Russia Attacks Ukraine - 23 Feb 2022 **Media Thread** NO DISCUSSION #3

[PommyMommy]

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 1 hr ago
NYT: US creates contingency plans in case Russia uses chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
The team of national security officials, known as the Tiger Team, is also considering responses if Russia attacks convoys in NATO territories bringing weapons and aid to Ukraine, according to officials involved in the process.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
These contingencies will be central in an upcoming NATO meeting between the leaders of all member states on March 24.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
Pentagon: No signs Belarus preparing to invade Ukraine. Voice of America correspondent Carla Babb relayed the information on Twitter, citing an unnamed U.S. Department of Defense official.

 

[PommyMommy]

MAR 24, 2022
Russia uses mobilized Donbas men as cannon fodder for war in Ukraine - Ukrainian intel | Euromaidan Press

Russia has started mass mobilization of men living in Russia-occupied part of Ukrainian Donbas, despite their lack of discipline and morale, for the war in Ukraine. According to these men, as Ukrainian Intelligence reports, Russian military command is exploiting them as so-called combat reconnaissance. The mobilized are sent to the line of collision to reveal the arrangement of firing positions of the Ukrainian army at the cost of their lives.

According to the mobilized men from occupied Donbas, a unit of 250-300 soldiers was sent to the Mykolaiv direction on 16 and 17 March. Their losses constituted 200 men. The survivors returned to Kherson oblast and refused to take part in combat activities.

Since Russia is pursuing the policy of denial of war victims among its military men, it deliberately conceals the number of the killed. According to Ukrainian Defense Intelligence, Russia-controlled authorities in occupied Luhansk city opened a point to hand over the bodies of the mibilized men from occupied Ukrainian areas in a shop “Kopiika” (translated as “coin”). Occupational police gives the bodies to the relatives together with the death certificate and burial permit, yet with no official explanation of the circumstances of death. No payments for the relatives of the men from occupied Donbas who fought and died in Ukraine are provided (even if they possess a Russian passport). At the same time, families of Russian fighters get 12 mln RUB (around 124,031 USD) payments upon their soldiers’ deaths.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

NEXTA on Twitter - 4 hrs ago
The #UN Security Council did not adopt the draft Russian resolution on #Ukraine All members of the Security Council - except #Russia and #China - abstained. Russia's resolution was purely humanitarian in nature and did not provide for the issue of a ceasefire in Ukraine.

NEXTA on Twitter
Now in the #Kyiv region there are about 12 thousand #Russian soldiers This was stated by the adviser to the head of the presidential office Alexei Arestovich. “Of these, 3.000 are almost surrounded, another 4.000 are cut off and are in a very unpleasant place,” he said.

NEXTA on Twitter - 3 hrs ago
CNN: according to the Pentagon, the #Ukrainian military pushed back part of the #Russian forces from #Kyiv by 25 kilometers The Russian troops are 55 kilometers east of the center of Kyiv, which is 25-35 kilometers farther from where they were the day before.

NEXTA on Twitter - 2 hrs ago
Anonymous reports that they hacked data from the Central Bank of #Russia According to the report, in the next 48 hours the collective will publish more than 35,000 files of the bank, including those with secret contracts.

Euromaidan Press on Twitter - 1 hr ago
The bodies of the Russian military killed in the Sumy region in the first days of the invasion have not been taken away, Director at Sumy Oblast Military Administration. Decomposing human bodies may cause a great environmental threat. https://suspilne.media/220717-tila-rosijskih-vijskovih-aki-zaginuli-v-sumah-na-pocatku-vijni-dosi-ne-zabrali/

 

[PommyMommy]

[URL='https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/mar/23/russia-ukraine-war-humanitarian-convoy-seized-near-mariupol-says-zelenskiy-as-he-decries-constant-bombing-of-city']Russia-Ukraine war latest news: concern for trapped Chernihiv residents as Russians ‘bomb bridge’ – live | World news | The Guardian[/URL]
10m ago 02:01

The risk of coup by Russia’s federal security service (FSB) against President Putin is growing every week that the war in Ukraine continues, a whistleblower at the heart of Russian intelligence has said.

The whistleblower claims that chaos and discontent have engulfed the security services after Russia’s botched invasion of Ukraine.

Letters written by an anonymous Russian intelligence analyst to Vladimir Osechkin, an exiled Russian activist and founder of the human rights group Gulagu.net, have since been published online.

Osechkin told The Times that the risk taken by intelligence agents in speaking out was a sign of their growing anger towards Putin and discontent from the effect that sanctions have had on FSB officers who will no longer be able to “go on holidays to their villas in Italy and take their kids to Disneyland Paris”.

Speaking from his home in France, where he has lived in exile since 2015, Osechkin told the newspaper:

For 20 years Putin created stability in Russia. FSB officers, policemen, state prosecutors — those people inside the system — were able to live good lives.

But now that has all gone. They recognise that this war is a catastrophe for the economy, for humanity. They don’t want to go back to the Soviet Union.

For every week and every month that this war continues, the possibility of a rebellion by those in the security services increases.”

 

[PommyMommy]

[URL='https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/mar/23/russia-ukraine-war-humanitarian-convoy-seized-near-mariupol-says-zelenskiy-as-he-decries-constant-bombing-of-city']Russia-Ukraine war latest news: concern for trapped Chernihiv residents as Russians ‘bomb bridge’ – live | World news | The Guardian[/URL]
1h ago 01:14

Ukraine is using facial recognition software to identify the bodies of Russian soldiers killed in combat and to trace their families to inform them of their deaths, Ukraine’s vice prime minister told Reuters.

[...]

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister who also runs the ministry of digital transformation, told Reuters Ukraine had been using Clearview AI software to find the social media accounts of dead Russian soldiers.

From there, authorities are messaging relatives to make arrangements to collect the body, he said. Fedorov tweeted late on Wednesday:

[...]

“As a courtesy to the mothers of those soldiers, we are disseminating this information over social media to at least let families know that they they’ve lost their sons and to then enable them to come to collect their bodies,” Fedorov added in an interview.

Fedorov declined to specify the number of bodies identified through facial recognition but he said the percentage of recognised individuals claimed by families has been “high.”

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

[URL='https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/mar/23/russia-ukraine-war-humanitarian-convoy-seized-near-mariupol-says-zelenskiy-as-he-decries-constant-bombing-of-city']Russia-Ukraine war latest news: concern for trapped Chernihiv residents as Russians ‘bomb bridge’ – live | World news | The Guardian[/URL]
2h ago 00:14

'Who is a friend, who is a partner, and who betrayed us for money' - Zelenskiy

Referencing the Nato, EU and G7 summits that will take place in Brussels on Thursday, Zelenskiy urged for “meaningful steps” while noting the talks will reveal “who is a friend, who is a partner, and who betrayed us for money.”

Politicians must also support freedom. All of them. They must support the struggle for life.

We are waiting for meaningful steps. From Nato, the EU and the G7.

[...]

We have not received aircraft and modern anti-missile weapons. We have not received tanks, anti-ship equipment. Russian forces can keep killing thousands of our citizens, destroying our cities. Just because there are too many invaders. Just because Russia has been preparing for such a war for decades.

We asked to close our sky. And we asked for assistance from Nato to be effective and without limits. Any support in weapons that we need. We asked the Alliance to say it will fully help Ukraine win this war, clear our territories of the invaders and restore peace in Ukraine.”

 

[PommyMommy]

[URL='https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/mar/23/russia-ukraine-war-humanitarian-convoy-seized-near-mariupol-says-zelenskiy-as-he-decries-constant-bombing-of-city']Russia-Ukraine war latest news: concern for trapped Chernihiv residents as Russians ‘bomb bridge’ – live | World news | The Guardian[/URL]
2h ago 00:03

Zelenskiy addressed the citizens of Russia separately.

I am sure that there are many of you who are disgusted by the policy of your state. Who are already just sick of what you see on TV. Of the lies of your propagandists on the Internet. Propagandists who are paid by your taxes. And they lie about the war, which is paid for by your taxes. And which makes all the citizens of Russia poorer. Poorer every day.

Isn’t that stupid? Your state collects taxes from you to make you poorer. To isolate you from the world. To make it easier for them to control you. And easier to send you to the war to die.

The president continued to assert that Ukraine “has never threatened the security of Russia”.

We are doing everything to end this war. And when we succeed - it will certainly happen - you will be sure of at least one thing: your children will no longer be sent to die on our land, on our territory.

Therefore, you, the citizens of Russia, are also interested in peace. Save your sons from the war. Tell the truth about the war. And if you can leave Russia so as not to give your taxes to the war, do it.”

 

[PommyMommy]

MAR 23, 2022
'A Very Big Secret': Boat Crews Link Alleged Putin Superyacht To Russian Tycoons' Other Vessels (rferl.org)
A superyacht that Kremlin opponents claim secretly belongs to Russian President Vladimir Putin shared the same construction manager and European crew members as several other yachts owned by Russian tycoons that Western governments have either seized or targeted with sanctions, an investigation by RFE/RL has found.

RFE/RL also discovered that a senior Russian crew member on the Scheherazade, which is worth an estimated $700 million, previously worked for a Russian yachting company that secured millions of dollars in contracts from the Kremlin’s security service, whose officers have allegedly served on the crew of the yacht.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

Worried Russians Stockpile Medicine As Supplies Run Thin And Prices Rise (rferl.org)
Nailya Musina, who lives about 1,700 kilometers to the north in the Volga River town of Menzelinsk, is having the same problem trying to locate a drug that helps prevent ovarian cancer. Fortunately, her daughter, who lives in Turkey, managed to locate a comparable drug, and had it shipped to Russia by mail.

“I was very worried…. I was short of breath. I’m lucky to have my daughter who lives abroad -- but not all people have that option,” she told RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service. “I feel sorry for all the people who have epilepsy – what will happen to them?”

Noted Post-Soviet Reformer Chubais Quits Post As Putin's Envoy, Reportedly Leaves Russia (rferl.org)
Well-known post-Soviet reformer Anatoly Chubais has left his post as Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy for stable development, a move that could signal the highest-profile protest inside the Kremlin against Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin on March 24 confirmed that Chubais had stepped down “on his own accord” following reports by Bloomberg and Reuters quoting Kremlin sources as saying that Chubais -- who was responsible for relations with international organizations -- had left the country.

A Ukrainian Family Grieves After Two Brothers Killed 10 Days Apart (rferl.org)
Video caption: A Ukrainian family is mourning the loss of two sons who were killed just 10 days apart while fighting in the Ukrainian military. Vasyl Vyshyvaniy, 28, was killed on March 3 in the Mykolayiv region during Russian shelling, while his older brother Kyrylo, 35, died in a Russian missile attack on a training base near Lviv on March 13.

 

[PommyMommy]

Questions have been raised about the whereabouts of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu following reports that he has not been seen in public for nearly two weeks, despite being in charge of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Dmitry Treschanin, a Russian journalist at independent outlet Mediazona, also noted that the last article about Shoigu to appear on Russian state news agency RIA was on March 11.

"Listen, the great PR minister Shoigu has been out of public space since March 11th. ELEVEN DAYS OF WAR, we do not have the head of the Ministry of Defense," Treschanin tweeted.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu Not Seen for 12 Days

 

[PommyMommy]

[URL='https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/mar/23/russia-ukraine-war-humanitarian-convoy-seized-near-mariupol-says-zelenskiy-as-he-decries-constant-bombing-of-city']Russia-Ukraine war latest news: concern for trapped Chernihiv residents as Russians ‘bomb bridge’ – live | World news | The Guardian[/URL]
2m ago 02:59

Repeated attempts by the United States’ top defence and military leaders to speak with their Russian counterparts have been rejected by Moscow, leaving officials in the dark about explanations for military movements and raising fears of a major miscalculation or battlefield accident, the Washington Post reports.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, defense secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, have tried to set up phone calls with Russia’s defense minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Valery Gerasimov but the Russians “have so far declined to engage,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Wednesday.

James Stavridis, who served as the supreme allied commander at Nato from 2009 to 2013, said:

There is a high risk of escalation without the firebreak of direct contact between the most senior officials.

Very young people are flying in jets, operating warships, and conducting combat operations in the Ukrainian war. They are not seasoned diplomats, and their actions in the heat of operations can be misunderstood.

We must avoid a scenario of Nato and Russia sleepwalking into war because senior leaders can’t pick up a phone and explain to each other what is happening.”

 

[PommyMommy]

Russian journalist Oksana Baulina killed in shelling incident in Kyiv | CNN Business
A Russian journalist working for the independent news site The Insider was killed in a shelling incident in Kyiv, the outlet said in a statement on Wednesday.

Oksana Baulina had been filming the shelling destruction in the capital's Podilskyi District by Russian troops when she came under rocket fire. Another civilian died with her, The Insider's statement said. Two people accompanying her were also wounded and hospitalized.

 

[PommyMommy]

Saving the abandoned animals of Ukraine

Russia expands laws criminalizing ‘fake news’

After training together for years, Air Force pilots are watching Ukrainian friends fight for their lives

 

[PommyMommy]

Roman Abramovich: Rabbi investigated over Portuguese citizenship - BBC News (ampproject.org)
"A rabbi who helped Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich obtain his Portuguese citizenship has been told he cannot leave Portugal and must present himself to authorities when required.

Daniel Litvak was detained on Thursday as part of an investigation into how citizenship had been granted.

The naturalisation process of several Jewish people is being investigated.

On Friday, Mr Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine."

 

[PommyMommy]

@TayfunOzberk

Ukraine Armed forces hit a Russian landing ship. Sources claim that the ship is Alligator-class LST Orsk.

 

[PommyMommy]

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, March 23 | Institute for the Study of War (understandingwar.org)

Key Takeaways

• Russian forces continue to go over to the defensive, conducting restricted and localized ground attacks that make little progress.
• Ukrainian forces are conducting limited and successful counterattacks around Kyiv to disrupt Russian operations to encircle the city (which has now become extremely unlikely) and relieve the pressure on the capital.
• The Battle of Mariupol continues as a block-by-block struggle with fierce Ukrainian resistance and limited Russian gains.
• Russia is likely struggling to obtain fresh combat power from Syria and elsewhere rapidly.

Russian efforts to bring Syrian forces into Ukraine may be encountering challenges. Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR) reports that a Russian commander in Syria met with the commander of the Syrian Arab Army’s 8th Brigade to request a list of Syrian personnel ready to fight in Ukraine, but that the Syrian commander promised only to respond after consulting with his colleagues.
Russian mobilization efforts are likely becoming urgent given Russian losses in the war. The Wall Street Journal cites an unnamed NATO official claiming that Russia has lost as many as 40,000 troops killed, wounded, or missing of the roughly 190,000 deployed to invade Ukraine.
Russian forces are increasingly preparing for protracted defensive operations in various parts of the theater. Numerous reports and satellite images of Russian troops digging defensive positions and laying mines suggest that they have gone over to the defensive and do not anticipate conducting renewed large-scale offensive operations in the near future in a number of locations across Ukraine.

We do not report in detail on the deliberate Russian targeting of civilian infrastructure and attacks on unarmed civilians, which are war crimes, because those activities are well-covered in Western media and do not directly affect the military operations we are assessing and forecasting. We will continue to evaluate and report on the effects of these criminal activities on the Ukrainian military and population and specifically on combat in Ukrainian urban areas. We utterly condemn these Russian violations of the laws of armed conflict, Geneva Conventions, and humanity even though we do not describe them in these reports.

Russian forces are engaged in four primary efforts at this time:

• Main effort—Kyiv (comprised of three subordinate supporting efforts);
• Supporting effort 1—Kharkiv;
  • Supporting effort 1a—Luhansk Oblast;
• Supporting effort 2—Mariupol and Donetsk Oblast; and
• Supporting effort 3—Kherson and advances northward and westward.

The Ukrainian General Staff reported on March 23 that Russian forces attempted to advance on Teterivsk, roughly 70 kilometers northwest of Kyiv, but were repelled. A local Ukrainian government social media report supports that assessment.

Immediate items to watch

• Russian forces will likely capture Mariupol or force the city to capitulate within the coming weeks.
• Russia will expand its air, missile, and artillery bombardments of Ukrainian cities.
• Ukrainian officials suggest that Ukrainian forces may launch a larger counterattack in western Kyiv Oblast in the coming days.
• The continued involvement of the Black Sea Fleet in the Battle of Mariupol reduces the likelihood of an amphibious landing near Odesa, Russian naval shelling of Odesa in recent days notwithstanding.

 

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Russian defence chief Sergei Shoigu not seen in public for two weeks | News | The Times

Sergei Shoigu, who has previously been tipped to succeed President Putin, was last seen on March 11, when he held talks with his Turkish counterpart, Hulusi Akar. He also visited a military hospital in Moscow to present medals to injured soldiers.

General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of Russia’s general staff, was also last seen on the same day.

 

[PommyMommy]

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu Not Seen for 12 Days (newsweek.com)

''Agentstvo [The Agency], a Russian independent investigative news outlet which aims to expose government corruption, reported on Telegram how one of Vladimir Putin's closest allies last appeared on state-run television on March 11.

Agentstvo, citing an unnamed official, speculated that Shoigu may be unwell and suffering from heart problems although the agency could not confirm that.''

"Not seen in public for 12 days, not seen with Putin since *that* meeting on 27 Feb where he was ordered to put the nukes on high alert," Cordell tweeted before sharing an image of Shoigu and Putin "from happier times" where the pair are on vacation together.

It is also reported that Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of Russia's armed forces, has not been seen in public since March 11.''

 

[PommyMommy]

MAR 3, 2022
Shoigu and Gerasimov: Masters of Putin's wars (france24.com)
Since the Ukraine invasion began, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and armed forces Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov have become central figures in war launched by Vladimir Putin.

When Putin is not alone on the screen, they are usually around. Since the beginning of the Ukraine invasion, Shoigou and Gerasimov have become the faces of the war.

The two are extremely close to Putin. They were, for example, Putin's military cortège during his television announcement on February 28 about having put Russia's nuclear forces on heightened alert.

It is not surprising that the Kremlin decided to put Shoigu and Gerasimov in the spotlight. In Putin’s eyes, they are the architects of the successful campaign to annex Crimea in 2014, Russia's military strategy in Syria as well as the support for the pro-Russian rebels in the Donbas region.

The duo is also perceived to be being among the most loyal of Putin's followers. Interestingly, both were appointed within weeks of each other to their respective posts in 2012.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

MAR 8, 2022
Russian generals risk themselves to motivate troops after sluggish advance | The Times of Israel
[...]

Ukrainian military intelligence said late Monday that Major General Vitaly Gerasimov, the deputy commander of the 41st army of Russia’s central military district, had been killed outside Kharkiv.

It said that Gerasimov had taken part in the war in Chechnya and Russia’s operation in Syria, and had also been decorated for his role in the 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

‘As close as possible’
An audio recording also surfaced on social media purportedly of the moment the unit’s commander in Russia was informed of Gerasimov’s death by a subordinate in Ukraine. Its veracity could not be immediately verified.

His death has not been confirmed or denied by Russia, although pro-Kremlin Telegram channels on Tuesday insisted that Gerasimov was alive, well, and carrying out his military duties.

[...]

MAR 24, 2022
NEXTA on Twitter - Video
After long rumors that Putin decided to remove Shoigu forever, they decided to show him on TV as participant of the government meeting. However, viewers noticed oddities during the broadcast. Pay attention to the top left corner.