Jun 6: E-Stories
Day 467: UASitRep Belgorod Bakhmut Kursk Kaluga Shebekino Prigozhin Hungary EU Italy Trump A&P Lautman UAFrontLines UKDef SkyNews Wagner Romanenko Chernov Kassymbekova Kommersant BBC Pistorius DW
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.
Stories we’re following…
President Zelensky’s address Jun 5: “Russian terror must be defeated every day and every night, in every region of Ukraine, in the skies of every Ukrainian city and village. When any attack by Russian terrorists ends in failure for the terrorists, their defeats will become a source of our long-term security.”
On June 5, thanks to the counterattack, the defense forces of Ukraine were able to advance 400 m in the Swativ direction in the Luhansk region, - commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi.
The Ukrainian army is successfully advancing across a wide stretch of the Bakhmut front. Hanna Maliar, Deputy Defence Minister of Ukraine, on Telegram. According to Maliar, Russia is claiming the Ukrainian counteroffensive has begun because of the defeats the Russian army is suffering on the Bakhmut front. There are rumours in the western press reporting that the Ukrainian forces have advanced 5 or 6 kilometres but the information has not been confirmed by official Ukrainian sources.
The Ukrainian military repulsed a total of 25 attacks in the Limansky, Bakhmutsky, Avdeevsky and Maryinsky directions. Aviation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine inflicted 20 strikes, the air defense of Ukraine destroyed one reconnaissance UAV. The rocket and artillery units hit two command posts, 10 Russian military concentration areas and an ammunition depot.
Governor: Russian forces strike with tanks, helicopters in Kharkiv Oblast. Russian forces attacked multiple settlements in Kharkiv Oblast on June 4, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported.
CNN: Network of sabotage agents backed by Ukraine likely responsible for drone attacks in Russia. Ukraine has likely established a network of pro-Ukrainian sabotage agents within Russian territory to carry out strategic drone attacks, CNN reported on June 5.
Update: Ukraine downed 6 out of 8 Shahed drones overnight. Ukrainian forces downed six out of eight Iranian-made Shahed drones, as well as four out of six Kh-101 cruise missiles launched by Russia at Ukraine overnight on June 4, the General Staff reported, citing updated information.
Russia claims to block Ukrainian offensive in South Donetsk direction. Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have thwarted a major Ukrainian offensive in the Donetsk region on the morning of June 4, according to a Telegram update. The defence ministry in Moscow said Ukraine had attacked with six mechanised and two tank battalions. The ministry claimed that 250 Ukrainian troops had been killed, and 16 tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armoured personnel carriers destroyed. There were videos posted on Telegram channels but they are impossible to verify.
Russian authorities do not know how to respond to raids in the regions bordering with Ukraine. Experts from the Institute for the Study of War dedicated their new summary to how the Russian authorities react to raids in the regions bordering Ukraine. ISW has concluded that in Russia, at different levels of government, they do not coordinate actions and do not know how to respond to events in the border regions.
Russian governor reports fire at Belgorod energy facility. Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported a fire at an energy facility in the Belgorod district in a June 5 post on Telegram.
NASA images show numerous “fire” activities along the Russia-Ukraine border, where the Russian Defense Ministry reported an artillery strike Sunday. The images show fires near Novaya Tavolzhanka and Shebekino, both in the Belgorod region.
Anti-Kremlin militia claims to have yet another incursion in Belgorod Oblast, seeks meeting with local governor. Governor of Russia's Belgorod Oblast Vyacheslav Gladkov claimed on June 4 that he was ready to meet the Russian anti-Kremlin militia behind the latest incursion in Belgorod Oblast. They also report that they have destroyed of two Russian tanks and other equipment using drones at night in the Shebekino district.
Gladkov at a meeting called on the heads of municipalities to expedite work to restore housing damaged by shelling, according to the local Go31 website. He notes that the municipality has run out of money to deal with the situation in the Belgorod Oblast.
Governor: 2 drones crash on highway in Russia's Kaluga Oblast. Two drones crashed on a highway in Russia's Kaluga Oblast, Governor Vladislav Shapsha reported on June 5.
Prigozhin’s press service published a report by the commander of the engineering and sapper brigade of the PMC Wagner, which states that the mercenaries entered into battle with the military personnel of the Russian Defense Ministry. On May 17, an engineer company of the PMC began clearing the roads along which the mercenaries left Bakhmut. Earlier, Prigozhin accused "representatives of the Russian Defense Ministry" of mining escape routes. Wagner PMC fighters “took retaliatory measures to eliminate aggression and detain,” the report says. It claims that PMC mercenaries allegedly detained a group of servicemen led by the commander of the 72nd motorized rifle brigade, lieutenant colonel, "who was intoxicated." They accused him of opening fire at the members of Wagner group in Bakhmut area.
According to Nikkei, Russian military factories have begun to buy weapons previously sold to Myanmar and India. The Japanese publication analyzed Indian and Russian customs data, as well as a number of other sources, and found that Russian enterprises began to import components that they themselves produce for various types of weapons, including tanks and missiles. For example, on December 9, 2022, Uralvagonzavod, which produces tanks, imported $24 million worth of parts from Myanmar; their manufacturer, as indicated in the documents, is Uralvagonzavod "
In April 2023, Russia experienced a significant decline in the number of children born, marking a record low in nearly a quarter of a century.
Media: Russia to reduce oil output in 2024. Russia will reduce its oil output by 650,000 barrels per day in 2024, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported following an OPEC+ meeting in Vienna on June 4. Please note that the Russians had promised to do this last year and didn’t. It was the cause for criticism with other OPEC partners and the Russians may not actually cut production.
In Belarus, a new bill is being proposed which, if approved in the current form, would make the local Orthodox Church, which is a branch of Russia's Orthodox Church, run and controlled by the FSB, a religious organisation of 'special status'.
“In the rooms of the Belarusian KGB, there are portraits of Putin, not Lukashenka, and even Russian flags”, Oleg Kulesha, an ex-political prisoner reported to Nasha NIva. He told the press that the guards would unleash dogs on prisoners, and incarcerate whole families, torturing one member to terrorise and extract information from the other members.
The US has imposed sanctions on Monday on members of a Russian intelligence-linked group for their role in Moscow’s efforts to destabilise democracy and influence elections in Moldova, the Treasury Department said. The sanctions target seven individuals, several of whom maintain ties to Russian intelligence services, the department said. They include the group’s leader, Konstantin Prokopyevich Sapozhnikov, who organised the plot to destabilise the government of Moldova earlier this year.
SkyNews: Arms contract shows Iran has sold Russia ammunition for Ukraine war, says security source. An informed source has claimed the document is "100% authentic". It shows various types of ammunition worth just over $1m (£800,000). It was shared by the source along with five pages of an allegedly linked contract that includes barrels for a T-72 tank and barrels for a Howitzer artillery piece, as well as ammunition shells. That deal was worth about $740,000 (£590,000).
A two-day event has started in the EU parliament that has brought together more than 200 Russian opposition and civil society activists to discuss how the EU can support Russian democratic forces. Convened by four MEPs, the conference is entitled “The Day After”, and is meant to discuss strategy for a hypothetical post-Putin Russia.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, told Reuters on Monday that the country has enough weapons for its counter-offensive against Russia, and the operation will give the country the victory it needs to join Nato but did not say whether the counter-offensive had started.
Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó to Interfax: "We are not going to replace Russian supplies - neither for oil nor for gas. Russia has been a reliable partner for us: both Gazprom and oil producers. (...) Another issue is diversification. But from our point of view it does not mean that we want to replace one source with another. Diversification for us means that we are looking for other sources, but not to replace Russian resources."
Szabolcs Panyi: MFA Szijjártó is not an independent actor, just an enforcer of PM Orbán's foreign policy. I'm wondering when will Hungary's NATO allies finally realize that Orbán really doesn't want to reduce its dependency on Russian energy - and will do everything to thwart such EU efforts.
Easy visas for Russian friends and investors in Italy, reports La Repubblica. The son of a leader of Putin's United Russia party obtained a visa in Italy with money from a Cypriot bank, accused of money laundering, and with the involvement of fixers close to the oligarch Usmanov. This visa and others were awarded by the Ministry of Economic Development today, Made in Italy, thanks to a dossier initiated when Giancarlo Giorgetti was at the top of the ministry. The minister is an important representative of the Lega Party, which signed an agreement with United Russia in 2017.
Commission VP for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová and Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton met representatives of 40-odd organizations that have signed up to the EU’s Code of Practice against disinformation, on a voluntary basis. They include Microsoft, Google, Meta, TikTok, Twitch and smaller companies — but not Twitter, which has left the code — as well as NGOs.
“I will ask the signatories to create a dedicated and separate track within the code” to deal with disinformation generated by Artificial Intelligence, Jourová told Politico. “It should … aim to identify the specific disinformation risks presented by generative AI and take appropriate measures to address them.”
Poland's judicial reform infringes upon European law because it undermines the right to have access to an independent and impartial judiciary, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said in a highly-anticipated ruling.
CNN: Lawyers for former president Trump met with Justice Department officials on Monday following a public request for a meeting about what they characterize as prosecutorial misconduct, according to sources familiar with the matter. The meeting lasted an estimated 90 minutes. Trump’s attorneys did not comment to reporters after leaving. Oops…
NYT: The authorities in India have intensified the investigation into the causes of a devastating three-way train crash in which 275 people died. While officials were looking into the malfunction of an electronic signaling system, they had not ruled out human error — or even sabotage — and vowed punishment for those responsible, India’s railway minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said yesterday.
The documentary “20 Days in Mariupol” is unavailable in Europe at this time. I am told that it will be available after it has debuted in the US soon.
Botakoz Kassymbekova: I dream
I dream.
I dream of russian anti-colonial allies who will condemn russian colonialism, racism, supremacy, listen to the colonized, learn from them, unite with them, platform Ukrainians, condemn discrimination and subjugation of the colonized.
I dream of russian citizens who say, “navalny is a political prisoner as many, who must be freed, but he is not our leader. he didn’t condemn his right-wing marches, his xenophobic propaganda in which he called for deportations and murder, and this is why he cannot be our leader“
I dream of russian anti-colonial allies who say that navalny cannot be their leader in the name of all Chechens who died in the most brutal wars, in the name of all those who died and suffered of hate crimes in russia, in the name of Georgians and Ukranians.
I dream of brave russian allies to stand for universal values of respect of human dignity, anti-colonialism, and anti-racism. Speak up, we need you. We need your voices, your humanity, your support. In the name of all the victims of russian colonial brutality.
I dream of our common future, where we argue only about recipes. We want to unite. We need your support. Are you there?
I will continue dreaming. And support Ukraine.
Plan to Allow Chinese in Russia to Live Extraterritorially Under Chinese Laws Outrages Russians.
On May 20, Moscow’s Kommersant newspaper reported that officials in the Russian Far East are offering Chinese who take part in the development of particular territories the right to operate under Chinese as well as Russian laws and to give the Chinese who do so special tax benefits as well.
Not surprisingly, some Russians see this as the thin edge of the wedge toward some kind of general extraterritoriality for the Chinese and are outraged about it, a situation which recalls the unequal treaties China suffered from in the 19th century when outside powers insisted upon having extraterritorial status for their citizens living in China.
While it is not clear that the Russian proposal will go as far as that, it is obvious that some officials desperate for investment are prepared to take a step some residents of Siberia and the Far East in particular have long feared is the first step toward de facto Chinese occupation of their country; and some of them are beginning to react in terms Moscow can hardly welcome.
DW: Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told DW in an exclusive interview that it's not in Germany's interest that "India is so dependent on Russian deliveries of weapons." He said Berlin is willing to support "reliable partners" like India or Indonesia also by supplying weapons.
Lake Maggiore boat accident: Questions remain over spy deaths—BBC News
Four people tragically drowned on the picturesque and popular lake south of the Swiss Alps. One was a former agent from Israel's spy agency Mossad, two were Italian intelligence officers and the fourth victim was a Russian woman.
There is huge interest in the accident and public prosecutor Carlo Nocerino has been tasked with finding out what happened. He says 13 of those on board were Italian agents and eight were Israeli agents. Only the captain, Claudio Carminati, and his Russian wife did not work in intelligence.
But this boat was suddenly hit by a fierce storm with gusts of over 70km (43m) per hour.
"In a matter of 30 seconds, an apocalypse descended upon us," was how Mr Carminati described the incident, according to the newspaper Corriere della Sera. "The boat immediately capsized, and we fell into the water."
One other aspect to the mystery is that, according to Italian media, the survivors of the disaster seemingly rushed to leave immediately afterwards. [continue]