Thread: 19 September 2022: Day 208 of #Russia's invasion of #Ukraine
Latest @DefenceHQ update: "#Russia has highly likely lost at least four combat jets in #Ukraine within the last 10 days", a total of 55 since the invasion began. A "realistic possibility" this is because Moscow has stepped up airstrikes, and still lacks air dominance.
The "refusenik" problem within the #Russian Army is clearly at an operationally significant level.
This 👇🏼👇🏼 Be interesting to know if #China's government has taken this lesson from #Russia - that what it believes it has on paper bears little resemblance to what exists at the ground level.
The legitimate Governor of Luhansk Oblast, Serhiy Haidai, reported yesterday that 200 Russians were killed in an explosion at a former bus station building that was serving as a barracks in Svatove. facebook.com/permalink.php?…
Thread on the happenings in the Caucasus and Central Asia as the states realise #Russia's power is hollow.
#Russia's offensive capacity has essentially been neutralised; the focus is now entirely defensive as #Ukraine builds up for further operations to liberate the occupied zones.
Notable: the #US has been brought in to mediate the #Armenia-#Azerbaijan dispute over the Karabakh, despite all the efforts of #Russia (and #Turkey) to squeeze the Americans out. Not a spent superpower yet.
The nominal head of "the Donetsk People's Republic" Denis Pushilin telephones the nominal head of "the Luhansk People's Republic" Leonid Pasechnik, part of the stage show as #Russia prepares to "annex" the Donbas in eastern #Ukraine.
#Russia's puppet "republic" in Luhansk has sentenced two @OSCE_SMM employees, Maxim Petrov and Dmytro Shabanov, to thirteen years in prison for "treason" after a show trial.
Vladimir Osechkin, the founder of the #Russian human rights project Gulagu.net, was nearly assassinated in #France, in the city of Biarritz. "[H]e happened to notice the red dot from the sight of the assassin’s gun on the wall next to him." meduza.io/en/news/2022/0…
"In October 2021, Osechkin ... obtained over 40 gigabytes of video, text, and photo evidence of widespread torture use in Russian prisons. The videos' publication sparked an uproar and caused a number of prison officials to lose their jobs."
#Ukraine's HIMARS/etc. strikes on #Russian bases and weapons depots over the last week clearly concentrated on the Kherson front but extending pretty widely along the line of contact in the Donbas.
Thread: 21 September 2022: Day 210 of #Russia's invasion of #Ukraine
The former rector of the Moscow Aviation Institute, Anatoly Gerashchenko, had a "tragic accident" on Sept. 21, he "fell" - indeed, "flew" - down several flights of stairs and "received injuries incompatible with life". moscow-post.su/news/society/b…
#Putin's delayed speech, delivered this morning, rambled through the war being necessary to stop #Ukraine having nukes, #NATO running Kiev's army and refusing peace, Novorossiya, neo-Nazis, and annexing the Donbas, to announce partial mobilisation.
Thread: 20 September 2022: Day 209 of #Russia's invasion of #Ukraine
#Russia "officially" preparing to "annex" the Donbas in eastern #Ukraine.
Should be noted, the Russians had such plans in Kherson and Kharkiv, which were derailed by the Ukrainian guerrillas before the Army liberated Kharkiv.
Imprisoned #Russian oppositionist Alexey Navalny comments on that video of Yevgeny Prigozhin recruiting prisoners for the war on #Ukraine. Sees it as a clear sign of the disintegration of the Army and notes such recruits can only make it worse.
The final journey of Her Majesty Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.
The Canadian Mounties leading the military contingent from the Dominions in the funeral procession for Queen Elizabeth II.
An appropriately grand spectacle for the final journey of the anointed of God.
Thread: 15 September 2022: Day 204 of #Russia's invasion of #Ukraine
#Russian soldier talking to his wife is somewhat unimpressed with the commanders and even less impressed with the #Chechen Kadyrovtsy, the "Akhmat", who "fucked off (i.e. ran away), the fucking cowards" as the #Ukrainians closed in.
In #Mariupol overnight, #Ukrainians sang the national anthem in Liberation Square, knowing it can get them arrested and worse by the #Russian occupation authorities in the city. A sense that liberation is coming is spreading.
Thread: 14 September 2022: Day 203 of #Russia's invasion of #Ukraine
Latest @DefenceHQ update notes the confirmation that #Russia is using #Iran's Shahed-136 drones, which have a range of 1,500 miles and were used in the attack on the MT MERCER STREET merchant tanker on 3 July 2021. Seems Moscow is using them for tactical strikes, not long-range.
Talk in #Georgia of opening a second front while #Russia is tied down in #Ukraine to liberate the occupied areas in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
If you want to challenge for Russian-protected territories, now is the moment. (See also: #Azerbaijan.)
Thread: 13 September 2022: Day 202 of #Russia's invasion of #Ukraine
Latest @DefenceHQ update: #Russia's 1st Guards Tank Army (1 GTA), "one of the most prestigious" units, operating under the Western Military District, "had not been fully reconstituted" before #Ukraine began the #Kharkiv counter-offensive; has now suffered further "heavy" losses.
#Russia "recently requested to purchase ammunition for its Uragan rocket artillery from #Tajikistan, along with shells for Pion howitzers and armored personnel carrier (APC) engines." yahoo.com/now/moscow-see…