Oct 24 Buonasera Mag
Day 243: Kherson, Kursk fortifications, BEL, Dimas, Iran, ZNPP, grain, EU, Rotax, Motor Sich, Uss, Krasovsky, Sunak- A-Ps- MacKay, Trad, Liveuamap, Sumlenny, Mongelli, Kyiv Indie, Szabolcs, Larry
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…
The Russian forces continue their retreat from Kherson as reported Sunday by ISW and varous institutional Ukrainian sources.
Maria Avdeeva: Russian propagandist Kotenok published a list of what to “evacuate” (read steal) from Kherson museums, libraries and theaters, monuments incl. Previously, ambulances, buses, even firefighters and garbage trucks were already"evacuated".
Russian forces build fortifications in Kursk Oblast. Roman Starovoyt, the governor of Russia’s Kursk Oblast, said that two defense lines had been built. Russia’s Defense Ministry and Border Guard are aiming to build a third defense line by Nov. 5, he said.
All men remaining in Kherson have been invited to join a newly formed local militia. In a notice on Telegram, the occupation authorities said men had the “opportunity” to join territorial defence units if they chose to remain in Kherson of their own free will. Compelling civilians to serve in the armed forces of an occupying power is defined as a breach of the Geneva conventions.
Ukraine’s General Staff reported early on Oct. 22 that it knows of “multiple cases of conflicts” between Russian and Belarusian soldiers deployed near the Ukrainian-Belarusian borders as part of the joint regional military group.
According to SOHR sources, military logistics and equipment used to assemble Iranian-made drones in Dimas military airport area in western Rif dimashq were destroyed after being directly targeted by Israeli missiles. A radar and airstrip were also targeted at the airport. However, no casualties have been reported so far.
Special Operations Forces: Iranian drone instructors spotted in Belarus. Instructors from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are training Russian forces in Belarus and coordinating the launches of Iranian-made drones, Ukraine's Special Operations Forces said.
Latvia's minister: Russia has enough resources to wage long war in Ukraine. Russia is ready for a long war in Ukraine, therefore it's crucial to keep providing Ukraine with military and financial assistance, said Latvian Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkevich, cited by Delfi. The West should help Ukraine get through the winter and restore its civilian infrastructure, said Rinkevich.
The G7 has condemned Russia’s kidnapping of the Zaporizhzhia NPP leadership and called for the immediate return of full control of the facility to Ukraine. Energoatom said Russian forces on Monday “kidnapped” the head of information technology, Oleg Kostyukov, and the plant’s assistant general director, Oleg Osheka, and “took them to an unknown destination”, Agence France-Presse reported.
The United Nations has said urgent steps are needed to relieve a backlog of more than 150 ships involved in a deal that allows Ukraine to export grain from ports in the Black Sea.
The EU Parliament called for the strengthening of sanctions against the Russian Federation. In the resolution, MEPs also call for sanctions on Russian organizations that spread disinformation.
Scholz explains why he's refusing to send German tanks to Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Die Welt that his country does not want to "act alone", meaning that other Western countries should also send their tanks if Germany does.
Austria’s Rotax says it is investigating how Rotax engines ended up in Iranian drones used by Russia to attack Ukraine.
SBU “detained the president of industrial giant Motor Sich, who is suspected of working with the Russian Federation,” it said in a statement. It added that it also detained the company’s department head for foreign economic activities and did not provide any names. “The suspects established transnational channel for the illegal supply of wholesale batches of Ukrainian aircraft engines to the aggressor country,” the SBU said, specifying that Russia used them to produce and repair attack helicopters.
Arrested in Milan: Artem Uss, trafficked military technologies from Italy to Ukraine. The United States is preparing to send a formal extradition request for Artem Uss, son of the governor of a Siberian region at the center of an international intrigue between "siloviki" and foreign espionage. Moscow is opposed. This will be the first international test for Prime Minister Meloni.
After the calls to "drown Ukrainian children,"RT fired Krasovsky. In the light of their pervasive propaganda and genocidal rhetoric contributing to this war, it does not change anything. RU propagandists continue to call for destroying Ukrainians through various channels. Read the dossier of Russian information criminals in Stratcom Centre UA material database.
Rishi Sunak confirmed as new prime minister after Penny Mordaunt drops out. Sunder Katwala, who runs the British Future thinktank, which focuses on issues relating to immigration, identity and race, says Rishi Sunak’s appoinment as PM is a historic moment. He says:
Rishi Sunak becoming the first British Indian prime minister is an historic moment. This simply would not have been possible even a decade or two ago.
It shows that public service in the highest office in Britain can be open to those of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds. This will be a source of pride to many British Asians - including many who do not share Rishi Sunak’s Conservative politics.
Eleonora Mongelli, VP The Italian Federation of Human Rights
If they can suggest how to kill Ukrainian children on Russian state television, it is because they know that their crimes will continue to go unpunished. We know that in the end everything can be put on the negotiating table, even genocide.
This is why there can never be peace without justice: by justice we mean not only the total withdrawal of Russia from Ucraine, but also prosecuting those responsible for all crimes, including the crime of aggression, and the payment of war damages.
Poland to host congress of Russians who want to come to power after Putin
Former deputies of the State Duma, officials, representatives of local government, as well as former members of the Federation Council will appear.
In addition, representatives of the Russian opposition and public figures will take part participation in the event has already been confirmed by more than 50 former people's deputies and officials of local self-government, Former deputies Ilya Ponomarev and Arkady Yankovsky, lawyer and blogger Mark Feigin, opposition leader and retired colonel of the FSB of Russia G.Gudkov, lawyer and former member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation E.Lukyanova.
Andras & Szabolcs, Inside Viktor Orbán’s Response to the War in Ukraine- Direkt36 (long read)
The Hungarian prime minister traveled to Moscow at the end of January, under the shadow of the threat of war, to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, expecting to bring a delegation of a few people to the talks scheduled for February 1. Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Orbán’s senior adviser on Russian affairs, János Balla, who also previously served as ambassador to Moscow, were among those who were due to attend. But the Russians told Orbán at the last minute that only he and his interpreter would be allowed to attend. According to sources familiar with the details of the meeting, the Hungarian delegation was surprised by this, as it is not customary in diplomacy to impose such conditions at such short notice.
“On the way they turned around - and sent to war”- iStories
We were brought up on stories about Russian heroes. It turns out that the Udege have no heroes. And if they are not there, then the people are somehow defective. I began to be interested in the history of my people when I first went from my native Udege village to the Russian one. There they began to call me narrow -eyed and black -up. When I went there, I identified myself as Russian, because as a child, with the boys, we played war games all the time. There were Germans and Russians in the game. Those who were stronger were Russians, those who were weaker were Germans. Then I realized that I was not Russian, I became interested in my culture, history, language.
Cheering for Putin, disappointed by Meloni. Exploring Italy’s QAnon community- Decode39
The core tenet of this loose, sprawling network of conspiracies involves former US President Donald Trump fighting against a Satanist, paedophile, blood-drinking “cabal” operating within the American “Deep State.” The latter relates to the “New World Order,” an umbrella term indicating the supposed hidden rulers of Western societies.
Even before he invaded Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin was idolised by most in the QAnon community as an ally of Mr Trump and the embodiment of the fight against Western corruption. His own propaganda is a natural fit for Q-thought, and often overlaps with it.
