Jul 29: Saturday Stories
Day 520: UACounteroffensive RUSitRep Yermak Occupation Zapo RUAfricaSummit Shakhtersk Orbàn Japan IOC Kharlan A&P Georgia UKDef Noel MaliWarCrimes Trump Panyi Sumlenny UADef Mamulashvili
Catching up…
EA Worldview’s Ukraine Up-date- hop over to Scott’s amazing hourly Ukraine up-date page. I’ll fill in with some bits and bobs.
Georgian activists play the Ukrainian national anthem for a Russian cruise ship as it leaves the country prematurely following the local protests. Kate Shoshiashvili writes:
“If Russians think they are not going to face Ukraine and our support for Ukrainians in every inch of Georgia, they are wrong and were proven wrong by people of Batumi today. Cruise ship has left earlier than scheduled with the anthems of Georgia and Ukraine as a gift from Georgia.”
Stories we’re following…
At 8:30 pm on Friday, explosions reported in Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia were reported. In Dnipro a high rise building with the Security Services of Ukraine was hit by a Russian missile, Ihor Klymenko, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine reports. Around the same time as the explosions were reported, the Air Force announced the threat of a ballistic missile attack in eastern and southern regions. Shortly before 9 p.m., the Air Force reported a take-off of a Russian MiG-31 fighter jet.
Counteroffensive taking shape: Kyiv said it was pushing on two fronts: toward the cities of Melitopol and Berdiansk. The goal is to reach the Sea of Azov. Doing so would divide the Russia-occupied south, effectively cutting the overland route from Russia to the occupied Crimean Peninsula and greatly compromising Russia’s ability to resupply its forces farther west. The Russian forces are mounting and striking in the north in an attempt to draw resources to that theatre of the front.
AFU has made some progress SE of Kam'yans'ke and are within 2KM of Luhove. Russians are reinforcing the line with units of a BARS batallion and a detachment of the 810th Separate Guards Marine Brigade, coming from defensive lines near Myrne. Increased pressure on Zhereb'yanky
The head of Ukraine’s ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, has said that Russian forces are constantly attacking in the Kupyansk and Lyman directions in Donetsk, but that Ukraine’s defence line is holding firm. He added that the main task for Ukrainian troops at the moment was to knock out enemy artillery where possible, and claimed small advances in the Bakhmut direction.
Zelensky: Russia won't stop aggression against Ukraine even after it's defeated. President Zelensky said he doesn't believe Russia will stop its aggression against Ukraine, even after the current invasion is driven out of Ukraine.
"The victory of Ukraine can and must be such that any attempts by the enemy to return would not go beyond the sick fantasy of those lunatics who have such plans," he said.
Ukrainian missile hit oil depot in Shakhtersk, occupied Donetsk Oblast.
Russian proxy claims Ukraine struck Tokmak in occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The Russian-installed proxy leader of the occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia Oblast Vladimir Rogov said on Telegram on July 27 that Ukrainian forces had struck the Russian-held town of Tokmak.
UK Defense Ministry: Russia commits new attack helicopters in response to Ukrainian counteroffensive. The U.K. reports that there is evidence Russia is using a small number of new Ka-52M helicopters, which are "heavily modified" versions of the Ka-52 HOKUM attack helicopters.
The Estonian Defence Forces Intelligence Centre believes that Russia will be able to replace its human losses in Ukraine through a new recruitment, allowing it to sustain the war at the previous pace for a considerable period. As ERR quotes Colonel Margo Grosberg, the head of the Estonian Defence Forces Intelligence Centre, even though Russia may not have as strong reserves as the Ukrainians, it will be able to recruit approximately 190,000 additional personnel as part of the announced recruitment in the armed forces, starting from April 1.
The Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, has said Russia is threatening civilian vessels in the Black Sea and urged the international community to condemn what he said were “the methods of terrorists”. In a separate statement, Ukraine’s border guard service said it had intercepted a warning communicated by a Russian warship to a civilian vessel near a Ukrainian port on Thursday. It did not identify the name of the ship or the port.
Strange but true: the official website of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has de-annexed Zaporizhzhia and Kherson region from its "Southern Military District" map (occupied Crimea is still there). Could this indicate a "tactical retreat", "goodwill gesture" in the near future?
Behind the Lines in the occupied territories of Ukraine
The Russian Military Historical Society opened a local branch in Berdiansk. This society is actively used by occupying forces for propaganda and russification.
Putin ordered to open children's camp, "Artek," in Sevastopol and Berdiansk in 2023. These camps have been actively used by Russian forces for propaganda and russification of kids.
Citizen, journalist, and nurse, Iryna Danylovych, who was illegally sentenced to almost 7 years of imprisonment in Russia. According to her father, his daughter did not receive medical care in the pretrial detention center despite having extensive health issues.
Universities in the self-proclaimed LPR, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, classes are planned to begin in-person and are planned to be remote in the self-proclaimed DPR starting on September 1, potentially signaling that Russian forces expect worsening situations in the Donetsk region.
French journalist Christelle Nean Karin stated that she wanted to gather a team of Western journalists to cover the situation in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, aiming to create a project that will tell what she described as the "truth," but with content similar to RT propaganda. The target audience for this news will be western audiences. Putin promised to help.
78% of Ukrainians believe ALL Russians are responsible for Russia's military aggression against Ukraine. 57% want those who were involved, planned and committed war crimes to be punished. 95% want Zelenskyy to demand financial compensation from Russia.
The Russian economy in 2023 will lose 30% of its export earnings, predicts the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. According to the central bank, exporters will earn $414 billion in a year against a record $591 billion in 2022. In February it expected $507 billion in export earnings, in April it worsened the figure to $435 billion, and in the summer lowered the bar by another $21 billion below.
Russia's oil revenues have nearly halved to $11.8 billion a month, according to the International Energy Agency. Gazprom's export earnings in the European market have collapsed by 75% and this year will amount to only $12.8 billion: the physical volumes of gas pumped back to the levels of the mid-1970s.
Russia has written off debts of 23 billion dollars to African countries - Putin On the second day of the "Russia-Africa" summit in St. Petersburg, Putin said that Moscow will allocate an additional 90 million dollars to the countries of the African continent for their development. In addition, Putin promised trade preferences. "To date, the total amount of debt written off is 23 billion dollars," Putin said. He has also promised a free supply of arms.
According to the president, Russia and Africa are "completely in solidarity" in the desire to uphold true sovereignty, the ideals of freedom and the principles of international law, and the African continent is "becoming a new center of power right before our eyes."
Russia has not offered the UN World Food Programme (WFP) any free grain, deputy WFP chief Carl Skau told reporters on Friday. “We have not been in talks about any free grain so far,” Skau said. “We have not been approached for any such discussion.”
Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, urged Russia on Friday to revive the Black Sea grain deal, under which it had allowed Ukraine to export grain from its seaports despite the war. Sisi told the Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg that it was “essential to reach agreement” on reviving the deal, which Russia withdrew from last week.
North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong Un, pulling out all the stops in Pyongyang for Russia’s Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu. North Korea also carried out demonstration flights of new military drones, state media reported, as Kim Jong-un shared centre stage with senior delegates from Russia and China in a show of unity at a parade in the capital. The question is: how much of this stuff actually works?
Countries of the Persian Gulf insist on the need to restore the grain agreement, — Secretary General of the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Persian Gulf Jasem Muhammad al-Budayvi at a meeting with the Ambassador of Ukraine to Saudi Arabia Anatoly Petrenko.
Orban once again blames West for war, calls for peace talks on Russian terms. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban once again called for peace talks with Russia, repeating the Kremlin's false notion that the West is fighting Russia, using Ukrainian people as proxies. The Ukrainian government rejected the notion of negotiation with Russia until all of the Russian troops are gone from Ukraine's sovereign soil, which includes Crimea.
Politico: US expects to start delivering Abrams tanks to Ukraine in September. U.S. Abrams tanks could be deployed to the Ukrainian battlefield in September, Politico reports, citing six people familiar with the planning.
Germany’s industrial group Rheinmetall is setting up a repair centre in Ukraine for Leopard tanks and other war equipment supplied by Berlin, potentially from as early as late summer, according to the chief executive, Armin Papperger.
“We are currently already training Ukrainians in Germany for this job,” Papperger told Spiegel magazine, adding that Rheinmetall wanted to begin operations of the repair centre after the summer break.
Suspline: Qatar allocates $100 million to overcome the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. This was announced by Prime Minister and concurrently Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani during his visit to Ukraine.
Japan has banned the export of cars with engines over 1.9 liters, hybrid cars and electric cars to Russia. Japan did this due to the current war in Ukraine. The list of banned materials also included yachts, trains, metal and glass products, fabrics and chemicals. The final list should be published next week.
Reuters reports that organisers said Czech police stopped a Russian tennis player from entering the country ahead of the WTA Prague open tournament, after a new government resolution banning athletes from Russia or Belarus competing.
IOC urges international sporting federations to show 'sensitivity' after Ukrainian fencer disqualified. The International Olympic Committee has urged international sporting governing bodies to treat contests between Ukrainians and neutral athletes (implying Russian athletes) "with the necessary degree of sensitivity" after Ukrainian fencer Olha Kharlan was disqualified from the FIE Fencing World Championship in Milan on July 27.
Fencing federation debacle
The Ukrainian fencer, Olha Kharlan, was disqualified yesterday in Milan because she refused to shake hands with the woman she beat 15-7, the Russian fencer Anna Smirnova.
At the end of the match, Smirnova insisted that Kharlan shake her hand. Kharlan rejected this, and proposed to touch each other's sabres. Smirnova said no, then sat in a chair in protest for 50 minutes, after which she filed a complaint asking for Kharlan’s disqualification. At first the federation didn’t accept the complaint, but then it reversed its decision, and Kharlan was disqualified.
The International fencing federation has been heavily criticised for the decision to eliminate Kharlan. Many commentators have said the decision was right because athletes are neutral: Kharlan, instead, brought her politics into the arena.
Scratch the surface, and we discover that Anna Smirnova isn’t an innocent by-stander, adhering to neutrality but a supporter of her regime’s armed forces, and the war crimes they have committed in Ukraine.
Late Friday night, the IOC reversed their decision to disqualify Kharlan and she can participate in the up-coming summer Olympics in Paris 2024.
Prigozhin courting African leaders
Yvegeny Prigozhin was at the Russia-Africa Summit, and weighed in on the help that the Wagner soldiers could bring to Niger: “This is the effectiveness of PMC Wagner—a thousand fighters of PMC Wagner are able to restore order and destroy terrorists, preventing them from harming the civilian population of states.”
In a number of countries on the African continent, the Wagner machine organises information operations disseminating disinfo about the West and anti-French tropes, especially the anti-colonialist narrative. (Photo Credit: Grey Zone) Grey Zone: “In Bamako, the capital of Mali, local residents thanked the Wagnerites for their contribution in the fight against local militants and for helping to raise the level of security in the country.”
What the Grey Zone and other Kremlin-aligned media outlets won’t mention is that Wagner’s soldiers have committed war crimes in Mali. Please see the article below which was published by The Guardian in May 2023.
Russian mercenaries behind slaughter of 500 in Mali village, UN report finds—The Guardian
First came a single helicopter, flying low over the marshes around the river outside the village, then the rattle of automatic fire scattered the crowds gathered for the weekly market.
Next came more helicopters, dropping troops off around the homes and cattle pens. The soldiers moved swiftly, ordering men into the centre of the village, gunning down those trying to escape. When some armed militants fired back, the shooting intensified. Soon at least 20 civilians and a dozen alleged members of an al-Qaida affiliated Islamist group, were dead.
Over the next five days, hundreds more would die in the village of Moura in the Mopti region of Mali at the hands of troops overseen by Russian mercenaries, according to a new United Nations report. All but a small fraction were unarmed civilians.
Published last week after an extensive human rights fact-finding mission conducted over several months by UN staff in Mali, the report gives an hour by hour account of events during a five-day military operation in Moura in March 2022, giving details of the worst single atrocity associated with the Kremlin-linked Wagner group outside Ukraine.
Investigators from the UN human rights office concluded that there are strong indications that more than 500 people were killed – the majority in extrajudicial killings – by Malian troops and foreign military personnel believed to be from Wagner, a mercenary outfit run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, which was linked to the massacre by internal messages obtained by the Guardian last year. [continue]
Donald Trump faces major new charges in documents case—NYT
The office of the special counsel accused former President Donald J. Trump of seeking to delete security camera footage at his private club and residence, Mar-a-Lago, adding major accusations to an indictment charging him with mishandling classified documents.
The new indictment added three serious charges against Trump: attempting to “alter, destroy, mutilate, or conceal evidence”; inducing someone else to do so; and a new count, the 32nd, under the Espionage Act stemming from a classified national security document he showed to visitors at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J.
Trump is accused of directing the property manager, Carlos De Oliveira, to have the footage deleted. Prosecutors in the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, had been investigating De Oliveira, who was named as a new defendant in the case, for months.
Details: According to the indictment, De Oliveira went to see an information technology expert at Mar-a-Lago — Yuscil Taveras, who is identified only as Trump Employee 4 — and told him that “‘the boss’ wanted the server deleted,” referring to the computer server holding the security footage.