[MAIL] Russia's 'highest-earning elected politician' who had criticised Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine has been found dead after a mysterious fall from a hotel in India.
Sausage multi-millionaire Pavel Antov, from the main pro-Putin party United Russia, had been on a trip to celebrate his upcoming 66th birthday.
A male friend in his party had died 'from a heart attack' on Thursday last week, and the wealthy politician perished two days later.
The married tycoon, an MP in the legislative assembly of the Vladimir region, was listed as Russia's highest-earning elected official in 2019.
The Russian Consul General in Kolkata Alexei Idamkin told TASS he 'fell' out of a hotel window in Rayagada, Odisha state.
#2
Oh, I think when the choice is "Do you want to go out this window or off that chair with a rope around your neck?" most of the "big thinkers" at WEF will be speechless...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/27/2022 7:51 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Appears to be a group of Putin's Angels going around giving folks their wings,,,,
[France24] The US and its NATO allies together with Ukraine want to defeat Russia "on the battlefield" in order to destroy it, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the state TASS agency in remarks published Monday.
"The actions of the countries of the collective West and (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky under their control confirm the global nature of the Ukrainian crisis," Lavrov said.
"It is no secret to anyone that the strategic goal of the United States and its NATO allies is to defeat Russia on the battlefield as a mechanism for significantly weakening or even destroying our country."
#3
The past days are no more. Russia is USSR no more. Among the Russians Putin is said to have 85% approval. Russians are ready to go. Putin has had to manage this enthusiasm. EU as with Sweden wants someone else to go to war on their behalf. 60% of Poles don't want war with Russia as well. Lindsey Olin Graham is so out of touch as usual as he leads the charge here.
#8
Destroy, De fang with what. Old equipment and no chips for equipment(major shortage at this time). Dream on. All the west can do is throw money and hope for the best.
#9
More like give stuff that is in warehouses that is still better than old upgraded Soviet shit. There is a lot of old Soviet shit. A lot. That requires a lot of munitions to kill them. Even old, they beat a crunchie with a rifle. Gotta have something to take them out. And Russia is losing them in very large quantities. Hence the de-fang. And they are also losing a lot of their breeding population (granted a lot are minorities in Russia but still). Demographic collapse increasing.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [Korrespondent] 22:29 As of the evening of December 26, in different regions of Ukraine, about 9 million people were disconnected from electricity, but the number and duration of outages are still gradually decreasing, Zelensky said.
22:16 Zelensky, in an evening video message, spoke about the situation at the front: "Bakhmut, Kremennaya and other areas in the Donbass, which now require maximum strength and concentration, the situation there is difficult, painful. The occupiers are spending all the resources available to them - and these are significant resources, - to squeeze out some promotion."
The president also said that he had held a special meeting with officials on the situation in energy and infrastructure: “We are preparing for next year, and not only for the winter months. There are threats that we must eliminate. There are steps that must be taken. And the state must take them will do."
In addition, Zelensky said that today he held an expanded meeting on the results of his visit to the United States and the implementation of the agreements: "We will not waste time. We will implement everything that was agreed in Washington quickly. As much as possible."
21:44 Ukraine intends to hold a peace formula summit by the end of February 2023, UN Secretary General António Guterres is considered as a mediator, Kuleba said in an interview with AP: "The UN could be the best place to hold this summit, because we are not talking about to do a favor for a particular country. It's about getting everyone involved."
Answering a question about whether Russia would be invited to the summit, the Foreign Minister said that first she should be held accountable for war crimes - for example, in an international court. "Only in this way can they be invited to this initiative," he added.
21:09 The United States has developed a special plan for the accelerated deployment of Patriot air defense systems in Ukraine, Kuleba said in an interview with AP. According to him, the Patriot battery will be ready for operation in Ukraine in less than six months, while preparation usually takes up to a year.
20:50 Thanks to the redistribution of electricity, all districts of Kiev are now provided with a periodic supply of light, damaged nodes are still being repaired, Yasno CEO Sergei Kovalenko said.
19:56 A new commander of the troops of the Western Military District has been appointed in the Russian Federation: Colonel General Sergei Kuzovlev, who managed to stay in this post for only about a month, was replaced by Lieutenant General Yevgeny Nikiforov. Prior to this appointment, he served as chief of staff - first deputy commander of the Eastern Military District, Ukrainian military intelligence reported. It is known that at present, General Nikiforov is at the command post of the West group of troops in Boguchar, Voronezh region.
As a formal reason for the dismissal of Kuzovlev, the failure to prepare an offensive in the Liman direction was announced. However, in fact, this is a manifestation of the internal political struggle in the top leadership of the Russian Federation: a person from the orbit of Shoigu-Gerasimov is being exchanged for a candidate from the Surovikin-Prigozhin group, reports the GUR. General Nikiforov became the fourth commander of the Western Military District since the start of a full-scale invasion.
18:44 The Russians are concentrating their efforts on conducting offensive operations in the Bakhmut and Liman directions, in Kupyansky, Avdeevsky and Zaporozhye - they are trying to improve the tactical situation. The enemy is on the defensive in the Novopavlovsk and Kherson directions, the General Staff reported in the evening summary.
In Tokmak, Zaporozhye region, the occupiers stepped up administrative and police measures. The servicemen, together with local collaborators, seek out patriotic Ukrainian citizens, check laptops, phones, and search homes.
18:29 Kazakhstan will not join the sanctions against Russia, but will not help it bypass the existing regime of restrictions, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic Mukhtar Teleuberdi.
17:41 Ukrenergo warned about the spread of a fake about the alleged cancellation of emergency power outages with a link to a fake company page. "This is an attempt to stir up the public with false information," Ukrenergo stressed.
17:02 The EBRD will help about 80 Ukrainian small and medium-sized businesses to leave the areas of Ukraine most affected by the Russian invasion. For these needs, the United States and Switzerland allocated 2.4 million euros in a targeted grant. Companies will be able to apply for up to 30,000 euros.
16:43 Air Defense Day in Russia began with "gifts": an explosion occurred at the strategic aviation airfield in Engels, Saratov Region. A "holiday" siren sounded in the city itself, and, according to media reports, there was a large-scale "fire show" at the air base. For more details, see Second Impact .
15:52 Zelensky said that he had a telephone conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi: "I wished an effective chairmanship of the G20. It was on this platform that I announced the peace formula, and now I count on India's participation in its implementation. He thanked the humanitarian aid and support at the UN."
15:29 Ukraine has initiated a comprehensive process aimed at excluding Russia from the UN Security Council and the UN as a whole , the Foreign Ministry said. The ministry’s statement emphasizes that the Russian Federation took the seat of a permanent member of the UN Security Council, bypassing the procedures defined by the UN Charter: this happened on the basis of a regular letter from RSFSR President Boris Yeltsin addressed to the UN Secretary General. The current UN Charter does not contain the words "Russian Federation". They are not, in particular, in Article 23 of the Charter, which lists the permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Ukraine declares that Russia must go through the same international legal path of gaining UN membership as other countries. At the same time, the return of the Russian Federation to the UN in the future can be considered only if it meets the criteria for UN membership. "From a legal and political point of view, there can be only one conclusion: Russia is a usurper of the Soviet Union's seat in the UN Security Council," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
In addition, the right of the Russian Federation to be a member of the UN as a whole is also doubtful, since it does not meet the main criterion for membership in the Organization. Article 4, paragraph 1, clearly states that UN membership is open to all peace-loving states. While the actions of the Russian Federation are opposite to the concept of "peacefulness". "Three decades of her illegal tenure at the UN were marked by wars and the seizure of the territories of other countries, the forceful change of internationally recognized borders, attempts to satisfy predatory and neo-imperial ambitions," the statement says. At the same time, the Russian Federation "refuses to comply with the mandatory order of the International Court of Justice and the resolutions of the UN General Assembly."
Ukraine calls on UN member states to renew the application of the UN Charter in the issue of the legitimacy of the Russian Federation's stay in the UN, deprive the Russian Federation of the status of a permanent member of the UN Security Council and exclude it from the UN as a whole. Ukraine is ready to cooperate with other countries to jointly protect the UN Charter and international law from the destructive influence of the Russian Federation, the statement says.
14:58 The Armed Forces of Ukraine are already near Kremennaya, and the military command of the Russian Federation has moved from this city to Rubizhne, said the head of the Luhansk OVA Serhiy Gaidai. According to him, fierce battles are going on outside the city.
14:45 Ukrainian air defense has already destroyed 70 Iranian kamikaze drones from the second batch, Yuriy Ignat, spokesman for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said. According to him, the Russians have already carried out four waves of attacks with drones from the second batch. Ignat stressed that the enemy still has drones, and he will intensify attacks.
14:32 Rossiyskiye Vedomosti, citing sources, writes that the Kremlin intends to hold regional elections in the annexed Ukrainian territories in September 2023, even under martial law.
14:18 The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation put Christ Grozev, a journalist from the international group Bellingcat, on the wanted list. A criminal case was opened against him for "spreading fakes about the Russian army."
13:52 In the east of Ukraine, a new domestic reconnaissance drone Dovbush T10 is being tested. This is a multifunctional UAV that can be upgraded into a reconnaissance or strike drone. Volodymyr Yatsenko, organizer of the project for the production of drones, said that thanks to the latest software and special equipment, the Ukrainian drone is practically inaccessible to enemy EW and air defense forces.
According to him, drones are produced in one of the countries of Europe, they plan to increase the production volume to ten or more per day. The weak point of the Ukrainian drone, like most others, is the impact of adverse weather conditions on their work. Yatsenko added that now the main task is the production of high-precision weapons, with an impact error of 1-2 meters.
13:40 Russia is preparing for a massive strike on the territory of Ukraine, but pinpoint strikes are not excluded, said OK Pivden speaker Natalya Gumenyuk. According to her, now there is one surface and two underwater rocket carriers in the sea with a total salvo of 16 Caliber missiles. “We remember that they have such an inclination to repeat operations that are more or less significant for them. Therefore, if we recall on December 5, how they were preparing for a massive missile attack, when they launched both launch vehicles into the sea and raised strategic and tactical aviation ", in principle, everything is very similar. We are ready for this. We are aware that such a strike is possible," Gumenyuk stressed.
According to her, the Russians are running out of missiles, but the enemy should not be underestimated: "We see that they are looking for an opportunity to delay the course of events, to take a so-called operational pause in order to bring up reserves. But our counteraction is adequate, we will not give them such a pause."
13:29 The FSB announced the liquidation of an allegedly Ukrainian DRG consisting of four people who tried to penetrate from the territory of Ukraine to the Bryansk region, "they had German SIG Sauer submachine guns and four 40 kg bombs in TNT equivalent with them."
13:16 In the Kherson region, in the settlements located near the Dnieper, due to the constant attacks of the Russians, it is almost impossible to ensure a stable heat and water supply. The head of the OVA, Yaroslav Yanushevich, calls on local residents to evacuate - for this, free buses run from Kherson to Odessa via Nikolaev. Another opportunity to leave is a daily train from Kherson to Khmelnitsky, where all evacuees will be provided with housing, food packages and cash payments.
12:23 Budanov said in an interview with LIGA that the Russians had only 47 Daggers by the beginning of the war: "During this time they were able to make a few, while there were spare parts. This is not serious. You can scare the world with the fact that you have a Dagger. But when you start you can actually use them - what next? You can deliver 47 hits. To understand, more than 900 Iskanders were used ... It is almost impossible to produce them now. They cannot get many components due to sanctions. They do parallel imports, but this makes it very difficult and increases the delivery time of these parts. And some of them, in spite of everything, cannot get it."
11:56 Erdogan accused the West of "provocations" in the issue of Ukraine: "Unfortunately, the West was only engaged in provocations and could not make efforts to become a mediator in the Ukrainian-Russian war. Turkey took on the role of a mediator in 2022 and achieved the launch Black Sea Grain Corridor. According to him, as part of the food deal, Europe received 44% of supplies, Turkey - 16%, African countries - 14%.
11:37 As of December 26, the power shortage in the energy system remains significant, Ukrenergo reported. There are also restrictions in the power transmission system as a result of significant damage to the backbone networks by massive Russian attacks. Consumption limits have been brought to all regions. Due to exceeding the consumption limits, emergency shutdowns were introduced in Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, Kharkiv, Lvov, Kyiv regions and in Kyiv.
11:05 The Russians are massively shelling the entire territory of Ukraine, but most often they are aiming at critical infrastructure facilities near Kiev, Yuriy Ignat, spokesman for the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said: "The capital is attacked the most. It is clear that the capital is the No. 1 target for the enemy."
Ignat recalled that Kyiv was the goal of the Russians from the first days of a full-scale war, when they tried to seize airfields, land troops and encircle the capital: “Now they attack differently, attacking critical infrastructure around Kyiv. These are objects of the fuel and energy sector. That is where the occupiers send more of their cruise missiles."
10:41 The European Commission transferred 66 million euros to the budget of Ukraine for the reconstruction of schools destroyed and damaged by the Russians, said Katarina Maternova, Deputy Director General of the EC Directorate General for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations. In total, the support package for the restoration of educational institutions, which was agreed upon by the European Commission and the government of Ukraine, is 100 million euros.
10:37 Budanov said in an interview with LIGA that since February 24, not a single traitor has been found inside the GUR, "internal security is constantly working." At the same time, there were cases of "improper attitude to the preservation of state secrets", but in most cases it was "official negligence." Meanwhile, the number of GUR agents inside Russia has increased since the start of the full-scale war. According to Budanov, we are talking about people at "completely different levels."
10:32 At the initiative of the NBU, systemically important banks have united to create a common banking network called Power Banking. About a thousand branches included in the network will work and provide banking services to customers even in a critical situation during the blackout, the regulator said.
10:23 Budanov said in an interview with LIGA that the Russians have enough stocks of missiles for 2-3 hits, if we count the average salvo of 70-75 missiles. He drew attention to the fact that Russia has increased the intervals between missile attacks, because its industry is not able to cover the number of missiles that they spend. The invaders have almost stopped producing Iskander missiles, and the production of technologically sophisticated hypersonic Kinzhal missiles has also been reduced.
10:21 Journalist Roman Bochkala writes that as a result of a UAV missile attack at the location of the 6950th air base (military unit 06987, Engels, Saratov region, Russian Federation), the base control center was hit. The UAV fired two missiles, one of which was shot down by the air defense system, and the second hit the target.
10:13 Explosions at the Russian military airfield Engels were the result of Russia's criminal actions on the territory of Ukraine, Yuriy Ignat, spokesman for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said: "These are the consequences of what Russia is doing on our land. If the Russians thought that the war would not affect them in the rear "Then they were wrong. Such things are happening more and more often, and we hope that this will only play into Ukraine's hands." Ignat added that the real consequences of the explosions will become clear in a few days, when satellite images from the airfield appear.
09:56 Budanov said in an interview with LIGA that Crimea will be returned in a combined way: both by force and diplomacy. "But nothing will happen without force. Our units will go there with weapons in their hands," the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate emphasized.
09:33 Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said about the "protracted nature" of the war in Ukraine: "Today the situation is such that any forecasts regarding the end of the Ukrainian crisis may turn out to be untenable. The military confrontation has become protracted."
09:28 The General Staff announced the approximate losses of the enemy on the morning of December 26. The enemy suffered the greatest losses in the Kupyansky, Avdeevsky and Bakhmut directions.
personnel - about 102,600 (+550) people liquidated,
tanks - 3016 (+5),
armored combat vehicles - 6017 (+7),
artillery systems - 1996 (+5),
MLRS - 418 (+0),
air defense systems - 212 (+0),
aircraft - 283 (+0),
helicopters - 267 (+0),
UAV operational-tactical level - 1707 (+1),
cruise missiles - 653 (+0),
ships/boats - 16 (+0),
automotive equipment and tankers - 4647 (+12),
special equipment - 178 (+0).
08:49 In the Dnipropetrovsk region, the night passed without shelling - this is the third quiet night in almost six months since the Russians began shelling the Nikopol region, said the head of the OVA, Valentin Reznichenko.
08:38 Over the past day, units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine repelled the attacks of invaders in the areas of the settlements of Novoselovskoe, Stelmakhivka, Ploshchanka, Nevskoe and Chervonopopovka of the Luhansk region and Vesele, Yakovlevka, Soledar, Bakhmutskoye, Podgorodnoye, Bakhmut, Kurdyumovka, Mayorsk, Vodiane, Krasnogorovka and Maryinka Donetsk region, said the General Staff in the morning summary .
07:16 The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that air defense systems allegedly shot down a Ukrainian drone at low altitude when approaching the Engels military airfield in the Saratov region. As a result of the fall of its wreckage, three Russian soldiers who were at the airfield were killed, and the aircraft were not damaged, the Russian Defense Ministry assures.
02:28 On the territory of the Russian Engels airfield in the Saratov region, from which massive missile attacks on Ukraine were carried out, explosions are heard, a siren sounds, social media users report and videos are published .
Kindly note that several entries in this article may have been removed because they included discussions of the grand strategic level.
[NewsFrontInfo] 21:27 Artemovsk - Pokrovskoye, the enemy went on the offensive with two infantry fighting vehicles and two tanks. It was destroyed by units of the Airborne Forces. The UAV lifted into the air was shot down.
"PMC Wagner" began to closely develop the attack on Soledar from the south.
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20:13 There is a powerful explosion in Kharkiv. This is reported by the Ukrainian authorities
20:03 "Dismantling" the objects of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: the combat work of the crews of the towed howitzers 152mm 2S5 Hyacinth in the NVO zone -video
In the course of counterbattery combat, the crews of the towed 152mm 2S5 Giacint-B howitzers strike at the identified firing positions of the artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Soldiers destroy ammunition depots, fortified strongholds and long-term firing points of the enemy.
19:54 Collection and destruction of Ukrainian anti-personnel mines PFM-1 "Lepestok" by sappers in the Kherson region, in just one day several hundred such mines were collected and destroyed. Kherson region, end of December 2022. Photo and video from the subscriber —video
19:53 Assault on fortifications near Donetsk: tanks support infantry in the attack on Maryinka -video
Tankers of the 150th Motorized Rifle Division destroy enemy firing points in Maryinka.
19:42 Combat footage: the 9th Regiment stormed the enemy's stronghold -video
Artillery of the 9th Regiment with well-aimed fire destroyed the long-term firing points of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, covering the approaches to the Ukrainian stronghold. This allowed the armored group to break through directly to the enemy fortifications.
Firing from standard weapons, infantry fighting vehicles of the 9th Regiment landed troops, which captured the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
19:35 Russian gunners are "ironing" the positions of the militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine all in the same Artyomovsk direction -video
18:18 Battles for Artyomovsk: the Russian army destroyed enemy positions -video
16:20 Anti-aircraft "dome": how the crews of the S-300V anti-aircraft missile systems of the Western Military District work in the special operation zone —video
15:15 The drone of the "musicians" burned down the militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in positions near Artyomovsk. Those of our "bird" did not notice, continued poking around in the trenches. As a result, the first artillery shot hit the ammunition - it detonated, and another APU went home in a black bag -video
15:13 Another destroyed Ukrainian tank T-64BV is somewhere in the zone of the NMD -video
13:56 Report of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progressholdingspecial military operation on the territory of Ukraine (December 26, 2022)
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue to conduct a special military operation.
In the Kupyansk direction, as a result of a concentrated fire attack on the accumulation of manpower and equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the settlement of Kislovka, Kharkiv region, up to 20 Ukrainian servicemen, an infantry fighting vehicle and two vehicles were destroyed.
In the Krasno-Limansky direction, Russian artillery fire inflicted a defeat on units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Makeevka and Nevskoye of the Luhansk People's Republic, as well as Terny and Torskoye of the Donetsk People's Republic.
In addition, in the areas of the settlements of Stelmakhivka and Chervonaya Dibrova of the Luhansk People's Republic, a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group and a mortar crew of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed. The losses of the enemy in this direction amounted to more than 30 Ukrainian servicemen, two armored combat vehicles and two pickup trucks.
In the Donetsk direction, Russian troops continued successful offensive operations, during which advantageous lines and positions were taken. As a result of a strike on the command post of the 80th Airborne Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near the city of Kramatorsk, the Donetsk People's Republic, more than 35 Ukrainian servicemen, including five senior officers, were killed. The total losses of the enemy per day in this direction amounted to up to 100 military personnel, four infantry fighting vehicles and eight vehicles.
In the South-Donetsk direction, artillery fire and active actions of the Russian troops defeated the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Vladimirovka, Vugledar, Novodonetskoye and Novoselka of the Donetsk People's Republic. More than 40 Ukrainian servicemen, two armored combat vehicles and three pickup trucks were destroyed.
Rocket troops and artillery hit 63 artillery units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in firing positions, manpower and military equipment in 79 districts. In the areas of the settlements of Elizavetovka and Slavyansk of the Donetsk People's Republic, the points of temporary deployment of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as foreign mercenaries, were hit.
During the counter-battery fight in the areas of the settlements of Pervomaiskoye of the Donetsk People's Republic and Kamyshevakh of the Zaporozhye region, two Ukrainian combat vehicles of the Grad multiple launch rocket system were destroyed.
Three Ukrainian 122mm D-30 howitzers were destroyed in the areas of the settlements of Torskoye, Vodyanoye and Maryinka of the Donetsk People's Republic.
In the area of the settlement of Georgievka in the Donetsk People's Republic, a position was opened and an M777 artillery system manufactured by the United States was destroyed, from which residential areas of the city of Donetsk were shelled.
Near the city of Kramatorsk, Donetsk People's Republic, a point for the repair and restoration of weapons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was destroyed, on which there were two combat vehicles of the US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system, two Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers, five D-30 howitzers, as well as three units of special vehicles .
During the day, air defense systems destroyed seven Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the areas of the settlements of Kremennaya in the Lugansk People's Republic, Chervonoe, Kuteynikovo, Kropivnitskoe in the Donetsk People's Republic and Zmievka in the Kherson region.
In addition, two rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system were intercepted in the areas of the settlements of Rubizhne and Krasnorechenskoye of the Lugansk People's Republic, as well as two anti-radar missiles "HARM" in the area of the settlement of Bayrak of the Donetsk People's Republic.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, the following have been destroyed: 352 aircraft, 192 helicopters, 2,731 unmanned aerial vehicles, 399 anti-aircraft missile systems, 7,249 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 944 combat vehicles of multiple launch rocket systems, 3,719 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 7,765 units of special military vehicles.
13:40 Artemovsk per day:
1) In the South-Western environs of Artemovsk, they opened and struck at the area where there is a large concentration of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
2) The fighters of the PMC "Wagner" at night stopped the attempts of the actions of the enemy's DRG.
3) In the morning, the enemy up to 50 people attempted a counterattack, approaching Zaitsevo was destroyed, the survivors fled.
13:37 The combat work of the Russian units to destroy the Ukronazis in the Belogorovka area -video
13:36 On the Bakhmut (Artyomovsky) site, Russian units, with the support of artillerymen, continue to successfully knock out ukrofascists from urban development -video
13:33 Practice of Russian artillery on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine -video
13:32 When leaving their positions, the Ukrainian demonstrates a Turkish Kirpi armored personnel carrier, knocked out by Russian artillery, in one of the directions -video
12:06 Air Raid announced in the Kharkiv and Poltava regions of Ukraine, as well as in the Kyiv-controlled part of the Zaporozhye region.
11:10 Artillery of the 9th Regiment destroyed positions and minefields near Krasnohorivka -video
10:38 The Buk air defense missile system is one of the main watchmen of the Zaporozhye sky -video
08:30 White curtain: this machine does not fire, does not launch rockets, but even without it it can literally cover its own —video
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFrontInfo] 21:05 VFU wounded two civilians in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk. 19:05 In the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, shelling from the AFU was recorded. Three rounds of 155mm caliber were fired at civilians in our city.
Data on the victims and destruction are being specified.
18:28 Ukrainian troops shelled Mayorsk and Donetsk, firing four rounds of 155mm caliber and eight mines of 120mm caliber, the representative office of the Donetsk People's Republic in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of Issues Related to War Crimes of Ukraine reported (JCCC).
18:04 Maryinka. It is reported from the field that our fighters are increasingly pressing Ukrainian fighters to the western outskirts of the settlement. The enemy is transferring reserves from Kurakhovo, which is occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, however, along the roads shot through by our forces, far from all the lads manage to get to Marinka itself.
17:16 On the operational lines of the DPR JCCC for December 26, receivedadditionalinformation on damage as a result of shelling of the VFU cities of the Republic:
Donetsk (Petrovsky district):
shelling in 09:41:
- st. Lermontov, 3 - a private residential building.
shelling in 10:24:
- st. Wagner, 11 - a private residential building.
Information about the consequences of shelling continues to arrive.
15:18 The shelling of the Petrovsky district continues. According to the JCCC, at 14:50 three rounds of 155mm caliber were fired from Krasnogorovka.
14:30 Since the beginning of hostilities in the DPR, 4,400 civilians, including 132 children, have been killed due to shelling.
13:56 The Russian Armed Forces destroyed the American M777 howitzer, from which the Armed Forces of Ukraine fired at Donetsk.
13:33 In the direction of the Petrovsky district, according to the JCCC, at 12:50 four rounds of 155mm caliber were fired from Krasnogorovka.
12:01 According to the official data of the DPR JCCC since the beginning of the escalation* as of 11:30 12/26/22
For 312 days of escalation 4,400 civilians were killed, incl. 132 children.
On the territory within the borders before the start of the NMD, 2,311 civilians received injuries of varying severity, incl. 157 children.
87 cases of undermining civilians were registered, incl. four children, on minesPFM-1 "Petal". One of the injured died in the hospital.
On the territory liberated during the NMD, 1,645 civilians were injured, incl. 92 children.
Total: 3,956 including children - 249.
Damage:
— 9,336 residential buildings;
— 2,242civil infrastructure facility, incl. 123 medical institutions, 456 educational institutions, 874 social security facilities, 60 critical infrastructure facilities, 729 electricity, water, heat and gas supply facilities.
- 1,150 vehicles.
At the moment, it is impossible to establish for certain the data on damage and destruction of residential housing construction and civil infrastructure facilities in the territory liberated during the NWO.
During the 312 days of the escalation of the DPR JCCC, 13,927 facts of firing were recorded, of which 13,596 were using heavy weapons.
In total, the enemy fired 91,249 rounds of ammunition of various calibers, including 32 rockets fromOTRK "Tochka-U", 149 missiles MLRS "Himars", 255 MLRS missiles 220mm BM-27 "Hurricane"and 12,281 missiles MLRS (122mm), as well as 16,444 rounds caliber 155mm.
11:20 On the operational lines of the DPR JCCC for December 26, received additional information on damage as a result of shelling of the VFU cities of the Republic:
Donetsk (Petrovsky district):
- st. Rationalizers, 9 - apartment building.
Information about the consequences of shelling continues to arrive.
11:03 The Armed Forces of Ukraine are suffering colossal losses in Artemovsk in the DPR - up to a battalion per day - LPR People's Militia officer Andrei Marochko on Soloviev Live.
10:23 As a result of the shelling of the Kirovsky district, a direct hit was recorded on a private residential building on the street. Tchaikovsky.
09:18 The RF Armed Forces are constantly working on Ukrainians positions, not letting them raise their heads -video
09:16Ukrainians continue to suffer heavy losses in the dead and wounded in the Bakhmut (Artemovsky) sector -video
Ukrainans demonstrates a destroyed S-300 anti-aircraft missile system, which was destroyed by a precise hit by Russian artillery
08:36 Soldiers of the 1st Slavic brigade of the DPR are working on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with an anti-aircraft gun ZU-23-2 based on MT-LB in the Donetsk direction -video
Commentary by Russian military journalist Bris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] According to the night UAV attack on the Engels airbase.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that a certain UAV was shot down in the area of the air base at 1-35 am (there is no exact data on the UAV model).
As a result of testing air defense systems, debris fell on the territory of the airfield, killing three servicemen.
Aviation equipment, according to the official statement, was not damaged.
No evacuations or other emergency measures were announced in Engels.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [ColonelCassad] Answers to questions about the course of the SVO for the channel of the military commander Yuri Kotenok.
1) How to evaluate the outcome of Zelensky's visit to the States? How right are the Western media who claim that the trip did not bring practical results, since it did not affect the list of weapons supplied to Kyiv?
The list of weapons was determined by the Pentagon and the White House a week before the visit. Zelensky was needed to push through the defense budget with the necessary parameters before the House of Representatives came under the control of the Republican Party. And this task was solved, no matter how much the Republicans are now indignant about this performance. Zelensky here, as usual, played the role of a puppet, which is controlled from the Biden administration, including in the interests of US domestic policy. The United States perfectly defines the parameters of the war in Ukraine even without Zelensky, he is not needed for this.
2) There is a lot of PR around sending the "Patriot" air defense system to Ukraine. What is paramount in this case - the practical purpose of this system or the propaganda effect?
So far, all delivery parameters are unknown - neither the modification of the complex (PAC-2 or PAC-3), nor the number of launchers. As the practice of the war in Yemen showed, this system has significant shortcomings, which were revealed by Iranian drones and missiles. Therefore, the effect of the 1st battery will be rather propaganda. In the case of deliveries of several batteries, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be able to strengthen the air defense of critical infrastructure. Newspaper publications that the Patriot air defense system will be delivered in 6 months should not deceive, it will appear in Ukraine much earlier. And where there is one battery, there will be others.
3) Is it worth talking seriously about the growing contradictions between Zelensky and Zaluzhny, or is this just another plot invented by journalists?
From the point of view of directive control, these contradictions are of little importance. Ultimately, all the real levers for the formation of a puppet administration are in the hands of the United States. And they can easily get rid of obstacles interfering with the general course. This applies to both Zelensky and Zaluzhny. Their personal competition is insignificant if the US is satisfied with the current nature of the formation of the colonial administration.
4) After 10 months of NWO, the pace of advancement in the DPR is low. Many people ask - is it really impossible to destroy the defensive lines with the help of carpet bombing? Is it true that the defense built by Kyiv in this direction has no analogues in modern history?
Impossible until the air defenses that prevent carpet bombing are suppressed. And the very principle of carpet bombing seems redundant. As the experience of the war in Ukraine shows, it is necessary to strive to increase the role of high-precision weapons and their number on the battlefield, as well as the speed of decision-making on their use for identified targets. Ideally, this time should be reduced as much as possible. Well, a breakthrough in defense requires the creation of the necessary numerical and logistical superiority in areas of a potential breakthrough. If there is no such superiority, then no amount of carpet bombing will help.
5) A lot of information about the transfer of forces to Belarus. In the event of a new attempt by a grouping of the RF Armed Forces from the north, will the Armed Forces of Ukraine have enough resources at the same time to repel this attack and hold the front in the Donbass?
It depends on which grouping can potentially be concentrated in Belarus and what tasks it will have. Since it is almost impossible to hide the accumulation of a large group, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will most likely strengthen the northern border (they are already strengthening it), fearing a potential strike. However, the RF Armed Forces may not plan such strikes, but they can successfully speculate on this topic in order to mislead the enemy command and make it difficult for him to maneuver with reserves. The maximum fog of war in this matter is very beneficial to the Russian General Staff.
6) “Experts” affiliated with Zelensky’s Office continue to tell the Ukrainian population about the upcoming attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which allegedly will begin after the ground freezes. In particular, the possibility of an attack on the Belgorod region is being discussed. Is Kyiv ready to risk its accumulated reserves for the propaganda effect of seizing the border strip?
The presence of sufficiently significant forces gives the Armed Forces the opportunity to either carry out propaganda attacks on the territory of the Belgorod region, or to intensify attacks on Svatovo and Kremennaya, in the interests of which the enemy continues to attack in the direction of the Svatovo-Kremennaya highway, regardless of losses. The main objective of these attacks is to reach the highway (for example, in the Krasnopopovka area) and violate the integrity of the front of the RF Armed Forces in this sector in order to create the prerequisites for the assault on Kremennaya and Svatovo. Achieving some success in this regard has more military and propaganda prospects for the enemy. Hence the waste of resources.
7) In Ukraine, they threaten to hit Moscow and other Russian cities. What risks does Kyiv face if such a decision is made, and what opportunities does it have to implement it?
Well, if there is no question of using tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, then in fact Kyiv does not risk anything, since the Russian Federation already uses almost the entire range of available weapons in Ukraine. And as the United States shows, a course towards further escalation is inevitable, because the United States does not consider Russian red lines that go beyond the parameters of nuclear doctrine to be significant. In a conventional war, the US will obviously raise the stakes to the limit - any costs to Ukraine or Europe are not significant.
8) There is an opinion that the Ukrainian side purposefully overestimates the damage from strikes on its critical infrastructure. What is the meaning of this and what is the real scale of the current destruction?
Disinformation associated with exaggeration or underestimation of the results of strikes is necessary to make it difficult for the Russian command to plan new strikes.
The less objective information, the more difficult it is to plan the next strike and form a pool of targets. The real scale of the strikes and their consequences seem to be critical, but not yet lethal for the energy system of Ukraine. Systemic consequences are already being felt, but further blows are needed to resolve the unified energy system and eliminate the remaining large thermal power plants and distribution stations.
9) Simultaneously with the build-up of artillery and rocket terror against Donetsk, a series of provocations against Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh is taking place. How independent is Baku in organizing provocations? Why does Russia demonstrate such a tolerant attitude towards what is happening?
Baku is taking advantage of the fact that Russia is busy in Ukraine and is trying, through provocations in Karabakh, to force Russia to make certain concessions. Ultimately, Baku is interested in completely absorbing Karabakh (including the ethnic cleansing of local Armenians) and squeezing out Russian peacekeepers by 2025. Under Pashinyan, Armenia simply cannot defend its national interests, and while Pashinyan remains in power, Armenia will face further losses of everything - from territory to national pride. It was obvious in 2018, it is even more obvious in 2022. Since Pashinyan suits the Armenians, apparently they don’t really need their own state in a hostile environment. The West is naturally interested in undermining Russia's positions in the Transcaucasus, playing along with Baku and at the same time playing through Pashinyan.
Russia's strategy will continue to be to try to maintain a certain status quo and the role of arbitrator. But it is obvious that this strategy will be subjected to attacks from different sides, since the status quo that is beneficial to Russia at the current stage does not suit Baku and the West.
10) Is it possible to single out the main lesson that Moscow learned from the events of 2022? What practical conclusions were/should be drawn from the failures in the Liman and Kherson directions?
The main lesson is that you can not fight half-heartedly. This lesson has obviously been learned, so the war in 2023 will be different.
It is necessary to add quantitative and qualitative superiority over the enemy and to carry out defensive and offensive operations more effectively. Actually, the measures already taken and the recently announced decisions regarding the changes in the army in 2023 are aimed precisely at this. How effective all this will be in practice, we will see during the winter and especially during the spring-summer campaign of 2023.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin/73649 - zinc (broadcast of hostilities in Ukraine as usual in Telegram - if you are interested, subscribe)
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] A blog reader from Ukraine about the impact of strikes on the energy structure of Ukraine on the IT sector.
Mobile communications and the Internet in some form are present without interruption. A massive power outage leads to a decrease in the number of base stations in the network - standby generators, according to the standards, are only on every fourth or fifth (here I can be wrong), so that essentially remains voice communication and messages. After the transition to blackouts according to the plan (four hours electrically on - four to eight hours off), the entire grid comes to life because there are batteries everywhere.
Stationary "Internet works stably, generators are installed in all data centers. The problem is in the "last mile" - where there are switches and routers without uninterruptibles. In principle, this is corrected by installing the appropriate equipment.
Let's sum it up - problems arise immediately after impacts, when there are uncontrollable power outages. With planned shutdowns (usually after a couple of days), the Internet returns to normal.
Well, do not forget that at home there is equipment that also needs to be powered - you can hold out for 4 hours relatively easily, but then problems with powering the equipment begin.
And all this applies to the IT industry, where it is not a problem to invest and purchase (albeit exorbitantly) the appropriate equipment.
I read the comments to the Telegram - let's try to answer those that are essentially:
- "You can't stock up on generators / you also need to bring fuel" - I was talking about relatively large cities. There, as I understand it, the design of the network was carried out accordingly. With the supply of fuel there, obviously, there are also no problems (despite the fact that the generators are on a relatively small number of towers).
- "UPS is not for long" Speaking in numbers, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) worth about $350 (these are now real prices there - i.e. twice the market) will give you the opportunity to fully charge your laptop and power your "home" router and even a wireless point for half a day. If you need more - then yes, problems. And, of course, if there is something at the entrance to the house, then an uninterruptible power supply is also needed there. We are still talking about the IT industry working "to the west."
- Uninterruptibles do not have time to recharge - yes, there is such a thing. But again, in our experience, this is critical in the first days after the strikes, and again, you can recharge from a running car (expensive, but this is about IT).
- In small towns, everything is getting worse and better (as I already wrote - I have no statistics). Better because no one bothers with the planned shutdown of a village of 100 people. Worse, because recovery takes much longer. Many people buy a backup generator + Starlink (cost with installation somewhere around 1000+)
- Offices of IT companies are usually equipped with generators + Starlink. Those. key people can always move to the office.
If we ignore the technical side of the issue, then the main problem is that many (Western) customers have not really wanted to work with Ukraine lately (or require additional resources in other regions "for safety net".
That is why it is difficult to get "honest" information even At the same time, objectively, according to statistics, Ukraine "works" at about 80% of productivity.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Evgeny Biyatov
Apparently there is an entire objectionable clan: Victoria Nuland, her husband Robert Kagan, his brother Frederick Kagan, and Fred’s wife Kimberly Kagan. Mr. Biyatov explains.
[RIA] We have finally been explained the very rules of the "rules-based world" that all Western leaders talk about. It turns out that everything is very simple. Practically the only rule is the unconditional submission of absolutely everyone to the "liberal hegemon" - the United States. Nothing else is required. Simply!
Let me remind you that recently the phrase "world order based on rules" has become universal in the West. Now it is difficult to say who was the first to introduce this into the global discourse, but the first to draw attention to this as a systemic problem was Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov , who wrote the article "The World at the Crossroads and the System of International Relations of the Future" in 2019.
Continued on Page 49
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] The future of war. Swarm loitering ammunition. By 2030, they will certainly become an important element of the current battlefield.
The Chinese company China Electronics Technology Corporation once again showed a mobile system for launching a swarm of loitering ammunition.
The launcher for launching 48 CH-901 kamikaze drones is mounted on a Dongfeng Menshi tactical vehicle with a 6x6 wheel arrangement.
CH-901 has a launch weight of 9 kg. The on-board camera allows you to detect objects at a distance of up to 2 km. The length of the loitering ammunition is 1.2 meters, the maximum flight duration, depending on the mass of the applied payload, is from 40 minutes to 2 hours, the flight altitude is from 100 meters to 1.5 km, the operator control range is 10 km.
Recommended at a distance of 10 sq. km along the front, place at least 3-5 such systems.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[France24] The US and its NATO allies together with Ukraine want to defeat Russia "on the battlefield" in order to destroy it, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the state TASS agency in remarks published Monday.
[Korrespondent] 22:29 As of the evening of December 26, in different regions of Ukraine, about 9 million people were disconnected from electricity, but the number and duration of outages are still gradually decreasing, Zelensky said.
[ColonelCassad] Answers to questions about the course of the SVO for the channel of the military commander Yuri Kotenok.
