Tim McMillan Profile picture
Mar 5 8 tweets 3 min read
UPDATE THREAD: A temporary ceasefire to establish humanitarian corridors was established for the cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha from 9am -4pm today.

The corridors will allow for the evacuation of civilians and delivery of food and medical supplies to cities which have been
(2) surrounded and besieged by Russian forces and without food, water, heat, and electricity for several days.

The pre-invasion population was 440k for Mariupol and 21k for Volnovakha. I don’t know how many citizens made it out of the towns before they were surrounded.
(3) However, both cities are along Russia’s Crimea axis on the Black Sea coast, so it’s unlikely that many civilians had time to leave before Russian troops were already threatening the area early in the invasion.

Civilian evacuations began in the towns at 11am (local), giving
(4) a potential nearly 500k people roughly 5 hours to leave the besieged cities.

Mariupol in the south and Kharkiv in the north have been the two cities Russian troops have made the heaviest use of indiscriminate fires, with conclusive evidence verifying the use of
(5) of cluster munitions.

Based on OSINT, I’d estimate that roughly 10k -12k Ukrainian regular troops and an unknown number of irregular civil defense forces are still defending Mariupol.

I haven’t seen enough info to estimate the defense force in Volnovakha.
(6) Based on their troop dispositions in recent days, I believe it is *highly likely* that Russia will make heavy use of indiscriminate fires and wholesale carpet bombing of the towns at the conclusion of the ceasefire.

The one caveat to this is that the volume of missile and
(7) bomb strikes appears to have reduced across Ukraine in the last 2-3 days.

I believe it is *highly unlikely* that Russia has adopted a more humane warfare strategy and potentially the decrease in airstrikes could indicate Russia is suffering from munitions shortages.
(8) UPDATE: Not even an hour into the purported ceasefire, evacuations were cancelled due to continued shelling by Russia.

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More from @LtTimMcMillan

Mar 6
VIDEO: All across Russia, thousands came out to protest the invasion of #Ukraine. This was after the Kremlin passed new draconian laws against anti-war sentiment.
Now, here's the problem. Chances are high Putin is going to need to mobilize Russia if he wants to continue the
(2) the war against Ukraine. The quagmire here is Putin has told the Russian populace he's only conducting a "limited special military operation." How do you go from that to full-mobilization?
In my opinion, the chances are better than 50/50 we see a false flag attack on Russian
(3) soil to justify mobilization and try and establish a "total war" mindset amongst the Russian people.

I think a lot of people in the West are making the same mistake the Allies did with Hitler in WW2. They are viewing Putin like he's a rational thinker. Absolutely no one
Read 4 tweets
Mar 6
BREAKING: A second attempt at a ceasefire to establish a humanitarian corridor and allow for the evacuation of civilians in Mariupol will be attempted again from 10am to 9pm today.
A ceasefire and civilian evacuation was supposed to take place yesterday from 9am to 4pm,
(2) However, Russian forces continued to shell Mariupol, forcing Ukrainian officials to call off the planned evacuations.
Mariupol has been surrounded by Russian troops for days, and reports indicate the city is without power, water, heat, and food supplies are running low. Image
(3) Mariupol has also faced intense, indiscriminate shelling for nearly a week, causing catastrophic damage to residential areas and likely significant numbers of civilian casualties.
So far, Russia has remained content to use stand-off bombardments to slowly choke Mariupol into Image
Read 6 tweets
Mar 5
BREAKING: Mykolaiv Oblast Governor Vitaly Kim, reports all Russian forces have been eliminated in Mykolaiv, roughly 40 miles north of Kherson. #UkraineUnderAttaсk #Mykolaiv #UkraineRussiaWar Image
(2) Waiting on visual confirmation, but this would be a pretty big blow to Russia’s southern Crimea axis, their only reasonably successful line of advance so far.
(3) Yesterday, I predicted the southern axis would start to collapse if Russia continued to try and move on 3 divergent axes, instead of a mutually supportive single objective. Evidently, Russia didn’t read my article.

thedebrief.org/the-worst-is-y…
Read 4 tweets
Mar 5
Your daily dose of propaganda, complements of the Russian Federation.
Remember, as of yesterday the Kremlin says they haven’t conducted ANY airstrikes against Ukrainian cities.
(2) Their “debunking” is utterly ridiculous, but here’s images showing “white plums” behind Russian Kaliber and Iskander missiles. Source of photos? Russian State Media.
Now, remember, Twitter had been blocked in Russia as of yesterday. This propaganda is for the rest of the
(3) Free world and this is how stupid they think we all are.

Worth noting, their “No airstrikes” claim yesterday came after the Kremlin publicly said in State media that Russia was conducting airstrikes against Ukrainian “military targets.” They fact their later claim doesn’t
Read 4 tweets
Mar 5
EXCLUSIVE THREAD: Last week I asked a close, trusted and senior source in the U.S. Intelligence Community about this tweet by @marcorubio. I asked if the IC had intel that Putin was mentally ill. This was their response (on background):
(2) "The IC does. Extensive. Some direct. Rubio is cleared. He is one of two heads of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He is leaking on purpose. He is reliable.
The buzz I have heard is very specific. He is said to be suffering a mental illness...
(3) The illness is said to include a physical component."

NOTE OF CAUTION: Using the word "buzz," the source was indicating this information came from inter-IC RUMINT or discussions amongst IC officials who hold TS/SCI clearances. However, the source was not claiming to
Read 5 tweets
Mar 5
BREAKING: From the Mayor of Mariupol, "URGENTLY! THE EVACUATION OF THE CIVILIAN POPULATION IS POSTPONED!

Due to the fact that the Russian side does not adhere to the silence regime and continued shelling both Mariupol itself and its surroundings, for security reasons the...
(2) evacuation of the population is postponed.

All Mariupol residents are asked to disperse and proceed to shelters. Additional information on evacuations will be posted shortly. Negotiations with the Russian Federation to establish a silence regime and provide a safe...
(3) humanitarian corridor are currently underway.

Also, police officers will inform the residents of the city with loudspeakers.

Mariupol residents, hold on!"
Read 5 tweets

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