Nov 3- Buonasera Mag
Day 253: Kherson, Russian maneuvres, Zaporizhzhia, torture chambers, Norway, G20, 900B rubles, Gazprom, Baerbock-A&Ps-Kuldkepp, Synder, Cuda, The Reckoning Project, Haines, Sweeney, Battistini
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…
It looks very much like the Russian army has covertly withdrawn from the city of Kherson. If so, this is practically they only action they have carried out with any measure of competence since launching the full invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine's Southern Command, urges caution and says Russia's unusual maneuvers in Kherson might be a trap to lure in Ukrainian forces.
Ukrainian intelligence: Russian troops move proxies from Kherson closer to Crimea. Over the past few weeks, Russian-installed proxies and collaborators in Kherson have been resettled to hotels on Arabat Spit, between lake Syvash and the Azov Sea, Ukraine's Intelligence wrote.
Official: Russian troops step up attacks on civilians in occupied Mariupol, arrest locals. Russian forces check residents’ houses and personal phones for pro-Ukrainian photos or posts on social networks, Petro Andriushchenko, adviser to Mariupol mayor, said on Nov. 3.
Ukrainian intelligence: Russian troops move proxies from Kherson closer to Crimea. Over the past few weeks, Russian-installed proxies and collaborators in Kherson have been resettled to hotels on Arabat Spit, between lake Syvash and the Azov Sea, Ukraine's Intelligence wrote.
The IT army of Ukraine gained access to the networks of the central bank of the Russian Federation, the community reported.
Ukrainian FM Dymtro Kuleba: “The IAEA has checked three Ukrainian facilities in focus of Russian disinfo and found no evidence of any ‘dirty bombs’. I thank Rafael Mariano Grossi for IAEA’s excellent and prompt cooperation which helped counter Russian falsehoods. Russia has confirmed its status of the world’s top liar.”
Ukraine says that Russian shelling has put the Zaporizhzhia NPP into "full blackout mode".
Several dozen Ukrainian air defense troops are completing training in Norway on how to use the sophisticated NASAMS, paving the way for the delivery of the first systems to Ukraine in the next several days, US officials tell the NYT.
Hromadske has reported that police have uncovered 34 torture chambers and prisons in the Sumy, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kherson regions. The Ukrainian police have reported they have found 868 killed civilians in the liberated towns.
President Zelensky has confirmed that he will not attend the G20 summit taking place in two weeks in Bali if Putin and the Russian Federation will be participating in the conference. “My position, and the position of Ukraine, was that if the leader of Russia participates, then Ukraine will not,” President Zelensky said.
Russia will have to print 900 billion rubles to financially support the four occupied regions of Ukraine, propagandists write, citing calculations by Alexei Voilukov, vice president of the Association of Banks of Russia.
UK intelligence: Russia struggles to find artillery ammo, armored vehicles. Russia has bought about 100 additional tanks and infantry fighting vehicles from Belarus, while its forces are losing about 40 armored vehicles a day in Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry wrote.
As reported by Novaya Gazeta, official numbers reveal that 20% of the Russian soldiers died before being sent to the front. The causes of death were fights, alcohol, drugs, suicide and accidents. In some cases, only 9-10 days passed from mobilization to death.
EU condemns Russia's mobilization of Crimean Tatars, calls it 'violation of international law.' The conscription campaign that Russia has launched in Crimea is "groundlessly targeting" its residents, the European External Action Service wrote on Nov. 1.
Details have been published of the damage caused to the Nord Stream gas pipeline by explosions at the end of September. Nord Stream AG said that about 250 metres (820 feet) of the pipeline in the Baltic Sea was “destroyed”, according to Agence French-Presse (AFP). Four leaks emerged on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 after what seismic experts suggested were underwater explosions. Swedish inspectors found evidence of sabotage during their investigation.
"Gazprom" reduced gas supplies to Moldova by 50%, the country expects energy crises. It’s a hybrid terrorism that russia spreads around the world. Moscow tries to take hostages the people in their home countries.
Today, the Bulgarian parliament is discussing and will finally vote on whether Sofia will provide military aid to Ukraine. The pro-Russian Revival party organized a protest against military aid for Ukraine, with only a dozen protesters showing up. The Revival party and the Socialists are against providing military aid to Ukraine. The irony is that it is an open secret that weapons were sent to Ukraine via third countries under the signature of the socialist leader.
Sec of State Blinken met today in Germany with German FM Baerbock. Blinken thanked her for Germany’s leadership as G7 president and for hosting the first U.S.-German Futures Forum. The leaders discussed Russia’s unprovoked and brutal war against Ukraine, Iran’s support of Russia’s aggression, joint efforts to hold the Iranian regime accountable for their violent crackdown during the protests, the global challenge posed by China.
Germany transferred 17 bridge systems and 22 protected vehicles to Ukraine The website of the German government states that another 478 cars are being prepared for shipment.
On October 27, the National Congress of Kalmykia published their Declaration of Independence from Russian Federation.
Via Mart Kuldkepp
GRU defector Stanislav Lunev in 1998: 'It should not be shocking that Spetznatz would infiltrate America. It is simply good military practice. War is war. It sounds simple, but many Americans seem to believe that there should be a gentlemen’s code, that war should be fought by soldiers in remote battlefields. Americans believe that war should be sterile, because it has never hit their home soil since the Civil War of 130 years ago, and even then, only in the south-eastern part of the country.
Russia has been rampaged for centuries by every would-be world conqueror. Millions of Russians have died on their homeland during wars. This is a feeling Americans do not know. The only way you get an enemy to submit is by bringing the war to its people.'
Timothy Snyder, The War in Ukraine and the Question of Genocide- Thinking About
Russia’s war against Ukraine has been genocidal from the beginning.
Genocide is a matter of actions, and a matter of intentions. In this lecture, delivered at Boston University on 28 October 2022, I give examples of all five of the crimes that are designated genocidal by the 1948 convention. In Russia’s war against Ukraine, the problem is not the absence of expressions of genocidal intention. If anything, Russian officials and propagandists provide so many of them that we risk being overwhelmed, becoming jaded, and demanding even more evidence.
Nicholas Tenzer, The Heavy Clouds of Peace- Tenzer Strategics
The ideology of peace has ancient overtones. During the 20th century, it was supported by movements with variously sincere objectives.
The first variable, that of instrumentalization for political purposes, was widely practiced by the extreme right, ultimately favorable to Nazi Germany, when it became clear that Hitler was going to unleash what was to be the Second World War. The most visible symbol of this was the article published on May 4, 1939 in the French newspaper L’Œuvre entitled “Dying for Danzig?” Due to the socialist deputy, and future collaborationist of the Nazi occupier, Marcel Déat, it calls for the refusal to honor the treaties that bind France and Poland and to take up arms for the latter.
Deborah Haines, British spies playing key role in defending Kyiv from Russian cyber attacks- Sky News
British cyber spies have been playing a key role in defending Ukraine from widespread Russian cyber attacks since the start of the invasion, it has been confirmed.
"We're already on the frontline… We are aware of the threat. We have raised our own preparations and our own defences," Mr Docherty said. "That's why we've got some deep expertise when it comes to cyber defence and that's why we've been very pleased to share it with our Ukrainian allies."
Stefania Battistini is a war reporter for RaiUno, the Italian state broadcaster. I have often criticised the state broadcaster for its questionable reports about the Russian war of aggression and genocide against Ukraine. I must point out that Stefania is extremely competent and courageous and look forward to her reports when they are aired.
The latest from Heidi Cuda on the next elections in the US…
