Russia has declared a counter-terrorist operation in the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions. The decision was made by the Director of the Federal Security Service of Russia, Alexander Bortnikov. By calling it a "counter-terrorist operation," Russia is once again trying to
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downplay the seriousness of the situation. On the other hand, under a counter-terrorist operation, the FSB is handling the situation, not the Defense Ministry, which Vladimir Putin has long since lost confidence in. A breakthrough in the Kursk region will most likely provoke
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Putin to finally purge last from Shoigu's team. Gerasimov made decisions regarding the defense of these regions, and even seeing the concentration of Ukrainian troops in the Sumy region over the past 2 months, he did not consider them a threat. Perhaps, there will be quick
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resignations. They will look for those to blame. Ukraine has learned its lessons from its last attempt at a massive offensive and this time tried to determine the most vulnerable parts of the front. They turned out to be Russia's border territories. Previous sabotage and
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reconnaissance groups have scouted out how easy it is to penetrate the defenses in these areas, and this offensive was prepared with these factors in mind. Also today there were reports of Ukrainian troops appearing in the Belgorod region. Soldiers posted a video from
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the village of Poroz. Whether this is the site of another major breakthrough or rather a diversionary maneuver will become clear later. It is also possible that the offensive in the Kursk region is also a diversionary maneuver. There are many theories now. There are some
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about capturing the nuclear power plant and exchanging it for Zaporizhzhya, there are some about exchanging the Kursk region for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and the return of the 1991 border. Possibly. But it seems that Ukraine is not very inclined to
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bargain with Russia, and its main goal is to completely overthrow the Russian Army. Perhaps Ukraine will be able to issue an ultimatum in some point. Ukrainian special forces are supplying weapons to local resistance movements, stirring up the heat for a civil war. Russia
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entered Ukraine under the pretext of a popular uprising in Donetsk and Lugansk, and in response it will receive its own civil war. Something interesting is happening on the Internet. Apparently, there is also a massive information operation going on there. Firstly, before
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the operation, many information platforms covering the war received a warning to maintain complete silence. There is almost no information from the Ukrainian side. Rare videos and photos, which are most likely carefully selected and play a role in the overall strategy of
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the information part of this war. Secondly, Russian channels are littered with messages that greatly fuel panic. There are reports of sabotage and reconnaissance groups working or military equipment stolen by Ukrainians. In some messages, Russian soldiers were called upon
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to shoot to kill. In the confusion, the Russians could have started shooting at their own. In general, at the moment, Z-channels are in a fever and in the morning they write that the offensive has been stopped, and by the evening they write in panic that everything is
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lost. And so on in a circle. Also, a video has spread across the Internet that created the impression that the Ukrainians have access to surveillance cameras in the Kursk region. Russian publics have spread the news, apparently the cameras have been turned off. It turned
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out later that the video is old. The Ukrainians also faced a problem in the Kursk region - they lack transport to transport those who surrendered. However, Russia has also made progress, these are the same Toretsk and Pokrovsk. However, the progress is minimal and the
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intensity is falling. On the other hand, columns of equipment have already been noticed not only from the Kharkiv region, but also from the Donbas and other parts of the front, sent to reinforce the Kursk region. How long Russia will have enough resources to continue the
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offensive, which has already been going on for three months in the Avdiivka direction, is an open question. Ukraine expected the exhaustion of Russian resources to begin its offensive. Russia wore them down in the Donetsk region. The offensive on Kursk has greatly raised
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the morale of Ukrainian soldiers, and it has also restored faith in Ukraine in the West. Ukraine can advance, Ukraine can win. The success of this operation remains to be determined in the future, until there is objective data on what is happening and what the scale is.
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According to BND estimates, last year Russia’s military spending may have amounted to almost half of the state budget and around 10% of the country’s GDP. According to the German intelligence service, Russia is spending significantly more on the war and its armed forces
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than it has declared in recent years. Since the start of the war against Ukraine in February 2022, Russia’s defense budget has increased sharply every year. In addition, Russia’s interpretation of “defense spending” differs significantly from the NATO definition, German
intelligence officials note. A comprehensive analysis of budget data conducted by BND shows that Russia’s defense budget in recent years was 66% higher than officially reported. Unaccounted expenditures include, for example, construction projects of the Ministry of Defense,
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky explained why he sharply criticized Europe at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He made these remarks during a meeting with journalists in Kyiv, according to a correspondent from European Pravda. Zelensky said he had grounds for critical
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statements toward Europe after a lack of funding led to a shortage of air defense missiles, allowing Russia to strike Kyiv’s energy infrastructure. Zelensky did not deny that his speech may have sounded overly harsh from European capitals and explained this by saying that
Ukraine and the rest of Europe live in different information spaces. He also acknowledged that the differences are not only informational but also emotional in how events are perceived. The president explained that his Davos speech was preceded by heavy strikes on energy
Putin is losing the game he himself started. His bet was placed on a return to the world of the 19th and early 20th centuries - a world of empires and spheres of influence, where Europe, America, Africa, and Asia are divided among several “superpowers.” In Putin’s vision of
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the world, there were supposed to be three such powers: the United States, Russia, and China. However, the real transformation of the global order is unfolding in a completely different way. The key failure is Ukraine. At the end of the fourth year of war, Russia has still
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been unable to subjugate it. The army is visibly degrading, human and technological resources are being exhausted, the economy is held together by military spending and gray schemes, and the state increasingly resembles an overextended empire losing its ability to govern
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Within NATO, the possibility of conducting a special joint mission in Greenland is being considered in order to accommodate the interests of US President Donald Trump. This week, the US president once again stated that he wants Greenland. Military intervention is not being 1/8
ruled out. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen previously said that this would mean the end of the Alliance if the United States were to begin military action against her country. On Thursday morning, the 32 ambassadors of the Alliance gathered for their weekly meeting. 2/8
It took place in a "calm atmosphere." Denmark raised the Greenland issue in a "positive and forward-looking manner," NOS insiders reported. The US ambassador to NATO, Whitaker, also reportedly spoke in a conciliatory tone. As became clear during the meeting, almost all 3/8
Russia has once again staged a media stunt with the story about a drone attack on Putin’s residence. In the Novgorod region no one heard air raid sirens, yet according to Lavrov, 91 drones were launched from Ukraine and all of
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them were shot down. There is not a single video and not a single piece of evidence. Why is this needed? This entire performance was staged specifically for Trump. Putin personally called the American president and told him about it. Russia has long convinced Trump that it
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is Zelensky together with the “warmongering shadow government of Europe” who allegedly do not want the war to end. This show was played out so that Ukraine would be blamed for the failure of peace talks. Unfortunately, with Trump, this works. Meanwhile, Lavrov declares that
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Daily strikes by Ukrainian drones and missiles on Russian oil depots, warehouses and refineries have created an image in the information space of a “leaky” Russian air defense system. This image sharply contrasts with what Russian propaganda had been instilling in its audience🧵
for decades, namely the idea of an “impenetrable shield” capable, according to Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, of intercepting up to 97 percent of targets. The reality of a full scale war has proven far more complex. Ukraine has not managed to destroy Russian air defense as a
single integrated system, but it has succeeded in exposing its real limits. As analysis by the Royal United Services Institute shows, the strength of Russian air defense depends not only on missiles and radars, but also on industry, logistics and the ability to replenish losses