On Friday, the benchmark TTF contract fell 5% to a low of...

Ukrainian forces have reportedly blown up a bridge near the eastern city of Bakhmut, in a sign they may be planning to retreat from the area, which would give Russia a significant, symbolic boost ahead of the first anniversary of the war. Troops blew up the bridge on Monday, according to a local Donetsk region news site. Ukraine denies it intends to leave Bakhmut, despite six months of heavy fighting and reportedly dwindling stockpiles. It appears the Kremlin is concentrating maximum force on capturing Bakhmut before the one-year anniversary of the invasion on 24 February. Ukraine and its western allies...

Graphic drone footage appears to show dozens of Russian armored vehicles getting ambushed and destroyed during a single botched attack near the coal-mining town of Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine, which Moscow’s forces have been trying to capture for months. Vuhledar, a Ukrainian stronghold at the strategic intersection between the eastern and southern front lines, has seen some of the bloodiest fighting of the war as the Kremlin is gearing up for a decisive offensive on the eastern front. Based on the newly released video evidence, a column of dozens of tanks and armored vehicles was lost or damaged last week,...

Guests: Joseph Friedberg Today on "Rock Rachon" we discuss the new major offensive of the Russian army in Ukraine. According to ISW the invaders regained initiative. We discuss this with our guest, one of the founders of Mriya Report mr. Joseph Friedberg. Mr. Friedberg discusses the movements on the fronts and the huge losses Ruskies are suffering.

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...

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...

In contrast to the uplifting statements of the top Ukrainian leadership and Yermak's publications about the "task to reach the borders of 1991 by military means", the Ukrainian military personnel stationed in Bakhmut (Artyomovsk) are sounding a real alarm. The statement of the former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and now an officer of the 72nd brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Igor Lutsenko is published on the network. This statement attracts special attention, since it (as Lutsenko himself writes) is firsthand, from Ukrainian soldiers stationed in Bakhmut:"The 30th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near...

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, meanwhile, gleefully predicted that Europeans would be “freezing in their homes” because they hadn’t thought through the consequences of throwing their support behind Ukraine. “The cold is coming soon,” he said, menacingly, in June last year. But as the European Union enters the last month of the meteorological winter in 2023, signs are becoming clearer that its members have weathered an historic crisis – and not just because “General Frost” has proved a milder adversary than Medvedev predicted. Within eight months of Russian troops setting foot on Ukrainian soil, the bloc of 27 European states...

It would appear that Zelensky has lost favour with the west and is on the way out. His government is falling to pieces, numerous high-profile resignations are now frequent. It all started with the death of his internal affairs minister when the chopper carrying him with 9 others (presumed NATO) was shot down presumably by his own. The EU looks to be scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to ammunitions, all of the old stores have been bled dry. Apparently, the EU/Germany will not be handing over planes at this time. The German chancellor was recently reminded...

The Biden administration on Tuesday formally accused Russia of violating the New START arms treaty over what it said was Moscow‘s failure to allow inspections of weapons sites or agree to meetings on treaty disputes. President Biden agreed to extend the New START treaty — one of the last major arms control treaties still in force — for five years shortly after taking office in January 2021 — without seeking changes or concessions from the Kremlin related to its strategic forces buildup. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine barely a year later has put bilateral relations in a...

St Petersburg outfit hijacks discussions on Twitter, TikTok, world leaders’ social accounts and media websites, as well as manipulating opinion polls ...Online operatives were found to be ordering followers to target western media outlets and politicians The headquarters is allegedly located in rented space in St Petersburg’s Arsenal Machine-building Factory, a company that manufactures military equipment and technology. The study details how the Russian president’s regime is trying to manipulate public opinion on social media, as well as in the comments sections of major media outlets. Targets include the social media accounts of Boris Johnson, the British prime minister; the...

Kovaliov said the situation in Bakhmut was under control, and Ukrainian forces were fighting back the invaders. “As long as there are basements in Bakhmut and the ability to hold this territory, the fighters will stay there,” Kovaliov said. He added that invading Russian forces had obliterated the nearby town of Soledar, so the Ukrainian military had taken the decision to leave it. Serhiy Cherevatyi, the spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, announced on Jan. 25 that Ukrainian troops had withdrawn from Soledar to save lives, as the main task there had been accomplished. According to...

I believe that a country’s history shapes how its citizens view themselves and view the world outside their borders. If you accept that as true I believe you can understand why the United States acts as it does in the world. The United States, until now, has faced one existential threat — the Civil War. I count it as existential because the union of the states was at risk and a victory by the Confederacy would have created a very different America.The creation of the United States by defeating the British imperial power was followed by taking control, at times...

Paris (AFP) – Germany is ready to authorise Poland to send German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine to help Kyiv fight the Russian invasion if Warsaw makes such a request, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Sunday. "If we are asked the question, then we will not stand in the way," Baerbock told LCI television after a Franco-German summit meeting in Paris. "We know how important these tanks are and this is why we are discussing this now with our partners. We need to make sure people's lives are saved and Ukraine's territory liberated." Baerbock, who represents the Greens in Social Democrat...