Russia Ukraine Update Thread - part 3

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

For a couple of years, Belarus, with Moscow's help, has created an artificial migrant crisis along its border with Poland. My take is that if a provocation is made, the migrants brought out of Africa and the Middle East will be the fall guys who will bear the brunt of NATO's response.

Cheers

I haven't seen this posted so apologies if it has been , African Union chairman Azali Assoumani speaking at the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg , Mr Assoumani makes it clear that peace is needed and if it isn't found "the future of this partnership will be under threat if this crisis persists"

29 July Update

Ukrainian forces conducted counteroffensive operations on at least three sectors of the front and advanced in some areas on July 29. Geolocated footage published on July 28 confirms that Ukrainian forces have advanced close to the northwestern outskirts of Kurdyumivka (13km southwest of Bakhmut). Geolocated footage published on July 29 shows that Ukrainian forces advanced to positions near the northern outskirts of Pryyutne (16km southwest of Velyka Novosilka) in the Donetsk-Zaporizhia Oblast border area.

Ukrainian forces targeted Russian military and logistics assets in occupied Crimea on July 28 and 29. The Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that Ukrainian forces struck the Chonhar bridge between occupied Crimea and occupied Kherson Oblast on the morning of July 29.

Russian forces conducted a missile strike on Dnipro City, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on the evening of July 28. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russian forces struck a residential building and a Ukrainian Security Services (SBU) building in Dnipro City with two Iskander cruise missiles.

More at URL above.

Cheers

a reply to: gortex

Indeed. And Putin attempted to buy off a few of these African nations by cancelling $20 billion in loan debt to them, and offering to throw them a bone of a bit of free grain. Guess that's not working out well for him. Putin's bombardment of Kyiv when African leaders visited there, and then his rebuff of their peace initiative when they visited him evidently didn't go over well either.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will be in russias crosshairs soon, lithuania has been preparing since 2015, and with wagner soon to cut them off from the rest of nato they will be Russias next target for invasion.

Article from 2015
www.wnycstudios.org...

originally posted by: gortex
Mr Assoumani makes it clear that peace is needed...

That's not really what he said, he didn't say anything about peace. He implied that the crisis is caused by the grain deal ending, because he refers specifically to Africa's need for grain and fertilizer. The grain deal of course allowed Africa to receive shipments of fertilizer and grain even while the war was going on.

There appears to be little chance of peace as long as Putin is in power, so the solution is unlikely to be peace but possibly a resumption of the grain deal, but that fizzled out and I'm not sure exactly why. Seems like Putin complained that he was having trouble getting paid for his grain shipments after his banks were disconnected from the SWIFT international payment system and the UN claims they sent Putin a letter on July 11 to resolve the issue, before the grain deal expired on July 17. But it seems like Putin just decided unilaterally to end the deal in spite of the fact that there were workarounds to getting Russia paid for its shipments while they worked on the SWIFT reconnection to the agricultural bank.

UN asks Putin to extend Black Sea grain deal in return for SWIFT access, sources say

UNITED NATIONS, July 12 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he extend a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine in return for connecting a subsidiary of Russia's agricultural bank to the SWIFT international payment system, sources told Reuters...

As a workaround to the lack of access to SWIFT, U.N. officials have gotten U.S. bank JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N to start processing some Russian grain export payments with reassurances from the U.S. government.

The United Nations is also working with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to create a platform to help process transactions for Russian exports of grain and fertilizer to Africa, the top U.N. trade official told Reuters last month.

I'm sure there's more to the story than what's in that article, like how do you reconnect the Russian agricultural bank to SWIFT and make sure it's not also going to start processing sanctioned transactions outside of the agricultural realm?

a reply to: SirMolle

Are you suggesting the Wagner Group and Belarus are going to block the Polish-Lithuania border? Don't see that happening, and if it did, that would definitely be an Article 5 violation, and I don't doubt that Poland and the Baltic states would invoke it.

And with Finland and Sweden now NATO members, the Baltic Sea has become a NATO lake, so I don't see the Baltic states being cut off. NATO is also stationing more troops in those countries, both for defense and as tripwire forces.

Consequently I don't see Russia, its minion state Belarus or its minion PMC, Wagner Group, doing so. Also don't see soldiers in any of these forces following orders to do so; I think they would find being on the front defensive line in Ukraine to be more desirable than attacking a NATO country.

Also, the Baltic states have long considered this a likely situation, so their military plans call for a guerrilla-style war to hold off the Russians until NATO ground forces come to their aid, and consequently their militaries' are designed for such, i.e. light infantry armed to the teeth with NLAW, Javelin and Stinger missiles, and rely on the rest of NATO for air support.

It's Navy day in Russia !

"Today, Russia is confidently implementing the large-scale tasks of our national maritime policy and is consistently building up the strength of our navy," said Mr Putin.

Time for a Naval parade !

a reply to: MrInquisitive

Putin and Medvedev have said they want to push back the borders of NATO countries and use Belarus to invade the Polish-Lithuan border and make a corridor to Kallingrad for the past month or so.

For the past few months they've been calling for Polish troops and people to be 'ruthlessly exterminated like stinky rats' and the Russian Ambassador called for the assasination of the Polish ambassador.

Wagner troops are massing on Poland's border at the moment but I don't think Wagner are quite mental enough to do so - seems more of a ploy to try and develop anti-war Ukraine sentiment in the West and to cause Ukranian troops to be spread too thinly.

Medvedev announced today the Russia will have no other choice than to use nuclear weapons if Ukraine sucessfully defends its borders and asked for enemies of Russia to pray that 'Russian warriors' conquer Ukraine and other countries, otherwise they'll get nuked and Russia is trying to extinguish the nuclear flame- which shows how deluded and illogical he has become.

Moscow was attacked by three drones. One of them apparently hit the ministry of technology building some kilometers away from the Kremlin. Russia claimed they jammed two of the drones sending them off course so those may not have hit their intended targets.

Drones hit Moscow city center in latest attack on Russian territory

There's some footage of one of the explosions here, and you can hear some screaming and crying in the video which normally would distress me in other situations. But in this situation, I'm glad to see the people of Moscow getting the message that the war is not just a video game on television, that people are dying every day because of the "special military operation" of the leader of their country, and maybe they should do something about that if they don't want to have a leader who is causing drones to be fired at Moscow targets.

This video claims Zelensky said Ukraine plans to take the war to Russia but I haven't found the quote from Zelensky yet, it's not mentioned in the article above.

Ukraine ATTACKS Moscow, Massive Damage | Breaking News With The Enforcer

Ukraine attacked Moscow with a drone swarm that has caused massive damage to Moscow and panic in the government. Meanwhile the Kerch bridge is undergoing repairs, although the bridge appears to be in the same condition. Zelensky has taken credit for the attack on Moscow, and says that the war should be brought to Russia.

a reply to: bastion

I don't question what you say Putin and Medvedev have been saying, but I think it is merely impotent saber rattling. The language from the Russian ambassador, if true, is on another level, however; for an ambassador to be saying such things is beyond the pale. Medvedev has for a while said very extreme things, such as if Crimea is attacked by Ukraine, that Russia has no other option but to use nuclear weapons. Yet that has not happened. It is scary and ridiculous that this person is on the Russian Security Council, but it also just shows how desperate the country is. Threatening Poland is not going to work out well for Russia. This is a quote of Medvedev saying what you paraphrased:

“That’s why our enemies must worship our warriors. They are keeping global nuclear fire from flaring up,” Medvedev said, referring to Russian efforts to stop the Ukrainian offensive.

Nuclear weapons on the table if Ukraine counteroffensive succeeds: Russia’s Medvedev

What a ridiculous statement to make. It's rather telling that such threats are coming now as the Ukrainian offensive is starting to show some results. Seems the Russians are more desperate than ever, and making empty threats is all that they have left.

Perhaps Putin and company think that Wagner and Belarus could attack Poland and Lithuania without Russia being held responsible by NATO. If so, that's an absolutely crazy notion. In any case, Lukashenko and Prigozhin have more sense than to bring NATO down on themselves.

Here's some information about why this war is of such interest to the entire world.
Turns out ukraine has been a major source for grain to the world because of their special soil.

30 July Update

The Ukrainian Armed Forces announced on July 29 that Ukrainian forces successfully struck the Chonhar bridge on the M-18 (Dzhankoi-Melitopol) highway between occupied Crimea and occupied Kherson Oblast. . . . The Chonhar bridge is a notable bottleneck along a critical Russian ground line of communication (GLOC)

Ukrainian forces conducted counteroffensive operations on at least three sectors of the front and made claimed advances in some areas. Ukrainian military sources reported that Ukrainian forces are achieving small successes on the southern flank of Bakhmut and are gradually advancing in the Berdyansk (western Donetsk-eastern Zaporizhia Oblast area) and Melitopol (in western Zaporizhia Oblast) directions.

The UK MoD reported that Wagner’s future combat effectiveness will depend on its ability to secure heavy equipment and enablers such as air transport.

More at URL above. As well, drones struck Moscow.

Cheers

As global trade dwindles and the economy gets worse and inflation rises, the average person with some land better start gardening to supplement their food supplies and save some money. a reply to: musicismagic

31 July Update

Ukrainian forces conducted counteroffensive operations on at least three sectors of the front on July 31. Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces continued attacking northwest and southwest of Bakhmut, in the western Donetsk–eastern Zaporizhia Oblast border area, and in western Zaporizhia Oblast.

More at URL above.

Also, Moscow's mayor said the same high rise building was hit in a new drone strike overnight.

Cheers

How the hell does the current Ukraine regime get billions, while supporting a Nazi f*** like Stephan Bandera every year?

Why because they hated Stalin?

NEWS FLASH. Not many of us were at war with Stalin. If you don’t like it, then perhaps you chose Hitler over Stalin.

a reply to: Imhere

Calm down. Ukraine has a history of oppression by both the Nazi's and Russia. On balance, Russia with their genocide and ethnic cleansing probably took a greater toll.

Currently, Russia is killing Ukrainians.

You'd be hard-pressed to find many Ukrainians who are sympathetic to Russia, give the history and the present behaviour.

But you gain no credit for continuing to paint Ukrainians as Nazis. They are not.

originally posted by: paraphi
a reply to: Imhere

Calm down. Ukraine has a history of oppression by both the Nazi's and Russia. On balance, Russia with their genocide and ethnic cleansing probably took a greater toll.

Currently, Russia is killing Ukrainians.

You'd be hard-pressed to find many Ukrainians who are sympathetic to Russia, give the history and the present behaviour.

But you gain no credit for continuing to paint Ukrainians as Nazis. They are not.

STOP protecting a Nazi DEAD Stephan Bandera as a national holiday.

It’s the nazi Ukrainian regime killing themselves.

Continue watching it. It’s only going to get even worse for them. Only so many numbers and it’s a waiting game.

How many more can Ukraine scrap the ocean floor for recruits in the long run?

Personally, as 100% Serbian background, and I have childhood friends here in the U.S from Ukraine.

They shut the f*** up quick when it involves Nazi SS.

Sure there were nazi sympathizers in Yugoslavia. We killed em.

The true Ukrainians have no problem with Serbia. In fact Ukraine doesn’t recognize Kosovo as independent for years.

Yet now threatening to support the Muslim Al Queda tied extremists in the Balkans as a F you, because Serbia is staying out of it. If not leaning against anything celebrating a Nazi SS.

Current Ukrainian Nazi Stephan Bandera regime needs to go.

Period.

a reply to: F2d5thCavv2

On the face of it Bombing Moscow? why hasn't Russia declared war on Ukraine, because it isn't the Ukraine bombing Moscow, it is The USA cloaked by NATO. The puppet regime in Kyiv says that it will continue attacking the Russian homeland in August. Russia isn't falling for it, so I would imagine when they strike back they will probably play a big hand. Meanwhile, the distraction is being played in the MSM the average guy won't know what hit them when it goes off. Just in time for a financial collapse with a dose of food shortages in the middle of an energy crisis. Which incidentally will be about time for climate lockdowns and martial law. where you will need a permit to travel which is as good as a lockdown. The whole lot smells like a planned event.