TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org

The not really human is through in politics.

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/the-end-of-kristi-noem/55810/

Still hitting those refineries hard. Puts Russia in a spot. Loss of income plus difficulty getting replacements because of sanctions.

https://kyivindependent.com/media-ukrainian-drones-behind-oil-refineries-attacks-in-russias-ryazan-voronezh-oblasts/

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin has stated that he is urging countries that have Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems to transfer them to Ukraine amid a shortage of air defense stocks.

“There are countries that have Patriot, and we are continuing to negotiate with them. I've personally spoken to several leaders in the last two weeks, encouraging them to give up more equipment or provide more equipment,” he said.

It is known that in Europe, in particular, Spain, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden have Patriot batteries.

“I hope that cluster bombs are provided to Ukraine as quickly as possible. We have excesses that need to be destroyed. I know a way to destroy them, and that is to send them to the people of Ukraine," Congressman Joe Wilson at a hearing in the US House of Representatives.

On his part, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, answering a question about further deliveries of long-range ATACMS missiles, said that "the United States will provide Ukraine with as much of the capabilities as we can."

Joyce Vance
https://open.substack.com/pub/joycevance/p/biden-v-fox-news?r=70k1h&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Alexander Lukashenko said that Belarusian athletes should decide for themselves whether to participate in the Olympics under a neutral status. However, he advised those who choose to participate to "punch their opponents in the face."

"It is the responsibility of the athletes. If they choose to participate in the Olympics, they should do so with even more determination. You see, mood and determination are crucial in sports. But if you're selected and compete under a neutral status, show them what it means to be a true Belarusian. We'll still recognize your Belarusian identity, and if you emerge victorious, it will give us a good reason to metaphorically 'punch them in the face' politically," Lukashenko said during a meeting with the residents of Kastsyukovichy.

The SBU Successfully Apprehended a Traitor Spying for the Enemy

The counter-intelligence of the Security Service foiled a new attempt by the Russian Federation to obtain up-to-date information about the Defense Forces in Donetsk region.

As a result of a special operation, an agent of the Russian military intelligence was detained in Slovyansk, who was collecting intelligence on the redeployment of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the direction of the front line.

First of all, she tried to identify pontoon-bridge complexes and locations where they are used to transport heavy weapons across local rivers.

The occupiers needed such information to plan combat ground operations and prepare airstrikes on the concentration points of personnel and military equipment of the Armed Forces.

The Security Service learned about such plans of the aggressor at the initial stage of the intelligence activity of the Russian agent. This made it possible to secure the positions of Ukrainian troops in a timely manner.

Also, in the course of documenting the figure, it became known about her curator from the military intelligence of the Russian Federation.

At the final stage of the special operation, the enemy agent was detained in her own apartment.

Mobile phones were seized from the detainee, on which she regularly changed accounts for conspiratorial communication with the occupiers.

According to the investigation, the traitor turned out to be a 25-year-old local resident, an ideological supporter of racism.

She was recruited when Yampil village was under Russian occupation

For a long time, she was in a "sleeping" mode, but in the spring of this year, the agent was "activated" for reconnaissance and subversive activities in the frontline region.

In order to carry out enemy tasks, she went around the area, and also tried to "darkly" ask her acquaintances for the information she needed.

She faces life in prison.

Ukraine Requires 1,000 more APCs for its War Effort. It’ll take Canada Roughly a Year to Send 50.

More than anything, Ukraine needs artillery, air defenses and fresh infantry for its battered combat brigades.

In fourth place: armored personnel carriers. These nimble, easy-to-maintain vehicles can speed troops between fighting positions while protecting them from gunfire and artillery fragments.

The desperate need for APCs—as well as infantry fighting vehicles, which are more heavily armed—helps to explain the frustration over Canada’s glacially slow transfer of Bison APCs to Ukraine.

Any APCs are better than no APCs. But a few hundred APCs would be much better than the 89 Bisons—also known as “Armored Combat Support Vehicles,” or ASCVs—that Ukraine has been getting from Canada for more than two years.

The government in Ottawa announced the donation of 89 Bisons starting in June 2022. First, the Canadians offered 39 used Bisons from Canadian army surplus stocks. Then, in September 2023, they pledged an additional newly-built Bisons fresh off General Dynamics’ assembly line. Together, the 89 vehicles—plus spare parts and crew training—are worth around $900 million.

The 39 used Bisons arrived quickly and likely equipped no more than one battalion in one brigade in a military with a hundred brigades overseeing several hundred battalions. The Ukrainians lost one of the 14-ton, 10-person Bisons in action in southern Ukraine last year.

The 50 new Bisons—enough for another battalion—are taking a very long time to reach the front line. “The first 10 of 50 Armored Combat Support Vehicles that Canada will donate to Ukraine will be delivered to Europe this summer,” Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair announced Friday. “Ukrainians will be trained on the vehicles in the summer, and the vehicles will move to Ukraine in the fall.”

From pledge to delivery, it will have taken Canada a year to supply 50 APCs.

In that same span of time, the Ukrainians will have lost—at the average rate—around 500 APCs and IFVs, according to data from the analysts at Oryx.

Canada isn’t the only country supplying Ukraine with armored vehicles, of course. The United States, Germany and Poland in particular have donated hundreds of APCs and IFVs.

Since Russia widened its war on Ukraine 26 months ago, Ukraine’s allies have delivered around 2,000 personnel carriers and fighting vehicles.

Subtracting the 1,000 or so APCs and IFVs the Ukrainians have lost, it might seem that Kyiv’s forces have a thousand more personnel carriers and fighting vehicles than they need.

The problem is that, since 2022, Ukraine’s armed forces have roughly doubled in size.

The 2,000 Soviet-made APCs and IFVs the Ukrainians had before the wider war may have been enough for 50 brigades, but they weren’t nearly enough for 100 brigades. Add 2,000 donated vehicles and subtract a thousand lost vehicles and you get a 1,000-vehicle shortfall.

Ukrainian commanders knew this would be a problem. “We need everything, but [IFVs/APCs] are probably the most urgent need we have,” an unnamed officer in a Ukrainian mechanized brigade told Foreign Policy early last year.

It’s not unreasonable for Canadian industry to take a year to produce and ship 50 brand-new APCs.

What might seem unreasonable, to friends of a free Ukraine, is that the Canadian government didn’t have to wait for workers to finish those 50 new Bisons. Ottawa had—and still has—options for sending APCs to Ukraine immediately.

The Canadian army is replacing its older armored vehicles with newer models. The modernization drive has freed up more than 400 older vehicles, including variants of the M-113 APC along with Bisons and similar Coyotes.

There was an uproar last fall when the Canadian government announced plans to scrap all 400 vehicles instead of donating them to Ukraine.

The Canadian defense ministry stressed that many of the vehicles are “in very poor condition” after decades of hard use.

At least one Ukrainian official said she didn’t mind. “Ukrainians are ready to take even junk, tear it apart and make one out of three machines,” Oleksandra Ustinova, the head of a parliamentary commission on munitions, told CBC News.

Moreover, Ontario company Armatec Survivability submitted an unsolicited bid to refurbish and update the aged vehicles, reportedly at a rate of eight per month.

*Neither Ustinova’s plea nor Armatec’s proposal compelled the government in Ottawa to offer the old vehicles to Ukraine, however.*

Instead, the Ukrainians are waiting a year for 50 new Bisons in order to meet approximately five percent of their demand for APCs.

- David Axe, Forbes

Chasiv Yar Continues to Hold Out

A dispatch by Sarah Ashton-Cirillo. She is an American-born journalist and medic with the Ukrainian territorial forces, just spent a few days in the front-line city of Chasiv Yar. Main points of Sarah’s report highlighted by David Axe.

Ukrainian Defenses [remain] Intact

Nearly a month after the Russian army launched its first direct assaults on Chasiv Yar, an industrial city with a pre-war population of 12,000 that straddles a north-south canal a few miles west of Bakhmut, the city holds.

*Not only does the city hold—its most vulnerable district, on the eastern side of the canal, also holds. *

What’s most remarkable is that the unit that once garrisoned the canal district, the 67th Mechanized Brigade, was disbanded earlier this month after investigators from the defense ministry in Kyiv uncovered deep incompetence in its command staff, which has ties to a far-right political group.

Ukraine’s eastern command clearly was able to rush forces into the canal district to replace the 67th Brigade—and in time to prevent a Russian advance into the district. Ashton-Cirillo visited elements of the 56th and 41st Mechanized Brigades and 5th Assault Brigade.

Ukrainian Warplanes are Active over Chasiv Yar

“Jets flew over our position from both directions as the small but brave Ukrainian air force made its presence known,” she wrote.

This is news. We knew Russian air force planes—in particular, Sukhoi Su-25 attack jets—had been ranging over Chasiv Yar, their pilots practically taunting the Ukrainian brigades on the ground.

Fearing Ukrainian air-defenses, Russian pilots normally would keep miles away from any fortified city. But Ukraine ran low on air-defenses earlier this month—and for obvious reasons.

Ukraine gets many of its best air-defense munitions from the United States, but U.S. supplies all but ran out in late December as pro-Russia Republicans in the U.S. Congress successfully blocked legislation approving additional aid.

It’s possible the Ukrainian pilots Ashton-Cirillo observed were risking Russian air-defenses in order to stiffen the Ukrainian defenses over Chasiv Yar. It also is possible the pilots were flying attack missions in support of the city’s garrison.

Aid legislation finally passed the U.S. Congress last Tuesday. Stinger air-defense missiles and other equipment are on their way. Help is coming for those Ukrainian pilots flying over Chasiv Yar.

Ukrainian Troops are Convoying with Radio-Jammers

“A Humvee and a truck with a personal [electronic-warfare] defense system protruding from its roof comprised our caravan provided by a recon squad from the 41st Brigade into Chasiv Yar,” Ashton-Cirillo wrote.

Best guess is the jammer was a $50,000 Bukovel. A very effective system that has helped to suppress Russia’s drones all along the 600-mile front line.

The Ukrainian girl Sasha Pascal impressed with her dance at the charity Vienna Ball in Kyiv ❤️‍🩹

Sasha lost her leg due to a missile strike by Russia in the Odesa region in May 2022. After rehabilitation, the girl has resumed dancing.

The resilience of this little girl symbolizes the unbroken spirit of Ukrainians.

Joyce Vance

https://open.substack.com/pub/joycevance/p/contempt?r=70k1h&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Seymour Hersh

https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/where-are-the-national-intelligence

Goodnight Resisters everywhere

The SBU Successfully Apprehended a Traitor Spying for the Enemy

The counter-intelligence of the Security Service foiled a new attempt by the Russian Federation to obtain up-to-date information about the Defense Forces in Donetsk region.

As a result of a special operation, an agent of the Russian military intelligence was detained in Slovyansk, who was collecting intelligence on the redeployment of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the direction of the front line.

First of all, she tried to identify pontoon-bridge complexes and locations where they are used to transport heavy weapons across local rivers.

The occupiers needed such information to plan combat ground operations and prepare airstrikes on the concentration points of personnel and military equipment of the Armed Forces.

The Security Service learned about such plans of the aggressor at the initial stage of the intelligence activity of the Russian agent. This made it possible to secure the positions of Ukrainian troops in a timely manner.

Also, in the course of documenting the figure, it became known about her curator from the military intelligence of the Russian Federation.

At the final stage of the special operation, the enemy agent was detained in her own apartment.

Mobile phones were seized from the detainee, on which she regularly changed accounts for conspiratorial communication with the occupiers.

According to the investigation, the traitor turned out to be a 25-year-old local resident, an ideological supporter of racism.

She was recruited when Yampil village was under Russian occupation

For a long time, she was in a "sleeping" mode, but in the spring of this year, the agent was "activated" for reconnaissance and subversive activities in the frontline region.

In order to carry out enemy tasks, she went around the area, and also tried to "darkly" ask her acquaintances for the information she needed.

She faces life in prison.

Ukrainian Defender Mykola Voronchuk lost his arm after a severe war injury. Now, he assembles drones with a bionic prosthesis.

"I never thought I would have to take up arms. When the full-scale war began, I started going to checkpoints and ask for a summons. In early August 2022, they wanted to mobilize my younger brother. I managed to agree with the draft officer that I would go instead of him. My younger brother went home, and I went to war," shares Mykola.

Mykola fought in the Donetsk direction as a member of the 79th Air Assault Brigade. In January last year, he was seriously wounded and lay for several hours at the positions, waiting to be rescued. He recalls that the Russians cynically shot his fellow soldiers and left him to die with the words, "Let him die like a dog."

"I noticed our drone hovering over me. I waved that I was alive. After about 15-20 minutes, a combat medic came up, and we ran together to the evacuation APC. The distance was significant - 4 kilometers. We ran under mine fire because all the time there was an enemy drone above us," Mykola recalls.

Ukrainian Defender also provides psychological care at the Protez Foundation clinic and helps other military personnel returning from war with injuries

Glory to Ukrainian Hero!

Deputy of the State Duma Hinshstein proposed checking the orientation of officials before appointing them to positions.
"I don't see anything reprehensible or bad in such checks. Protecting traditional family values is one of the postulates of state policy, and people involved in this should be approached with special attention,"
Hinshstein said.
***
After the check, only half of the deputies will remain. It's interesting how they plan to carry out these checks lol

Lipetsk Zoo reported about sending peacocks to the front and deleted the message.

The social networks of the Lipetsk Zoo reported that two peacocks had been sent to the front to "brighten up the everyday life" of Russian soldiers. It was reported that the birds were handed over by the director of the 252nd motorized rifle regiment of the Russian Armed Forces as part of the "Who else but us" campaign. f

The female and male were sent to the 252nd motorized rifle regiment.

"For guys in a heavy combat situation, the beauty of birds is inspiring, brings a piece of joy. This is not an advertisement for the zoo, but a gift from the bottom of my heart. As soon as the request from the fighters was received, the zoo immediately decided to give them the birds. We hope that the beauty of these birds will brighten the soldiers' everyday life," the message said.

One of the servicemen recorded a video of gratitude and said that by watching the birds, the soldiers "get spiritual peace."

The posts, as well as photos and videos, were later deleted from the zoo's social media accounts.

Next step: An authority was created to censor books.

An "expert center" has been launched in Putinistan to assess print and electronic book publications "for compliance with the law." It began to work on the basis of the ruZZian Book Union (RKS), the organization told state media.

According to the representative of the union, this center includes representatives of Roskomnadzor (the Z-censorship authority for mass media), the ruZZian Historical Society, the ruZZian Military Historical Society, the ruZZian Orthodox Church, the Spiritual Administration of Muslims, the Federation of Jewish Communities, the Association of Lawyers, the Z-Academy of Education, the Gorky Literary Institute and other institutions and organizations.

The creation of this center was discussed back in January 2023 to determine books subject to withdrawal from sale due to violations of laws, including the law banning LGBT propaganda, one of the interlocutors of Vedomosti noted.

The conclusions of the center are (at the moment) advisory in nature, and the final decision on the fate of the book, in which a violation of the law was found, is made by the publisher, the representative of the ruZZian Communications Union said.

For example, on the recommendation of the "expert center", the AST publishing group hasten to suspend sales in offline retail and on digital platforms in Putinistan of the novels "Legacy" by Vladimir Sorokin, "The House at the End of the World" by Michael Cunningham and "Giovanni's Room" by James Baldwin.

According to the conclusion of the center, these works contained information prohibited for distribution in accordance with Article 6.21. Code of Administrative Offences ("Propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations and (or) preferences, gender reassignment"). What kind of violations were found, the RSS and ACT did not specify.
Prior to that, the state-controlled Mash channel reported on the complaint by "social activists" about "LGBT propaganda" and "propaganda of violence against children" in Sorokin's book.

Just the next day after opening the censor center AST Publishing also stopped selling books by Hanya Yanagihara “A Little Life” and Madeleine Miller “The Song of Achilles,” according to a document signed by the publishing house’s general director. In the authors’ writings, they found signs of “LGBT propaganda and gender reassignment” (Article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the ruZZian Fuckeration).

At the end of last year, the AST publishing group suspended the distribution of books by writers Boris Akunin and Dmitry Bykov. Just coincidently, I'm sure, after they admitted to supporting Ukraine in a conversation with pranksters Vovan and Lexus.

Source

@freerussia_report