In the early hours this morning the @TheStudyofWar published its daily report/review. Relying on the @ukrpravda_news interview with #Ukraine's Military intelligence chief I tweeted in yesterday's thread, ISW suggests a high-level split in the #Kremlin.
A leap in some categories in #Russia's losses today. 3 x Ka-52 attack helicopters in a day, which UK Intel notes in the next tweet.
Tanks destroyed also well above the mean again, possibly due to #Ukraine's partial counter in #Bakhmut and fierce RU resistance in #Beryslav
Here is the #UK daily report then. Verified losses being those with independent footage/photos of a hit on the battlefield. Obviously not every downed aircraft can be filmed and under Martial Law there are heavy restrictions on the public publishing material.
1/
A thread within a thread from occupied #Melitopol' now where the biggest explosion of the day so far may have occurred.
A car bomb looks to have exploded in the car park outside a business centre. Inside the building was the HQ of #Russia's local propaganda #Zaporizhzhia TV
2/ The Occupiers say 5 people were injured in this morning's explosion in #Melitopol'
There is a TV Tower for "ZaTV" next to the building and #Russia's installed local "Head" Balitsky is thought to hold regular meetings in the basement of the business centre,
Another propaganda state channel from #Russia was soon at the scene to report on the destruction of the local brainwashing channel, whose offices were badly hit in #Melitopol' today.
However, "ZaTV" is still on air according to local invaders.
Occupying authorities say over 1,200 people are without electricity in the Kirovsky district of #Donetsk city after a power line was damaged. 17 substations could not operate and power was cut around 11:30am
Early this morning the President of #Germany finally came to #Kyiv
There's been a lot of distrust of Frank Steinmeier in #Ukraine for many years.
Nonetheless a warm welcome including Iris flowers, hinting at the urgent need for the other three Iris-T air defence systems!
1/3 Two football stories concern #Ukraine today: one legitimate, one less so in my opinion
Firstly, let's clear up calls for 🇺🇦to replace #Iran in next month's @FIFAWorldCup for supplying weapons to #Russia
Shakhtar's CEO made the appeal y'day ahead of the UCL clash with Celtic
2/3 There's virtually zero chance #FIFA will kick out #Iran, especially with the #WorldCup kicking off in 4 weeks.
In any case, even if Iran was banned, they'd be replaced with a side from the Asian Confederation, not #Ukraine.
3/3 The other story concerns #Russia saying teams from Occupied regions will compete in its national leagues.
Head of #Ukraine Football, Andriy Pavelko, an ExCo member of #UEFA says "we will demand the expulsion of #Russia from UEFA + FIFA for gross violation of the statutes."
Some people asking "isn't #Russia already banned?"
It's banned from competitions right now but not from the organisations.
IN THEORY any player who plays against an unaffiliated team faces a lifetime ban, so anyone playing in RU league may NEVER be able to play again!
In about 45 minutes I'm hoping to do a live Q&A about #Ukraine on here
This is the most popular and understable response to that inhuman "religious" freak from #Russia who blamed women for having abortions or not having enough children.
A graphic example of the losses being suffered by #Russia around #Berislav which I mentioned earlier in the thread.
#Ukraine also claims in #Kherson region destruction of 2 warehouses with ammunition, a tank, an MT-LB, 6 units of military vehicles and 2 solders' hideouts
Another lethal explosion and fire at a factory in #Russia today.
One died and three suffered serious burns in the blast in #Volgograd - windows a kilometre away shattered.
Employees believe accumulations of aluminium dust led to the problem.
OMG someone opened the doors of the zealots' lunatic asylum (#Durdom) today!
Looking more like a Monty Python sketch, it's reported these are members of the Russian Orthodox Church in #Mariupol' carrying out an exorcism of the #Azovstal steel plant🤡🤡
Ben Wallace stays as UK Defence Secretary in Rishi Sunak's new Cabinet
A very welcome reappointment. Keep up the good work @BWallaceMP
Always nice to see continuing support around Europe for #Ukraine. This is the #Poznan opera house in #Poland lit in yellow and blue. Sent in by @charlie_poole
Recently in #Bashkortostan they've found another way to sabotage #Russia's rail network, and no explosives are needed.
Forcing open relay boxes and setting light to them will severely hamper the movement of freight for a while. These boxes control automated signalling etc.
A lot of interesting news came in late last night, including explosion and deaths at a gunpowder factory in #Russia and freedom for two more villages in #Kherson.
If you want to catch up on yesterday's stories, here's the start of Saturday's thread:
Two for the price of one today from the #UK Defence Ministry.
They concur with my view that #Russia is "seriously considering" a withdrawal from #Kherson region north/west of the river. But it won't be easy with escape routes few and far between.