Latest @DefenceHQ update covers the Bakhmut front in the Donetsk Oblast, where #Russia is trying to make advances and making little progress against #Ukraine. 
#Russia: Sergey Kandybin, rector of an Orthodox church in the Telma in the Irkutsk area of Siberia, reported local politician Sergey Uglyanitsa to the FSB after Uglyanitsa said in confession he had lit a candle on Red Square hoping for #Ukraine's victory. news.obozrevatel.com/russia/v-rossi…
Great thread by @ABarbashin on the unlikelihood of an "elite split" in #Russia, essentially because that the idea relies on the existence of categories that do not exist within the system #Putin has constructed.
https://twitter.com/ABarbashin/status/1580804418936528896
#pt: In this sense, Putin has returned to the pre-1917 Russia, where the elite was not, as in the rest of Europe, an aristocracy, with a corporate identity and collective sense of interests to be leveraged against the state; the Russian elite existed at the will of the Emperor.
Because the Russian elite existed by fiat from the Emperor, and could have everything confiscated just as easily from that source, the elite spent all their time individually keeping the Emperor happy, rather than collaborating together against the Tsar
https://twitter.com/KyleWOrton/status/1580954852913397761
The "February Revolution" - the Petrograd military mutiny - didn't cause an "elite split". The Tsardom was undone by a random series of miscues from individuals, some of them badly informed, and an ad hoc coalition that settled on abdication as the answer kyleorton.co.uk/2021/12/19/the…
#Turkey's Erdogan backs #Putin's idea of "creating an international gas hub in Turkey and wants his government to quickly present implementation plans. 'We are quickly establishing a security net' for the new gas distribution centre project, Erdogan said." theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-ne…
#Russia's government has published a document on its website that says the damage caused to the Kerch Bridge between occupied #Crimea and mainland Russia will be repaired in ten-months time, by July 2023. reuters.com/world/europe/c…
Latest Elon Musk shenanigans
#Britain's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said at a meeting of NATO ministers in Brussels that the silly WW3 comments needlessly "reveals President Macron's hand" to #Russia. Wallace added that any Russian use of nukes would bring "severe consequences". telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
More from Elon Musk
https://twitter.com/KyivPost/status/1580857236905025538
The Helsinki Commission, a bipartisan #US government agency, has called on Biden to try to re-open the settlement reached in 1991, which had #Russia take the Soviet seat on the #UN Security Council, to remove Russia. Novel—and hopeless. foreignpolicy.com/2022/10/13/hel…
One of the most infamous pro-Asad trolls during Syria's war, managed to get herself deeply involved in the real-world chemical weapons denialism process (not just the online bullshit), and now here she inevitably is over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
https://twitter.com/russophileLs/status/1580906424590553088
Seems the Kremlin has finally drawn a line for Igor Girkin ("Strelkov")—plus War Gonzo, Grey Zone, Rybar, and other #Russian military channels that have criticised #Putin's conduct of the war. Roskomnadzor says they're all under investigation for defamation and other illegality.
A presumable #Ukrainian strike within #Russia, in Belgorod, has caused what looks like serious damage.
Video of the apparent moment the explosion in Belgorod, within #Russia, tonight. The Russian channel reporting this says it is an American-supplied #Ukrainian artillery shell.
#Ukraine's President Zelensky spoke tonight with #Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (#MBS). A notable mention of Riyadh perhaps helping on the prisoners-of-war front.
https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1581006979186667521
Another brush stroke in a gathering picture that #Russia's control of #Kherson is slipping
https://twitter.com/ABarbashin/status/1580886171739381762
#UN official says #Russia is using rape as a "military strategy": "women are held for days", "little boys and men" are frequently raped, the "series of genital mutilations, ... Russian soldiers equipped with Viagra" - clearly systematic. france24.com/en/live-news/2…
The confirmed #Ukrainian victims of sexual violence at the hands of #Russia's Army are aged 4 to 82.
https://twitter.com/KyleWOrton/status/1581109491915165696
#Russia has moved strategic bomber planes to the Kola peninsula, 20 miles from #Norway's border. The planes, which have the capacity to attack targets in the US and all Europe with nukes, are usually stationed at Engels Air Base, 400 miles south of Moscow. kyivindependent.com/news-feed/medi…
Was a terrible mistake for Biden to leave that door open and let Putin be the one to slam it. Just basic messaging work gone wrong, again.
https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1580904474520223744
Another disgrace heaped on the Russian Orthodox Church by Patriarch Kirill, who is now proposing to canonise the fascist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, citing among other things Zhirik's alleged gift of prophecy. ria.ru/amp/20221014/z…
While the #Russians have shown that panic and collapse are contagious, the reverse is also true and being seen in #Ukraine. Courage is infectious, too ... even if a child shouldn't have to know that.
https://twitter.com/jabuttee/status/1580938663021924354
Western official suggests the fat lady is clearing her throat for the #Russian occupation regime in #Kherson. Also mentions that the Russians do not have much left in the precision missile arsenal, especially the cruise missiles.
https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1580908053079420928
It would be nice to be able to ignore Elon Musk, but he has too big an audience not to take seriously the effect his gullibility has on others. This isn't even subtle from #Russia, but it evidently doesn't need to be.
Latest equipment losses
https://twitter.com/Rebel44CZ/status/1581069389054750721
The decapitation of #China's semiconductor industry seems like something #Biden should be getting more credit for.
https://twitter.com/jordanschnyc/status/1580889341265469440
#Ukraine's President Zelensky visiting and awarding some of those wounded in the struggle against #Russia's invasion.
.@SecBlinken announced a new $725 million #US military assistance package to #Ukraine. Will included more HIMARS ammunition, anti-tank weapons, and anti-radiation missiles. Is being framed as a response to the missile and drone attacks on the cities. - @AFP
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