The face-to-face negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations are about to start in #Istanbul. President Erdogan just addressed the two delegations before the talks
🚩In one of its latest updates the Ukrainian military made several interesting claims. The first is that they recaptured Kamyanka and Topolske south of Izyum. This would be the second successful counter-offensive near Izyum (still waiting on video confirmation though)
🚩The Ukrainian military also claimed that its forces were “controlling the situation” in the settlements of Motyzhyn, Lisne, Kalynivka and Dmytrivka west of #Kyiv.
Most of those are situated along the E40 highway west of Kyiv, and were likely never fully captured by Russia. This most likely means Russian forces have been pushed out from these areas.
The Ukrainian emergency service says that this morning a shell hit an administrative building in Mykolaiv, without a section of the building collapsing. 9 victims have been extracted from the rubble.
Destroyed Russian column (undisclosed location)
Picture of the destroyed building in Mykolaiv - 9 victims so far
Cruise missile that hit Mykolaiv Regional Administration building possibly captured on CCTV flying over Dnieper near Kherson
Video of Russian soldiers in the Donbass (published on TikTok). Opsec is for losers apparently. TikTok has a warning that says "participating in this activity could result in you or others getting hurt"
That's definitely how you win a war.
Video: The commander of Russia's Central Military District, Col. General Aleksandr Lapin awards medals to Russian soldiers in the Chernihiv region
Roman Abramovich spoke to Erdogan before the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Istanbul
🚩The Russian Foreign Ministry claims that the #US and its allies launched a "massive cyber campaign" against #Russia, with hundreds of thousands of attacks every day. Russia warns that will have "grave consequences"
According to the ministry the army of "cyber mercenaries operating against Russia" are given "combat missions" which border on "terrorism"
[preparing the ground for a cyber attack against the US?]
Meanwhile Shoigu reportedly stated that Moscow was monitoring statements of leaders of NATO countries on the supply of aircraft and air defenses. He warned that of an "adequate response" should these plans be implemented.
In his speech, Shoigu repeated that the first phase of #Russia's "special operation" was over, and that Russian forces would now focus on "liberating" the Donbass.
Last night there was an uptick in shelling in a number of areas. This is from Lysychansk, in the Donbass (posted by the Luhansk Regional Admin) facebook.com/odalug/posts/3…
The regional administration in Kyiv also reported an uptick in shelling in Hostomel, Dmytriv, Bucha and Makariv. Russian shelling reported in Irpin, and towns along the highway to Zhytomyr.
Ukrainian negotiator announced Kyiv's conditions in the recent negotiations ⬇️
1. Ukraine needs guarantees that are more solid than NATO's Article 5 2. Guarantees must be in the form of a treaty signed by all guarantors 3. In the event of an aggression against Ukraine, consultations must be held within 3 days, after which guarantor states provide assistance
3. (cont'd) assistance in the form of armed forces, weapons, airspace closure. 4. Among guarantors Ukraine envisions: Britain, China, Russia, US, France, Turkey, Germany, Canada, Italy, Poland. 5. Temporarily,guarantees will not apply to Crimea and occupied Donbass
Let's start with the obvious: There are many reasons to be skeptical, starting by the fact that Moscow has a tendency to say one thing and do the opposite.
But, I would say that there are reasons to believe that Moscow means it this time - though that doesn't make it any "good" for Ukraine.
🚩According to the head of the Luhansk military administration yesterday, Ukrainian forces repelled five large-scale Russian attacks in the Donbass.
🚩The head of the Luhansk military admin also says that Ukrainian forces were able to recapture parts of the town of Rubizhne, which Russian forces have been trying to take for days, and which is partly under Russian control. t.me/luhanskaVTSA/9…
This attack follows another attack by an ISIS-tied assailant in Beersheba (though the group did not claim responsibility for it). I personally think this is not a coincidence given the timing.
The attack comes weeks after #ISIS had its leader killed in #Syria, for the second time and after it named a new one (the one the two Hadera attackers pledged allegiance to).
The new #ISIS leader needs to quickly counter-balance the impact of the death of his predecessor and change the dynamic. Although Israel has not been the focus of the group's efforts in recent years, fighting Israel is a popular cause amongst jihadists.