Ukraine 2

[Kamaji]

Russia privately admits its economy is facing biggest collapse in three decades as a result of Western sanctions in leaked Kremlin forecast

By RACHAEL BUNYAN FOR MAILONLINE
11 May 2022

Russia has privately admitted the country is facing the biggest economic collapse in three decades as a result of crippling Western sanctions, a leaked copy of the Kremlin's forecast shows.

The Russian Finance Ministry is predicting a 12 per cent collapse in gross domestic product (GDP) this year, the deepest economic contraction since 1994 when Russia was lurching towards capitalism under President Boris Yeltsin.

The leaked forecast will put pressure on Vladimir Putin, who is facing criticism from Kremlin officials who warn of the damaging political and economic cost of his war plan.

*  *  *

Source:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10804587/Russia-privately-admits-economy-facing-biggest-collapse-30-years-Western-sanctions.html

[Kamaji]

Ukraine war: Russia pushed back in north-east - report from front line

By Quentin Sommerville
BBC News, Kharkiv
May 11, 2022

Ukraine says its forces have recaptured villages from Russian troops north and north-east of Kharkiv, pushing them back towards the border. The ongoing offensive could signal a shift in the war's momentum and jeopardise Russia's main advance further south. BBC correspondent Quentin Sommerville, and cameraman Darren Conway, have been with Ukrainian forces as they advance.

The village of Ruska Lozova stands at the centre of the turn in Ukraine's response to Russian aggression.

It was recently liberated in a co-ordinated effort led by senior military commanders. Ukrainian troops from territorial defence, the national guard, and the regular army are seeking to push the Russians back along a 32-km (20-mile) front line. In the Russian city of Belgorod, just across the border, troops have amassed for a likely counter-offensive.

We drove north from the city of Kharkhiv with Ukrainian forces. Russian shells continued to hit the village.

With no power or water, little food, and neither phone or internet, its residents had been isolated from Ukraine's second-largest city - just 8km (5 miles) south. From the woods and hills nearby, Russian mortars and artillery shelled Kharkiv relentlessly.

*  *  *

Source:  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61378196

[Hoodat]

With no power or water, little food, and neither phone or internet, its residents had been isolated from Ukraine's second-largest city - just 8km (5 miles) south. From the woods and hills nearby, Russian mortars and artillery shelled Kharkiv relentlessly.

*  *  *

Source:  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61378196

Facts on the ground are quite a contrast against the Russian propaganda that is being peddled.

[sneakypete]

Facts on the ground are quite a contrast against the Russian propaganda that is being peddled.

@Hoodat

The sad,sad truth is that during wartime,you can never believe anything either side says. Yes,one side WILL lie more than the other because they happen to be losing at that time and NO government can admit they are losing a war and stay in power.

The plain fact is telling lies is a psychological warfare ploy and one more method to help win a war. That's why everybody does it.

Just one more tool in the bag of tricks.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Any Russian that admits anything - publicly or privately - will have an unfortunate encounter with a poison toad.

[Kamaji]

@Hoodat

The sad,sad truth is that during wartime,you can never believe anything either side says. Yes,one side WILL lie more than the other because they happen to be losing at that time and NO government can admit they are losing a war and stay in power.

The plain fact is telling lies is a psychological warfare ploy and one more method to help win a war. That's why everybody does it.

Just one more tool in the bag of tricks.

Except that now, a lot of claims can be sanity-checked through satellite imagery.  Disabled/damaged Russian tanks can be counted, more or less, from orbit.

[GtHawk]

Well that's how Reagan beat them before...he broke the Russian economy.

Exactly, and it worked so well for Reagan that Biden is using the same plan against America.

[txradioguy]

Exactly, and it worked so well for Reagan that Biden is using the same plan against America.

Good point.

[Elderberry]

Ukraine tries its first Russian soldier for alleged war crimes

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/11/1098242940/ukraine-russia-war-crimes-trial

The office of Ukraine's prosecutor general announced on Wednesday that it is opening its first war crimes trial, in the case of a Russian soldier accused of killing a civilian.

Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, writing on Facebook, identified the soldier as 21-year-old Vadim Shishimarin — a member of the elite 4th Guards Tank Division — and said he is currently in custody. The events in question took place Feb. 28 in Chupakhivka, a village in the Sumy region about 180 miles east of Kyiv.

A pretrial investigation found that Shishimarin and four colleagues, fleeing an attack by Ukrainian defense forces, fired at and seized a private car, which they used to drive into the village. On the way, they saw a man talking on a phone while walking his bicycle along the sidewalk.

Venediktova said that one of the other soldiers ordered Shishimarin to kill the civilian "so he would not report them to Ukrainian defenders." Investigators say Shishimarin fired his Kalashnikov several times through the car window, shooting the unarmed 62-year-old in the head.

More at link.

[Elderberry]

Putin humiliated as satellite pics show tanks wiped out in brutal massacre

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1608434/ukraine-live-vladimir-putin-volodymyr-zelensky-russia-invasion-war-FSB-latest-update

VLADIMIR PUTIN'S troops have been wiped out by Ukrainian forces in an attempt to cross the Seversky Donets river.



Satellite images show tanks destroyed and abandoned on the river bed following the failed crossing.

The latest figures from Ukraine's Armed Forces claim Russia has close 26,350 troops and around 1,187 tanks.

It comes as Ukrainian forces reportedly made battlefield gains with president Volodymyr Zelensky saying troops pushed Russian troops out of four villages near Kharkiv.

[DB]

Whatever prideful image Russians had of themselves is dead. They've become the North Koreans of Europe.

[DB]

Putin humiliated as satellite pics show tanks wiped out in brutal massacre

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1608434/ukraine-live-vladimir-putin-volodymyr-zelensky-russia-invasion-war-FSB-latest-update

Russia wasn't prepared for a counter response with modern weapons. Tanks are just metal coffins.

[Elderberry]

Ukraine shuts off Russian pipeline amid talk of annexation

https://tucson.com/news/national/govt-and-politics/ukraine-shuts-off-russian-pipeline-amid-talk-of-annexation/article_baeb67cd-c1ed-508c-8a09-67506fba8d9a.html

Ukraine stopped the flow of Russian natural gas through one hub that feeds European homes and industry

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine shut down a pipeline Wednesday that carries Russian natural gas to homes and industries in Western Europe, while a Kremlin-installed official in a southern region seized by Russian troops said the area will ask Moscow to annex it.

The immediate effect of the energy cutoff is likely to be limited, in part because Russia can divert the gas to another pipeline and because Europe relies on a variety of suppliers. But it marked the first time since the start of the war that Ukraine disrupted the flow westward of one of Moscow's most lucrative exports.

Meanwhile, the talk of annexation in Kherson — and Russia's apparent willingness to consider such a request — raised the possibility that the Kremlin will seek to break off another piece of Ukraine as it tries to salvage an invasion gone awry. Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

“The city of Kherson is Russia,” Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Kherson regional administration installed by Moscow, told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency. He said regional officials want Russian President Vladimir Putin to make Kherson a “proper region” of Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that it would be “up to the residents of the Kherson region" to make such a request, and that any move to annex territory would would have to be closely evaluated by experts to make sure its legal basis is “absolutely clear.”

Russia has repeatedly used annexation or recognition of breakaway republics as tactics in recent years to gain pieces of fellow former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 after holding a referendum on the peninsula over whether it wanted to become part of Russia.

Kherson, a Black Sea port of roughly 300,000, provides access to fresh water for neighboring Crimea and is seen a gateway to wider Russian control over southern Ukraine. It was captured early in the war, becoming Ukraine's first major city to fall.

More at link.

[Elderberry]

Elon Musk says Russia has stepped up efforts to jam SpaceX's Starlink in Ukraine

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-russia-ramps-up-efforts-jam-starlink-ukraine-2022-5

•   Russia has ramped up efforts to hack SpaceX's Starlink internet in Ukraine, Elon Musk said.

•   So far, Starlink has managed to resist Russia's attempts to hack the technology, Musk said.

•   Starlink's satellite network has helped Ukrainians to stay online during the war.

Elon Musk said on Tuesday that Russia has increased its efforts to jam SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet in Ukraine, but hasn't succeeded.

"Starlink has resisted Russian cyberwar jamming & hacking attempts so far, but they're ramping up their efforts," Musk tweeted.

The SpaceX CEO linked a Reuters article, published on Tuesday, which reported that Russia carried out a cyberattack against satellite
broadband
provider Viasat on the day in February when President Vladimir Putin's troops advanced into Ukraine, according to Western officials.

The UK government said in a press release on Tuesday that the hack left thousands of Viasat users without internet connection, affecting people across Ukraine and other EU member countries. It was the most public cyberattack since Russia began its war on Ukraine, Reuters reported.

More at link.

[Kamaji]

bleep Riot singer flees Russia while under house arrest for activism - by disguising herself as a food courier

By WALTER FINCH FOR MAILONLINE
11 May 2022

A member of the notorious Russian activist band bleep Riot had to flee Moscow in the guise of a food courier after Vladimir Putin started to crack down hard on their brand of dissent.

Maria Alyokhina was facing 21 days in a penal colony once she had finished another stint under house arrest for her latest act of rebellion in criticising Putin's war in Ukraine.

The bleep Riot leader decided it was better to leave her home country than get lost in the Russian penal colony system and came up with a bold and ingenious disguise.

*  *  *

Source:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10804787/bleep-Riot-singer-flees-Russia-house-arrest-disguising-food-courier.html

[sneakypete]

Except that now, a lot of claims can be sanity-checked through satellite imagery.  Disabled/damaged Russian tanks can be counted, more or less, from orbit.

@Kamaji

True,but the inverse is what CAN'T be seen on satellites can not be proven to be untrue. Wild claims can still be made,and there is no way to refute them

[Elderberry]

Russia is so poor it’s taping gear to fighter jets, UK defense chief says

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2022/05/russia-is-so-poor-its-taping-gear-to-fighter-jets-uk-defense-chief-says/

The navigational equipment Russian air forces have relied on during their invasion of Ukraine is of such poor quality that some Russian fighter jets have resorted to taping basic Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to their dashboards so they know where they actually are, according to British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace this week.

In a speech at the National Army Museum in London on Monday, Wallace said Russian forces invading Ukraine have been hindered by inadequate equipment and support.

“Almost none of their vehicles contain situational awareness and digital battle management,” Wallace said. “Vehicles are frequently found with 1980s paper maps of Ukraine in them.”

“But it’s not just ground forces,” Wallace continued. “‘GPS’ receivers have been found taped to the dashboards of downed Russian SU-34s so the pilots knew where they were, due to the poor quality of their own systems.”

Wallace didn’t specify how many instances there had been of downed Russian aircraft being found with basic GPS devices on board. On Saturday, a Twitter shared images purporting to show a commercial GPS device c-clamped inside a Russian Su-34.

Patrick S. Tomlinson
@stealthygeek

I can't believe this. You're looking at the cockpit of a Russian Su-34 fighter/bomber. It entered service in 2014 as one of the most modern planes in their inventory and is flying against #Ukraine.

See the little box? It's a commercial GPS just C-clamped to the dash.

[mystery-ak]

May 11, 2022 3:08pm EDT
Russia has signaled intent to end 'current phase' of invasion, cut losses with Kherson referendum: expert
Russia appears to desire control of the Dnieper River, which bisects Ukraine
By Peter Aitken | Fox News

    Russia has potentially signaled intent to end the invasion of Ukraine and integrate the Kherson region, an intelligence expert told Fox News Digital.

Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov told journalists that "residents of Kherson must decide for themselves" whether they will "appeal" for "integration of the region into the Russian territory," according to TASS.

Peskov refused to be drawn on the possibility of a referendum, saying he "stated what I wanted to state," but former DIA officer Rebekah Koffler argued that Moscow will proceed with a referendum to provide "legal justification" for Russia to integrate Kherson.

"This is standard Russian statecraft," Koffler explained. "In 2014, 95.5% of Crimean residents voted for joining Russia."

But Koffler, author of  "Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America," further believes that integrating Kherson would be enough for Putin to say he achieved his goal for the current phase of the invasion, which Moscow has continued to call a "special operation" in Ukraine.

more
https://www.foxnews.com/world/russia-current-phase-invasion-cut-losses-kherson-referendum

[DB]

Haven't they already killed or run out anyone who would "vote" wrong?

[Right_in_Virginia]

 

Gaetz: "Just a year ago, we lost a war against goat herders waving rifles. Members of Congress are now recklessly asserting that we are at war with Russia.   If we are at war, then why not vote on an AUMF?   We are sleepwalking into a war, and the American people are left in the dark."  (Video)


https://rumble.com/embed/v11q2m3/?pub=4

[Right_in_Virginia]

Michael Tracey
@mtracey

Steny Hoyer, the House Majority Leader, said Biden wanted the $40 billion funding bill to "provide Ukraine with the type of arms it needs to shift from defensive to offensive operations." They're now openly admitting that the US is orchestrating an "offensive" war against Russia

10:39 AM · May 11, 2022·Twitter Web App

[Right_in_Virginia]

Michael Tracey
@mtracey

DNI Director Avril Haines said yesterday: "We have, in fact, more insight probably on the Russian side than we do on the Ukrainian side." Strange that there's such astonishingly little "insight" into the "side" that the US continues to heap with an endless supply of heavy weapons

4:59 PM · May 11, 2022·Twitter Web App

[Smokin Joe]

H2S is no joke.  During the brief time I worked for my dad before I went back active duty I had to take a safety class on it.

My thought at the time was that it would make a great chemical weapon for the military.

I take it seriously. The highest concentration I have been in (without a mask) was 110 PPM, and I left, heading upwind quick and notified the other hands on location.

I know guys who have been knocked down One got a heavy lungful from an open hatch while strapping a 400 bbl upright tank and rolled backward off the tank. He landed flat on his back after about a 30' drop, which was credited with saving his life (The impact blew the H2S out of his lungs and likely restarted his heart when he hit). He had coal black hair before that incident, a white streak a couple inches wide in it after. He was the lucky one.

500 PPM will put you down in one breath.

[240B]

[Hoodat]

I take it seriously. The highest concentration I have been in (without a mask) was 110 PPM, and I left, heading upwind quick and notified the other hands on location.

I know guys who have been knocked down One got a heavy lungful from an open hatch while strapping a 400 bbl upright tank and rolled backward off the tank. He landed flat on his back after about a 30' drop, which was credited with saving his life (The impact blew the H2S out of his lungs and likely restarted his heart when he hit). He had coal black hair before that incident, a white streak a couple inches wide in it after. He was the lucky one.

500 PPM will put you down in one breath.

One time at a refinery, there were four workers working outside on a pipe that was supposed to have been blown out.  One guy was in the pit disconnecting a flange while the other three looked on from above.  The guy in the pit was loosening a bolt when suddenly he reversed direction for a turn before promptly losing consciousness from H₂S leakage.  The other three workers immediately jumped into the pit rescuing him and pulling him up to safety.

The next day, there was a plant-wide safety meeting.  The three workers were admonished for breaking protocol by jumping into the pit.  Their safety training dictated for them to go get help, and let someone with the proper PPE to go into the pit.  This incident could have easily resulted in four dead workers.  But the guy they rescued was damn glad they jumped in to save his life.