[WSJ] On the tarmac of a Moscow airport in late August, Yevgeny Prigozhin waited on his Embraer Legacy 600 for a safety check to finish before it could take off. The mercenary army chief was headed home to St. Petersburg with nine others onboard. Through the delay, no one inside the cabin noticed the small explosive device slipped under the wing.
When the jet finally left, it climbed for about 30 minutes to 28,000 feet, before the wing blew apart, sending the aircraft spiraling to the ground. All 10 people were killed, including Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner paramilitary group.
The assassination of the warlord was two months in the making and approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s oldest ally and confidant, an ex-spy named Nikolai Patrushev, according to Western intelligence officials and a former Russian intelligence officer. The role of Patrushev as the driver of the plan to kill Prigozhin hasn’t been previously reported.
The Kremlin has denied involvement in Prigozhin’s death, and Putin offered the closest thing to an official explanation for the plane’s fiery crash, suggesting a hand grenade had detonated onboard.
The Fighterbomber TG channel, which has close ties to Russia's military aviation community, notes that "yes, according to my information, there is combat loss" (doesn't specify number and type of aircraft). Also notes that preliminary reports suggest it was a Patriot SAM system. https://t.co/2Dfc3hps8Cpic.twitter.com/v0eLtYakYf
#4
Forbes is saying the Patriots got three:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/12/22/minus-three-russian-bombers-ukraine-set-another-deadly-missile-ambush-and-shot-down-a-trio-of-high-tech-su-34s/?sh=166231062cda
Whether that's just more wet dream is unclear. Somebody got shot down, they sent a rescue copter in.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/23/2023 9:15 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Forbes? Really? IF Russian planes with Russian pilots were shot down with US missles, sunrise would have come early today...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/23/2023 9:46 Comments ||
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#6
Was it Loren "Defense spending is never bad" Thompson?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/23/2023 9:54 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Patriot: wunderwaffe #37?
When it comes to an areal denial weapon, it is as close as you can get. From its very humble beginnings in 91, it has become very, very lethal for mid to short range air denial.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[LB] The spokesman of the General Staff reported that the enemy was repulsed and retreated with losses.
Iryna Lysohor
In the Avdievka direction, the defenders continue to restrain the enemy, who does not stop trying to surround Avdievka. They are firmly holding the defense, repulsed 22 attacks by the occupiers east of Novokalynovy, east of Novobakhmutivka and Avdievka, and 13 attacks in the areas of Pervomaisky, Donetsk region.
In the Mar'inka direction, the Defense Forces continue to hold back the enemy in the areas of Mar'inka and Novomykhailivka, where the defenders repelled 15 attacks. The spokesman of the General Staff, Andriy Kovalev, announced this on the air of the telethon.
In the Zaporizhzhia direction, the Defense Forces repelled seven attacks west of Verbovoy and south of Robotynoy. At the same time, in the Melitopol direction, the defenders continue to actively inflict losses on the enemy.
"In the Kherson direction, the Defense Forces will continue measures to expand the bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region," Kovalev said.
The occupiers conducted 11 unsuccessful assaults there. The enemy was repulsed and retreated with losses.
In the Kupian direction, the defenders repelled 19 enemy attacks in the areas of Sinkivka, Kharkiv region, and Stelmakhivka, Luhansk region.
On Lymansky, the defenders repelled four attacks in the Terni district. On Bakhmutsky, seven attacks were repulsed in the area of Bohdanivka, Klishchiivka, and Andriivka.
During the day, there were 95 combat clashes, the enemy carried out missile and 61 air strikes, fired 71 rocket salvo fire systems.
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 22:29 The Russians fired at a section of the road in the Pokrovsky district of the Donetsk region - a car in which there were volunteers of one of the charitable organizations came under fire. Two men suffered shell shock, prosecutors said. In addition, a photographer received a shrapnel wound near the village. Novoselovki of the First Ocheretinskaya settlement community. The purpose of her trip was to document the consequences of Russian aggression.
21:48 In connection with disagreements over the provision of assistance to Kiev, European countries began to consider the consequences of a possible defeat of Ukraine in the war with Russia. Read more in the article What if the Russian Federation wins?
21:36 The SBU and the Ministry of Defense exposed an attempt to steal 1.5 billion hryvnia from the purchase of artillery shells for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In Kyiv, they detained the head of one of the main departments of the Ministry of Defense, involved in the scheme.
20:24 Zelensky said in an evening video message that he held a meeting with the Minister of Defense and the team: “We are preparing solutions to the issues that are being raised in our units, in combat brigades. Issues of motivation, issues of certainty of service life, issues of replenishment. The defense forces are based on people "And people are spirit and weapons. We must provide both components."
19:32 The Cabinet of Ministers extended the exemption from VAT and duties on military goods until January 1, 2025. This applies to UAVs, optical sights, night vision devices, anti-drone guns, etc.
19:21 Germany transferred another batch of military aid to Ukraine, including three Gepard anti-aircraft guns and 30,240 ammunition for them, the German government reported. The package also included ten Vector UAVs; ammunition for Leopard 2A6; two WiSENT 1 MC mine clearance vehicles; 2500 155 mm shells; 25536 40 mm shells for automatic grenade launchers, etc.
18:55 The Russians dropped air bombs on residential areas in Toretsk, Donetsk region - four people were wounded. In addition, the enemy dropped an aerial bomb on the village. Ekaterinivka, Kramatorsk district - one person died. Two more people were wounded as a result of artillery strikes on the town of Kurakhovo and the village. Antonovka, Pokrovsky district, the prosecutor's office reported.
18:42 Zelensky said that he met in Kiev with the recently appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radoslaw Sikorski, they discussed further cooperation in the defense sector and the creation of joint production.
17:41 The death of Yevgeny Prigozhin remains one of the main mysteries of recent months. The Wall Street Journal, citing representatives of Western intelligence services and a former Russian intelligence officer, claims that the death of the founder of the Wagner PMC in a plane crash was a murder, which was ordered to be organized by the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev. Read more in the article How Prigozhin was killed .
17:19 The Russians attacked from a drone in Novoberyslav, Kherson region, one person was wounded, the OVA reported. Another person was injured in the morning as a result of artillery shelling of Kherson. Over the previous 24 hours in the region, one person was killed and two were injured as a result of Russian shelling.
16:58 As of today, 3,800 Ukrainian civilians are officially known to have been tortured by the Russians, said Prosecutor General Andrei Kostin. At the same time, he emphasized that the real numbers could be much higher. Currently, more than 1,100 criminal proceedings on facts of torture are being investigated, suspicion has been reported to more than 80 people, of whom 18 have already been convicted.
16:23 Biden signed a decree expanding the possibilities for imposing sanctions against Russia. The White House will be able to impose secondary sanctions against financial institutions for assisting Russia and prohibit the import of products originating from the Russian Federation, but processed outside its borders.
16:02 Switzerland joined the 12th package of EU sanctions against Russia, adopted on December 18. In particular, the Federal Department of Economics, Education and Research (EAER) added 61 more individuals and 86 legal entities to the sanctions lists.
15:39 Ukraine has returned the bodies of 66 dead soldiers, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported.
15:05 The Netherlands decided to begin preparing the first 18 F-16 fighters for transfer to Ukraine , Zelensky said following a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Mark Rutte. During the conversation, the parties also discussed developments at the front, the situation in the Black Sea and the current military needs of Ukraine, including artillery, drones and air defense systems. In addition, we agreed to continue working together on security guarantees in accordance with the G7 Vilnius Declaration.
14:54 A drone was flying towards Moscow, it was shot down in the urban district of Podolsk, said the mayor of the capital Sergei Sobyanin. According to him, there was no destruction or casualties. Moscow Domodedovo Airport introduced partial restrictions on aircraft departures, but has now returned to normal operation. At Kaluga airport, the Carpet plan has also been removed, all planes are returning to flights.
14:43 Ukrainian spies are strengthening reconnaissance operations and next year they plan to carry out sabotage attacks deep behind Russian lines. The main task for Kyiv is to bring the war as close as possible to the Kremlin, SBU head Vasily Malyuk told Politico. The most interesting of his interviews is in the material A Needle in the Heart .
14:20 Japan has lifted the ban on arms exports and is preparing to send missiles for Patriot air defense systems to the United States. This will help the Pentagon extend supplies to Ukraine by replacing stocks, writes Reuters. In addition, Tokyo is considering the possibility of exporting 155 mm artillery shells to the UK.
13:42 At Kaluga airport, due to a drone attack, the Carpet plan was introduced, departures and arrivals of aircraft were delayed, Russian media report. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced three downed drones in the region.
13:33 Today Biden intends to sign a decree aimed at strengthening sanctions against Russia in the financial sector, the White House reported. Washington also threatened to disconnect banking organizations around the world from its financial system if they violate anti-Russian sanctions.
13:12 Defense forces in the southern direction today destroyed three Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers, said Air Force Commander Nikolai Oleshchuk.
13:09 The situation around Avdeevka in the Donetsk region is complex, Russian troops have changed tactics again, said the head of the Avdeevka GVA Vitaly Barabash. In particular, according to him, the enemy is now trying to pinpoint the Ukrainian defense: “They have taken priorities for themselves, so to speak, three directions, and they are mainly sending both equipment and a large number of infantry there. It’s really difficult, very hot. The enemy will try to realize the assigned tasks of taking the city."
12:48 They managed to return a 12-year-old child to Ukraine, said Ombudsman Dmitry Lubinets. On the eve of the Russian invasion, the boy came to his father in the Lugansk region for three days, but due to the Russian invasion, he remained under occupation for about 18 months, after which another four months - on Russian territory. The mother could not pick up her son on her own due to the fact that she is a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, so she contacted the Ombudsman’s Office.
12:21 In occupied Tokmak, Zaporozhye region, buildings of the occupation police, administration and service vehicles were damaged as a result of shelling. An investigator from the Ministry of Emergency Situations and a civilian were killed, and an employee of the occupation administration was wounded, the Russian opposition publication Astra reports, citing sources. Russian “authorities” reported the massive shelling of Tokmak on December 21. According to them, two civilians were allegedly injured.
11:43 In the occupied territory of the Kakhovsky district of the Kherson region, the Russian military killed a minor boy, the Prosecutor General’s Office began an investigation. The head of the Kherson Regional Police Department, Alexander Prokudin, said that the tragedy occurred on December 20. A guy who was in the 8th grade was shot in front of his family because he allegedly took a photograph of something. “After the murder of her son, his mother tried to commit suicide. The director of the school where the guy studied will write a statement to the police,” Prokudin said.
11:36 The Joint Declaration of the leaders of the G7 and Ukraine on providing security guarantees to Ukraine, adopted in Vilnius on July 12, was joined by 31 states, the Presidential Office reported. In particular, bilateral consultations on agreements on providing security guarantees to Ukraine have begun with all G7 countries, the Netherlands and the European Union. France, Italy, Germany and Great Britain submitted draft agreements. Fifteen states expressed their readiness to begin consultations on concluding bilateral agreements on providing Ukraine with security guarantees.
The OP emphasized that Ukraine is ready to move from consultations to bilateral negotiations with countries to conclude agreements on security guarantees. An important part of bilateral agreements will be provisions on joint defense production.
11:27 The defense forces received all 10 thousand FPV drones as part of Operation Ednist, for which the Ukrainians collected 235 million hryvnia in three days in August, said the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Mikhail Fedorov. The drones were received by 53 military units - in particular, units of the Marine Corps, ground and air assault forces, Special Operations Forces and Terror Defense, the National Guard brigade Charter and Azov, units of the National Police, as well as soldiers of the Central Security Service "A" of the Security Service of Ukraine.
10:55 The US Congress may approve new aid to Ukraine any day after January 9, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said. According to him, the Senate comes out of recess on January 8, and the House of Representatives comes out on January 9, “and without exaggeration, a decision can be made on any next day.”
The Foreign Minister expressed confidence that both Democrats and Republicans want to provide assistance to Ukraine, and the dispute concerns only the border with Mexico. Negotiations will continue during the holidays, “and there is progress in these negotiations,” Kuleba added.
10:39 The new Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Radoslaw Sikorski, arrived in Kiev. He said that this was his first visit abroad since his appointment.
10:23 Russians in Mariupol are preparing a provocation for the New Year holidays, said advisor to the mayor of the city Pyotr Andryushchenko, citing an analysis of information received from the occupation administration, correspondence and private conversations with the information resistance team. In particular, the Russians, under the leadership of the FSB, intend to organize a terrorist attack with a large number of civilian casualties.
This is being done to ensure an increase in the level of denunciations, speed up the identification of members of the Ukrainian resistance and pro-Ukrainian activists in the city, prevent adjustments to the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ strikes and reduce the growing support for Ukrainian forces in the occupied territories. Andryushchenko calls on Mariupol residents to refrain from attending mass events for the New Year or Russian Christmas.
10:14 Speaker of the Ministry of Defense Illarion Pavlyuk said that in Ukraine, in any case, the “necessary” number of people will be recruited into the army - voluntarily or forcibly: “We, of course, are interested in recruiting as many people as possible through recruiting mechanisms. But since there is a need to protect the state, "We will still get the number of people needed to protect Ukraine. Through recruitment mechanisms or mobilization mechanisms, we will still have to get it."
09:35 The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) warns that stopping Western aid could lead to Ukraine losing its ability to deter the Russian army. According to analysts, the current trench war in Ukraine is not a stable stalemate, as the balance could easily tip either way due to decisions made in the West.
08:59 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of December 22:
personnel - about 351,350 (+1080) people,
tanks - 5837 (+9),
armored combat vehicles - 10,843 (+18),
artillery systems - 8250 (+24),
MLRS - 932 (+0),
air defense systems - 611 (+0),
aircraft - 324 (+0),
helicopters - 324 (+0),
UAV of operational-tactical level - 6365 (+23),
cruise missiles - 1613 (+0),
ships/boats - 22 (+0),
submarines - 1 (+0),
automotive equipment and tank trucks - 10,944 (+25),
special equipment - 1217 (+9).
08:45 Over the past 24 hours, 95 military clashes took place at the front, the General Staff reported in its morning report . In the Kupyansk direction, the Defense Forces repelled 19 enemy attacks in the Sinkovka areas of the Kharkov region and Stelmakhovka, Lugansk region. In the Avdeevsky direction, 22 enemy attacks were repelled east of Novokalinovo, Novobakhmutovka and Avdeevka, as well as 13 attacks in the Pervomaisky districts of the Donetsk region. Another 15 attacks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were repelled in the Maryinsky direction - in the Marinka and Novomikhailovka areas of the Donetsk region.
In addition, in the Liman direction, the Defense Forces repelled enemy attacks near Ternov, Donetsk region; on Bakhmutsky - near Bogdanovka, Kleshcheevka and Andreevka, Donetsk region; on Zaporozhye - west of Verbovoy and south of Rabotino, Zaporozhye region. In the Kherson direction, the Defense Forces continue to expand the bridgehead, meanwhile the enemy carried out 12 unsuccessful assault operations and retreated with losses.
08:23 During a night attack, as a result of a drone hit in the Nikolaev region, a fire broke out at one of the infrastructure facilities in the Voznesensky district, which has already been extinguished, no people were injured. In the Odessa region, the enemy tried to attack the port infrastructure; a grain storage facility was damaged by debris from a downed UAV. A fire broke out, which was quickly extinguished by the company's employees, and there were no casualties, the Southern Defense Forces reported.
08:14 Air defense at night destroyed 24 of 28 Shahed drones , which Russia attacked from the areas of Kursk, Primorsko-Akhtarsk and the Crimean Cape Chauda, the Air Force command reported. UAVs were destroyed within the Kyiv, Odessa, Nikolaev, Kherson, Zhytomyr, Rivne and Khmelnytsky regions.
05:31 During the night attack with Shahed drones, the Russians again tried to hit the infrastructure of Kiev and residential buildings, said the head of the KGVA Sergei Popko. In the Solomensky district, in a multi-storey residential building, a fire broke out on the upper floors, in three apartments the walls were partially destroyed and in another three windows were broken. According to preliminary data, two people were injured.
In the Darnitsky district, as a result of falling debris, a fire broke out in a two-story private house, without injuries. In the Goloseevsky district, the fall of debris did not cause damage or injuries.
00:29 Russia attacked Kiev with drones, debris from an enemy UAV hit a high-rise building in the Solomensky district, and a fire occurred on the upper floors, KGVA reports. Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said that in the Solomensky district one victim was hospitalized. It is also known that debris hit other areas of the capital - Goloseevsky and Darnitsky. The Presidential Office announced that a residential building in Kyiv had been hit.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. WHAT WILL HAPPEN AT THE FRONT IN WINTER?
The war in Ukraine has finally moved into a positional state: neither side can carry out a major operation without spending an unacceptably large amount of resources on it.
Ukraine and Russia enter 2024 in a state of trench warfare. That is, a war where the front line does not undergo significant changes regardless of the intensity of the fighting. However, this could change very quickly.
In terms of its objectives, a positional war can be called a war of attrition. Unlike maneuver or lightning war, the goals in it are not the defeat of the enemy army, occupied cities or territories, or access to some strategically important positions, but the reduction of the combat capability of the enemy army and the defense capability of his state as a whole, the ability of his people and army to resist.
At the same time, a positional conflict cannot in itself end in victory - it either leads to a situation where an exhausted country agrees to concessions, or creates conditions for the war to transition into a more active, maneuverable one.
The Kremlin is convinced that Russia’s military, economic and demographic potential is higher than Ukraine’s. In addition, the Russian leadership is confident that foreign aid to Ukraine will soon likely cease, and that the West will tire of this war faster than Russia.
Therefore, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) remind us that the failure of Russian operations in Ukraine aimed at achieving Vladimir Putin’s maximalist goals is not a given, and only continued Western support for Ukraine can guarantee that Putin’s expansionist aspirations remain unattainable.
DEAD END OR NOT DEAD END?
ISW assesses that the collapse of Western aid will likely eventually lead to the collapse of Ukraine's ability to deter the Russian military, and that the current trench warfare in Ukraine is not a stable stalemate situation. According to analysts, the current unstable balance [at the front] could quickly tip in either direction, including as a result of decisions taken in the West. Therefore, continued Western security assistance that allows Ukrainian forces to fend off current and future Russian offensive efforts and liberate more Ukrainian territory is the only course of action for now that will ensure Russia's continued failure to achieve Putin's maximalist goals in Ukraine.
THEY WILL ADVANCE
Analysts recall that Russian troops launched localized offensive operations along the entire eastern sector of the front in Ukraine during the most difficult weather of the autumn-winter season, trying to seize and maintain the initiative and without waiting for severe frosts. ISW predicts that the occupiers will likely try to maintain or strengthen these offensive operations regardless of weather conditions this winter, as Russian forces did in the winter of 2022-2023.
Article Linked To Is Available Only Via VPN
[EngMilRu] In the period from 16 to 22 December 2023, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation inflicted 39 group strikes with high-precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles on the military airfield infrastructure, air navigation aids, POL bases storage sites for artillery ammunition, weapons and military hardware of the enemy.
Moreover, drone-launching and -training centres, command and control posts and deployment areas of AFU troops, foreign mercenaries, and nationalist formations were hit. All the assigned targets have been engaged.
In Kupyansk direction, units of the Zapad Group of Forces repelled 53 enemy attacks. The 14th, 43rd, 60th, 115th Mechanised and 95th Air Assault brigades of the AFU were defeated by air strikes and artillery fire close to Sinkovka and Olshana (Kharkov region).
The enemy losses amounted to more than 355 Ukrainian troops, four tanks including two Leopard tanks, 19 armoured fighting vehicles, 13 motor vehicles, and 12 field artillery guns.
In Krasny Liman direction, units of the Tsentr Group of Forces with support of aviation and artillery fire repelled 13 attacks of assault groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition, the 24th, 63rd, and 116th Mechanised brigades of the AFU and the 12th special brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard were engaged close to Chervonaya Dibrova, Petrovskoye, and Kuzmino (Lugansk People's Republic) and Torskoye (Donetsk People's Republic).
During the week the enemy lost up to 1,155 troops killed and wounded, one tank, 19 armoured fighting vehicles, 21 motor vehicles, and seven field artillery guns.
In Donetsk direction, the Yug Group of Forces, supported by air and artillery fire, improved their position along the front line in certain areas. They repelled 43 attacks launched by assault groups of the AFU's 24th Mechanised and 79th Air Assault Brigades near Shumy, Belogorovka, and Maryinka (Donetsk People's Republic). Fire was also launched at units of the 28th, 30th, 42nd, 93rd Mechanised and 57th Motorised Infantry brigades of the AFU near Kurdyumovka, Kleshcheyevka, Krasnoye, and Andreyevka (Donetsk People's Republic).
Enemy losses in this direction over the past period were over 1,610 killed and wounded, three tanks, 17 armoured fighting vehicles, one HIMARS launcher, 24 motor vehicles, and 44 field artillery guns.
In South Donetsk direction, units of the Vostok Group of Forces repelled ten enemy attacks. Air strikes and artillery fire hit units of the AFU's 58th Motorised Infantry, 72nd Mechanised, 79th Air Assault, 127th and 128th Territorial Defence brigades near Novomikhailovka, Urozhaynoe, Staromayorskoye (Donetsk People's Republic) and Priyutnoe (Zaporozhye region).
The enemy losses were more than 670 troops, two tanks, six armoured fighting vehicles, 19 motor vehicles, and 12 field artillery guns.
In Zaporozhye direction, units of the Russian Armed Forces continued active defence, repelling six enemy attacks near Rabotino and Verbovoye (Zaporozhye region). Fire damage was inflicted on personnel and military hardware of the 33rd, 65th, 116th, 117th, 118th Mechanised, 128thMountain Assault, 82nd Airborne, and 14th National Guard battalions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine close to Novodanilovka, Malaya Tokmachka, Nesteryanka, and Novoprokopovka (Zaporozhye region).
Enemy losses were up to 390 troops killed and wounded, one tank, five armoured fighting vehicles, 19 motor vehicles, and ten field artillery guns.
In Kherson direction, all the attempts launched by the enemy sabotage groups to land on the islands and on the left bank of the Dnieper River were thwarted. Air strikes and artillery fire defeated units of the AFU 36th and 37th Naval Intantry brigades close to Tyaginka and Belozerka (Kherson region).
The AFU lost up to 510 troops killed and wounded, one tank, 37 motor vehicles, 24 boats and 20 field artillery guns as a result of the actions of the Russian troops in this direction.
Russian air defence systems shot down four enemy airplanes during the week: one Su-27, two MiG-29, and one Su-25; as well as three helicopters: two Mi-24 and one Mi-8 of the Ukrainian Air Force. They also intercepted one ATACMS operational-tactical missile, 30 projectiles of HIMARS, Uragan, and Olkha multiple launch rocket systems, three JDAM guided bombs, and 259 unmanned aerial vehicles.
In total, 554 airplanes and 261 helicopters, 9,955 unmanned aerial vehicles, 442 air defence missile systems, 14,251 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,189 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 7,447 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 16,572 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 23:59 Official summary of the DPR Representative Office in the JCCC from 00:00 12/22/2023 to 00:00 12/23/2023
Over the past 24 hours, the Representation has recorded 16 incidents of firing by the Ukrainian Federal Unitary Forces.
As a result of airborne discharges from UAVs, seven civilians were injured of varying degrees of severity in the Kirovsky district of Donetsk.
In addition, five employees of the DPR Ministry of Emergency Situations were injured in the Kirovsky district of Donetsk.
One residential building in the Central City district of Gorlovka, as well as one civil infrastructure facility, was damaged.
The areas of two settlements of the Republic were under enemy fire: Gorlovka (Nikitovsky, Central City districts), the capital city of Donetsk (Kyiv, Kuibyshevsky, Kirovsky, Petrovsky districts).
In the Donetsk direction, the enemy carried out 11 attacks from 155mm artillery and attack UAVs.
At Gorlivske there were five artillery attacks from 152mm artillery.
A total of 45 units of various ammunition were fired.
In the previous day, 39 artillery attacks were recorded from the Ukrainian Federal Unitary Forces.
23:38 Front bird broadcasts: Odessa region. 22.12 23:30
The arrival was reported in the port area.
Enemy public pages also write about the work of small air defense.
Previously, several units of kamikaze “Geran” UAVs were launched at Ukrainian military targets.
21:52 Russian Army enhances attacks at Kleshcheevka, squeezing pincers on the flank of Artyomovsk
“The Russians are increasing pressure along the railway north and northeast of Kleshcheevka in order to disperse the forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the southern flank of the Bakhmut direction,” Ukrainian military analysts complain.
The fighting continues in the area of height 215.7 occupied by our troops, for the Kleshcheevsky stronghold on the heights, and also east of Kleshcheevka. Active fighting in the area of ??forest belts near the railway.
“Near the outskirts of Kleshcheevka, the Russians advanced, capturing the landing by rail,” the enemy admits.
Ours also attack in the Andreevka area, squeezing the Ukrainian Armed Forces out of the populated area.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in the morning that the Russian Armed Forces carried out even attacks in the areas of Kleshcheevka, Andreevka and Bogdanovka.
21:20 Front bird broadcasts: Yuzhnodonetsk direction 22.12 20:30
It is reported that our artillerymen, together with aerial reconnaissance, covered several enemy strongholds.
The enemy tried to snap back and was instantly hit by an FPV drone.
Several personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed and there are 300s.
20:20 Fighting near Artyomovsk: Brigade “North-V” destroys machine gun points of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, supporting the assault on Bogdanovka
Soldiers of the Sever-V brigade of the Volunteer Corps discovered and destroyed another machine-gun point of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the landings near Bogdanovka on the northern flank of Artyomovsk.
19:40 Summary of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of the special military operation (for the period from December 16 to December 22, 2023) -video.
18:40 Front bird broadcasts: URGENT 22.12 17:45
Kh-59 cruise missiles were launched at military facilities in the southern regions.
16:50 Front bird broadcasts: Khar'kov direction (n. Kupyansk area) 12/22 16:35
The successful defeat of an enemy Leopard tank is reported.
The FPV drone operators did a great job.
Several drones hit the turret of an enemy tank.
The enemy tank is hit and covered in smoke.
16:05 Front bird broadcasts: Sumy region 22.12 15:40
It is reported that our tactical aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces identifies enemy positions for high-precision strikes.
The sound of an explosion was reported.
15:15 “LOSTARMOUR”: Results for December 21, 2023:
RF Ministry of Defense officially announced about the complete failure of the “counter-offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces” that lasted six months.
Systematic strikes using Geranium UAVs and missiles continue to be carried out on the territory of Ukraine.
14:25 Russian Ministry of Defense transmits: Experienced instructors share the secrets of a successful assault with fighters from the “Center” group of troops
– Assault units of the “Center” group of troops are undergoing a full course of combat training at a training ground in the rear area of the Special Military Operation zone.
– Experienced instructors train military personnel to work in tactical groups, and practice storming trenches, trenches and strongholds of a mock enemy with soldiers.
“The secrets of a successful assault are simple: careful work and reaction,” says the instructor with the call sign “Tuz.”
– Much attention is paid to tactical medicine during training. Every soldier must be able to quickly provide first aid in case of injury: stop the bleeding, apply a tourniquet. Stormtroopers are also practicing methods for evacuating the wounded from the battlefield.
13:30 Russian Ministry of Defense transmits Statement by the head of the press center of the "South" group
– Units of the “Southern” group of forces, in cooperation with aviation and artillery in the Donetsk direction, successfully repelled 17 attacks, defeated the personnel and equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of the settlements of Bogdanovka, Belaya Gora, Artemovo, Georgievka. The enemy lost up to 210 troops and three pickup trucks in killed and wounded.
– During the counter-battery fight, a 155mm AS-90 self-propelled artillery mount made in Great Britain, a 152mm D-20 gun, three 152mm 2S3 “Akatsiya” self-propelled artillery mounts, two 122mm 2S1 “Gvozdika” self-propelled artillery mounts were destroyed, AN/TPQ-37 counter-battery radar.
– Air defense systems shot down 9 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the areas of the settlements of Mayorsk and Gorlovka of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
13:00 Front bird broadcasts: Avdeevskoe direction 22.12 12:25
The work of our tactical aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces is reported.
Front-line bombers accurately hit enemy rear positions using UVAB-250 and UVAB-500, as well as air-to-ground missiles.
I note that the strikes are carried out without entering the range of enemy air defenses.
12:15 Russian Ministry of Defense transmits Statement by the head of the press center of the "West" group
– Units of the “West” group of troops continue to carry out combat missions of a special military operation in the Kupyansk direction.
– During the active defense, motorized rifle formations of the 6th Combined Arms Army, supported by artillery fire, repelled nine counterattacks by assault groups of the 95th Air Assault Brigade and the 14th, 43rd Mechanized brigades in the Sin'kovka area. The counterattacks were repulsed, the enemy retreated in the southern and northwestern directions.
“In addition, the crews of operational-tactical aviation carried out seven missile and bomb attacks on areas where manpower was concentrated in the areas of the settlements of Petropavlovka and Terny. The total losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces amounted to up to 55 military personnel, an ammunition supply point, three mortars, an unmanned aerial vehicle, two vehicles, and two 122mm D-30 howitzers.
11:30 Kerch. Exercises 22.12 11:15
You should not believe enemy public pages that report the sounds of explosions and the operation of air defense.
Currently, exercises are being conducted in the Kerch region.
10:35 Situation on the Rabotino-Verbovoye section at 10.00
At night, active counterbattery warfare continued throughout the Rabotino-Verbovoye sector. Russian artillery struck enemy field gun positions and planned targets.
UAV operators of the Russian Armed Forces carry out aerial reconnaissance throughout the Orekhovsky sector of the front for movements of enemy personnel and armored vehicles.
Aviation of the RF Armed Forces launched a massive attack on detected concentrations of enemy manpower and armored vehicles using FAB-500 bombs with UMPC.
10:00 Front birdbroadcasts: Kyiv region. Work of Geraniums. 22.12 09:25
It is reported that several groups of Geranium UAVs hit military targets in the Kyiv region that night.
But, as always, the enemy reports that almost all of the UAVs were shot down.
Nothing new.
09:25 Telegram channel “Two Majors”: summary on the morning of December 22, 2023
– A series of powerful explosions sounded at night in Kyiv, and “Geraniums” were also fired at enemy targets in the Poltava, Chernigov, Zhytomyr, Khmelnitsky, Nikolaev, Kherson, Odessa, and Rivne regions. Notable was the explosion of “Geranium”, which hit the Kyiv apartment of the leading enemy “telethon”.
– In Krynki, Kherson region, on our bank of the Dnieper, heavy fighting continues. Our troops are reducing the enemy’s zone of control in the village, the enemy is trying to transfer reinforcements across the Dnieper under the attacks of our drones. There is mutual artillery shelling.
– On the Zaporozhye Front, FAB-500 airstrikes were carried out on a concentration of Ukrainian Armed Forces in Malaya Tokmachka and Novodanilovka. At Verbovoy, our troops in a shooting battle repelled an attack by enemy assault groups who were trying to advance after an artillery strike with cluster munitions.
– In the Maryinsky direction there are heavy battles near Novomikhailovka. From the north, from Marinka itself, ours also advanced, taking a number of important positions. According to enemy analysts, a critical situation is developing for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Novomikhailovka: the Russian Armed Forces are attacking the populated area from three sides.
– In the Avdeevsky sector of the front, the Russian Armed Forces are conducting an active offensive on the northern ledge in the Stepovoy area, aviation and armored vehicles have been involved. They report fire control of our troops (which does not mean the capture of a populated area). There are fierce battles near the coke plant.
– The Russian Armed Forces on the Artemovsky (Bakhmutsky) sector of the front are conducting an offensive near the settlements of Kleshcheevka, Ivanovskoye (Krasnoe), Bogdanovka. In the enemy rear, in Konstantinovka, places where Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel and equipment accumulated were hit.
– Yesterday the Ukrainian Armed Forces tried to attack the Crimean Bridge with an ATACMS missile, the target was shot down over the Sea of Azov. Enemy UAVs were destroyed in the skies over the Kursk and Bryansk regions. In the Zaporozhye region, two UAVs were shot down over Berdyansk, the third fell and detonated in the private sector, no casualties. In the Bryansk region, the Ukrainian Armed Forces shelled the village of Chausy, Pogarsky district, injuring two civilians. The enemy fired 142 rounds of ammunition at the civilian population of the DPR, wounding five civilians.
08:50 Telegram channel “Fisherman“: chronicle of a special military operation: events of December 20-21, 2023
– Russian troops continue to systematically engage military targets of Ukrainian formations. The logistics infrastructure in Kherson, as well as the warehouses of Nova Poshta, were hit.
– At the same time, the Russian Army continues to conduct assault operations in the Kupyansk direction. In the Sin'kovka area, Russian units inflict fire on fortified areas of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
– In the Soledar direction, Russian troops continue to regain positions lost in the summer. To the west of Bakhmut there are battles for control of the Chasov Yar-Ivanovskoye highway, where one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ fortified areas is located.
– In the Donetsk direction, Russian troops are pushing back the enemy on the flanks of the Avdeevsky fortified area. In the Stepovoye area, the Russian Armed Forces knocked out Ukrainian formations from the forest belt adjacent to the settlement, skirting the village from the north.
– To the west, in the Pervomaisky area, Russian fighters took control of several positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, advancing towards Netailovo. From the direction of Vodyanoy, assault groups advance along the Novoavdeevsky headquarters.
– In the Yuzhnodonetsk direction, units of the Russian Armed Forces are fighting for control of the Zverinets fortified area, advancing on Novomikhailovka from the north. In addition, Russian troops are advancing along the southern outskirts of the settlement from the side of the cemetery, taking control of the industrial zone.
– In the Kherson direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are holding a bridgehead in the Krynok area, regardless of sanitary losses and constant drone strikes. Units of the Russian Army, with the support of artillery, knocked out the Ukrainian Armed Forces from positions in the forest near the greenhouses, destroying a detachment of enemy naval infantry.
08:10 Official summary of Representative offices of the DPR in the JCCC from 00:00 December 21, 2023 to 00:00 December 22, 2023
Over the past 24 hours, the Representation has recorded 39 incidents of firing by the Ukrainian Federal Unitary Forces.
Information has been received about the death of a man in the Kuibyshevsky district of Donetsk
5 civilians were injured, incl. teenage girl born in 2007 #ChildrenNotTarget in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, Nikitovsky district of Gorlovka.
5 residential buildings were damaged in the Kiev and Kuibyshev districts of Donetsk, as well as one civil infrastructure facility.
The areas of two settlements of the Republic were under enemy fire: Gorlovka (Nikitovsky district), the capital city of Donetsk (Kyiv, Kuibyshevsky, Kirovsky, Petrovsky districts).
In the Donetsk direction, the enemy carried out 21 attacks using MLRS, 155mm artillery, and attack UAVs.
On Gorlovsky there were 18 artillery attacks from 152mm and 122mm artillery.
A total of 142 units of various ammunition were fired.
In the previous day, 25 artillery attacks were recorded from the Ukrainian Federal Unitary Forces.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Dmitry Taratorin
[REGNUM] The other day, the once idol of the Soviet public from the “calinary technical school” turned to the classics. And he literally bombarded the audience of his Internet resource with quotes from Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Very selective - all about the unacceptability of war and the dangers of patriotism. All together, they added up to a giant fig in his pocket, since he never said what exactly Khazanov had in mind in his contemporary reality.
Therefore, we will talk about the adequacy of his position as such. And right away, without any evasiveness, I will inform you that it is completely inadequate. And what was excusable for Tolstoy, who wrote similar things more than a century ago (in fact, even then they were not harmless), sounds completely absurd to any of our contemporaries who have some life experience and the beginnings of analytical abilities.
WHY DID HE LEAVE THE TECHNICAL SCHOOL?
So, for example, Gennady Viktorovich cited the words of Lev Nikolaevich that patriotism is allegedly used by rulers to “lead the people to slavish submission and renunciation of their human insides, reason and conscience.”
I would like to ask, Comrade Khazanov, didn’t you live in the 90s of the last century? Count Tolstoy did not have the chance. But you observed that life and participated in it. What kind of patriotism did the authorities introduce then? For patriotism then there was a single formula, so as not to worry and not to get up twice - red-brown. That is, patriotism was then, exactly contrary to the opinion of Lev Nikolaevich, a form of protest.
What does this mean? Exactly that patriotic feelings for a large number of people remain an important (the most important for some) component of their own identity. This is good for some, bad for others. But the fact is that this is a personal choice of people.
Khazanov is not able to understand and comprehend this? Or is he, by quoting, if not definitely incorrect thoughts of a classic, then frankly one-sided and shallow, maliciously achieving something? Personally, I think that the first thing is that he is simply not strong in terms of comprehending reality, but he has an OPINION.
He also cites a lot of “kind” Tolstoy’s words about war as a phenomenon. About the fact that it is such a bloody absurdity when some people kill others who have not done anything bad to them.
And here the claim is made personally to Lev Nikolaevich. He knew very well, of course, that in the years when the action of his brilliant novel “War and Peace” takes place, the envoy of the Savoy King, Count de Maistre, shone in St. Petersburg drawing rooms with his dangerous but irrefutable paradoxes. This is what he said about the war. “By what incomprehensible magic,” asks the count, “is a man ready, at the very first beat of the drum “...” with some kind of joy, also characteristic in its own way, to rush to the battlefield and tear to pieces his brother, who has not offended him in any way - brother, who, in turn, is approaching so that, if he is lucky, he himself will be forced to suffer a similar fate?
Does it look like Tolstoy? As a statement - yes. In conclusions - not at all. Next, de Maistre asks a question that was especially clear to the metropolitan public of that time. The Count wonders how it could be that, during his reforms, Peter the Great faced fierce resistance over such nonsense as shaving beards, but could mobilize and send hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the battlefields with virtually no problems?
And the Count has an answer. Unfortunately, violence is in human nature. Moreover, in nature itself. “In the vast region of living nature, obvious violence reigns, a kind of rage prescribed from above, arming every creature. As soon as you leave the realm of insensibility, you discover that the law of violent death is inscribed on the very border of life,” de Maistre records coldly and gloomily. But how can this be, since he became famous, among other things, as a fierce defender of Christianity from the attacks of admirers of Voltaire and Diderot?
There is not the slightest contradiction here. Christianity speaks of the fallen nature of man, which leads him to violence. And it is impossible to completely transform it into good. However, it is possible and necessary to heal it by preaching Love, on the one hand, and, on the other, try to introduce violence here and now within a certain framework. Yes, war is bad. And yet, the most brilliant minds of the Middle Ages struggled with the question: “Is a just war possible?”
WHAT IS JUSTICE?
And the king of theologians, Thomas Aquinas, ultimately gave his criteria:
“For a war to be just, three things are necessary. First, the power of the sovereign who gives the order to start the war. Private individuals should not start wars. Secondly, a just war must have just causes. To attack an enemy, he must have earned it through his wrong behavior. As Augustine writes, “a just war is a war of retribution, when a country or state is punished because it fails to compensate for the damage caused by its subjects, or because it refuses to return what was unjustly taken.”
Thirdly, the combatants must have righteous intentions, i.e. strive to do good or avoid evil... For it happens that war is declared by a legitimate government on just grounds, but it is illegal because it is inspired by vicious intentions. Therefore Augustine says: “The passionate desire to cause harm, the cruel thirst for revenge, the unpeaceful and merciless spirit, the fever of rebellion, the thirst for power, and so on of the same kind - all this must be condemned in time of war.”
Isn’t it true that these criteria were relevant more than seven hundred years ago when they were formulated, and no less today? But Tolstoy’s dream of a world without wars, as one might expect, revealed its absurdity and futility in the 20th century.
Tolstoy’s contemporary, philosopher Vladimir Solovyov, gave a very precise formula: “We should not strive to build heaven on earth, the main thing is to prevent hell.” But every time they try to organize heaven, everything turns into hell with absolute, mathematical inevitability.
No wonder Lenin called Tolstoy “the mirror of the Russian revolution.” He wrote: “Tolstoy is funny, like a prophet who discovered new recipes for the salvation of mankind. (...) Tolstoy is original, because the totality of his views, taken as a whole, express precisely the features of our revolution.” And then he says that the goal of this revolution, of course, is “to destroy the whole world of violence to the ground, and then...”.
Let's decipher this idea. In fact, its essence is that Tolstoy’s beautiful reasoning cleared the way for Lenin’s bloody experiment to yet again build an earthly paradise. And, by the way, Khazanov’s like-minded emigration supporters still believe today that such a claim itself is completely legitimate.
WHAT SHOULD PUTIN AND TRUMP TALK ABOUT?
A great opportunity to explain what is Reaction and what is Revolution was given recently by foreign agent and political scientist Vladimir Pastukhov. He writes: “Although the revolution is, according to Marx, the locomotive of history, wishing for yourself and others, if you are not a masochist or a misanthrope, to survive the revolution is unnatural. However, there are situations when revolution becomes the only real way to save society from disintegrating and plunging into historical oblivion. That is, revolution as a positive choice is always an edge. It is not about a better future, but about an alternative to civilizational catastrophe.”
And the demand from Pastukhov is stricter than from Khazanov. He cannot help but know that neither the French nor the October revolutions prevented any “civilizational catastrophes.” That both Russia under Nicholas II and France under Louis XVI were not threatened with anything terrible in terms of development prospects. And in this case we can easily detect the underlying reason for this lie.
Pastukhov thinks in the liberal-progressive paradigm. And for him, evil is everything that stands in the way of progress. And faith in him is the root of the Revolution. But the Reaction (the reaction of a healthy person to utopia) is the belief that progress can only be in the spiritual development of man. And disbelief that the Revolution is facilitating it. And, on the contrary, the conviction that it always and everywhere leads to the opposite.
So Khazanov also turns out to be a “mirror of the revolution” for us, because, like Lev Nikolayevich, not fully understanding this himself, with all the inconsistency characteristic of artists of the spoken genre, branding “everything bad”, he absolutely does not see the picture as a whole.
At the conclusion of his speech, for some reason (perhaps because of the “militarism” of this sovereign) he decides, again with a quote from Tolstoy, to denounce Peter the Great. Lev Nikolayevich wrote about him: “A raging, drunken beast, rotten from syphilis, has been killing people for a quarter of a century, executing, burning, burying alive in the ground, imprisoning his wife, debauchery, drunkenness, amusingly chopping off heads, blaspheming.”
And here’s what another living classic, Eduard Limonov, wrote about this: “Peter I was a degenerate from a whole string of bearded, bald, petty Romanov kings, he was an anomalous phenomenon. (...) There is no doubt that, if not for Peter the Great’s terrible revolution, Russia would have decayed and died of a mangy disease, mixed with the Ostyak principalities, and would have reached the rank of some Tuva. Thanks to some proteins that accidentally got caught on nuclides or whatever, as a result, Peter came out of his mother’s womb with deviations from the usual Romanov riffraff. It is not important what kind of revolution Peter I made - European or Asian - what is important is that his revolution made Russia powerful.”
Isn't it funny? Again the same thing is repeated as in the case of assessments of the war by Tolstoy and de Maistre. In terms of facts, there is almost complete coincidence. In terms of assessment, it’s an absolute contrast.
Because it’s not for nothing that the Russian people say “simplicity is worse than theft.” It is strictly forbidden to approach complex phenomena with simple assessments. As a result of such “theft,” one can easily steal from people the ability to think, except with naked slogans about “everything good.”
And, by the way, have you noticed that Putin, in his rhetoric, strictly adheres to the criteria of a just war according to Thomas Aquinas? But when various activists demand that specific goals of the operation be identified, preferably as geographically distant from the borders of the Russian Federation as possible, they insist that the president cross out these criteria. But here’s the thing, it is they (the criteria) that allow us to remain in the same conceptual field with Western reactionaries and realists. Such, for example, as the same Trump. And if there is nothing to talk about with modern LGBT revolutionaries, then there is definitely something to talk about with their opponents. For example, about such a structure of the world that would, as far as possible, be guaranteed against sliding into hell.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Viktor Lavrinenko
[REGNUM] On December 13, Swedish authorities ordered the release from custody of a high-ranking officer and his wife, who had been detained two months earlier on suspicion of spying for Russia. At the same time, the case of a married couple who emigrated from Russia, against whom a similar charge was brought, fell apart in court. It seems that the Swedish intelligence services were given the task of fulfilling the quota of captured Russian intelligence officers, but they failed. Stockholm desperately needs evidence of Moscow's insidious machinations to justify its efforts to join NATO and to explain the signing of a military treaty with Washington. But the search for this very evidence is being carried out very clumsily.
[Hot Air] The Ukraine war has been one of the top drop-down items on the Washington Post’s web masthead for about two years. During that time, it was the cause celebre of all the best people, and it was widely assumed for most of that time that it would result in a triumph for the good guys.
But lately, things have turned sour in Ukraine. The hoped-for breakthroughs from the counteroffensive didn’t happen, and despite the West pouring more aid into Ukraine than Russia’s entire defense budget, the basic math of warfare never looked great for Ukraine.
Reality reasserted itself.
Russia has never been sophisticated at warfare, and they always do poorly at the beginning stages of a war (sort of the opposite of the United States). Russia’s superpower is the ruthlessness of its leadership; the Russians seem willing to use their citizens as cannon fodder, expending men the way the US expends bullets.
Ukraine’s success early in the war was miraculous, seemingly based on having far superior training and discipline than the Russians. I cheered them on as they pushed back Russia’s offensive and remain impressed by their limited progress in pushing Russian advances back.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Oleg Krivoshapov
[REGNUM] Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov promised a symmetrical response to the attempt to confiscate Russian assets in Europe in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [Regnum] American journalist Seymour Hersh
...often wrong, always certain — he’s been trying to recapture the feeling since his first big story broke. And he hates America, so that’s a plus for his followers...
made another statement - the United States began preparing to undermine Nord Stream long before the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine. He wrote about this in an article for the American online platform Substack.
In his opinion, the initial goal could have been to contain Russia, but the date of September 2022 suggests that the sabotage was probably reoriented against Germany, which was considered a “weak link” in the coalition supporting Ukraine.
Hersh believes that the United States, weeks before the start of the special operation, ordered the American team in Norway to continue working and find a way to bring it to completion.
The journalist claims that the sabotage was prepared for the end of May, but US President Joe Biden postponed it without explanation.
“Biden’s order came at the end of September. Three of four pipeline branches were destroyed after explosive devices were detonated by a low-frequency sonar device,” Seymour Hersh wrote.
He also suggested that Biden's timing was aimed at German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
According to intelligence sources, the head of the White House feared that Scholz, whose voters were hesitant in supporting Kiev, could “slack” before the approaching winter and he decided that keeping his people warm and his industry prosperous was more important than helping Ukraine in fight against Russia.
As Regnum reported, the situation in European countries is heating up, this time due to the intention of the Ukrainian authorities to turn off the “gas tap” from Russia. This means that Europeans will inevitably face many problems.
Kyiv will not renew the agreement on the transit of Russian gas to Europe, which expires at the end of 2024. The head of the Ukrainian company Naftogaz, Alexey Chernyshov, announced this on October 29.
The transit contract between Russia and Ukraine concluded in 2019 is valid until December 31, 2024. Currently, gas transits through Ukraine to the states of Eastern Europe, primarily to Slovakia, Hungary and Austria.
Earlier, the head of the German Wintershall Dea, Mario Mehren, said that stopping the transit of Russian gas to Europe through the territory of Ukraine would at least lead to an increase in gas prices. There are still a number of countries in Europe that receive significant volumes of gas from Russia, he recalled.
#1
I can still remember that idiot nonsense on the downing of Korean Air Lines flight 007
Posted by: Uning Poodle1275 ||
12/23/2023 19:14 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"Have you heard Seymour Hersh's new rhyme?
You can buy it from Amazon Prime!"
"For a dime?"
"Nope, a buck. Just a dollar per cluck,
Or per minute: My Lai You Long Time!"
Not that I'm any kind of My Lai apologist. Er, denier.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on December 22 that he doubts the need to repeat the “grain deal.” He noted that he did not see the point in this.
“We are in touch with both sides, trying to develop new forms. I don’t think that repeating (the grain deal - editor’s note) makes sense,” Guterres said.
Everybody grew as much grain as they could, including the Ukrainians, and now there’s enough, it appears.
Rather, we should strive to create conditions for free and safe navigation in the Black Sea, the UN Secretary General added.
As Regnum reported earlier, on December 19, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he expects to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the near future and offer him to renew the grain deal. Erdogan noted that he hoped for a positive response and said that the Black Sea grain corridor mechanism was, in his opinion, a positive step towards “a fairer world.”
The Black Sea Initiative (grain deal) with the participation of Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN on the export of grain from Ukrainian ports was valid for a year from July 22, 2022. The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly indicated that there are no grounds for its extension, since it has turned into a purely commercial export of products from Ukraine to prosperous Western countries, and none of the conditions of the Russian side have been fulfilled.
In 2023, after Russia’s withdrawal from this agreement, the Russian Ministry of Defense declared all ships sailing through the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports as potential carriers of military cargo. All countries whose flags the ships fly will be considered involved in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of Kyiv. Some areas in the northwestern and southeastern parts of the international waters of the Black Sea have been declared temporarily dangerous for navigation.
#2
^ The "it" being sent to the starving presumably refers to the UN secretary general. That may be premature. No reports of cannibalism in Gaza as far as I know.
However, speaking as your Media Advisor, a little cannibalism might be a great card to play. Cholera?
Hah! Nothing says humanitarian catastrophe like eating your own dead. Let's add some poignancy: a family of four sitting in a bombed out building, gnawing the remains of the recently deceased, their faces smudged with dust from the rubble and grease from the... well, let's just leave that there. CNN would eat that up.
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.
[Hot Air] The Ukraine war has been one of the top drop-down items on the Washington Post’s web masthead for about two years. During that time, it was the cause celebre of all the best people, and it was widely assumed for most of that time that it would result in a triumph for the good guys.
[Regnum] American journalist 
