“Ukraine – Russia”

Western unity will be sorely tested if the conflict turns into a war of attrition with no side claiming victory

Aquarter of a year has now passed since Vladimir Putin sent his tanks into Ukraine. And the first drafts of history have already been written. Their rough conclusions seem to go along the following lines.

First, to add to Talleyrand’s famous phrase, Putin has committed both a crime and a blunder. The Russian military has shown itself to be corrupt and inefficient. The Ukrainians have shown themselves to be quite astonishingly stalwart defenders of their homeland. And the West has shown itself to be unpredictably united.

After three months, the historical record is now clear

Within hours of 11 Republican Senators voting to delay proceeding with the roughly $40 billion Ukraine aid package, and days after 57 Republicans voted against the package in the House, the name calling has begun. “Isolationists!” Others characterized those who opposed the measure as “politicizing” the issue. Once again, the power brokers in DC are signaling that in American politics there is no room for debate on big issues, there is only one right answer.

Dmytro Kozatsky, Azov Regiment fighter and photographer, documented the siege of the Azovstal metalworks. Before his capture he posted his pictures on social media, asking that they be shared as widely as possible. This is some of his work showing the realities of life during the battle. The Azov regiment retains some far-right affiliations

When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, it had hoped to overtake the country in a blitz lasting only days or a few weeks. Many Western analysts thought so, too.

As the conflict marked its third month Tuesday, however, Moscow appears to be bogged down in what increasingly looks like a war of attrition, with no end in sight and few successes on the battlefield.

There was no quick victory for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s powerful forces, no rout that would allow the Kremlin to control most of Ukraine and establish a puppet government.

#Ukraine: Ukrainian SSO (SOF) published rare footage of a kamikaze drone in action, which we identied as a US-supplied Switchblade 300 – hitting a Russian T-72B3 tank with its crew on top.
The tank is unlikely to receive any serious damage, which cannot be said about the crew. pic.twitter.com/sRm5GQNRyL

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 24, 2022

#Ukraine: Canadian Roshel Senator armored personnel carriers are already in Ukraine – 8 of these APCs were supplied by Canada recently. The hull of this vehicle can protect occupants from explosion and bullets up to .30-60 AP. pic.twitter.com/YNh2el1J1b

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 23, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin survived an assassination attempt two months ago, a top Ukrainian military official said Monday.

Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, said an “unsuccessful attempt” on the Russian strongman’s life occurred in Caucasus shortly after Russia invaded the nation on Feb. 24, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

“There was an attempt to assassinate Putin,” Budanov told the outlet. “He was even attacked, it is said, by representatives of the Caucasus, not so long ago.”

A Russian diplomat has quit his job in protest at the “bloody, witless” war “unleashed by Putin against Ukraine”.

Boris Bondarev, whose LinkedIn says he worked at the Russian mission to the UN in Geneva, told the BBC he knew his decision to speak out may mean the Kremlin now considers him a traitor.

But he stood by his statement which described the war as “a crime against the Ukrainian people” and “the people of Russia”.

Moscow has not yet commented.

Any public protest against the war in Russia is fraught with criminal charges

Thousands of people chanted anti-war slogans at a rock concert in Russia last weekend in a growing sign of public discontent with the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Concert-goers at a popular girl band show in St Petersburg at the weekend were chanting “F–ck the war!” in unison in a video that was widely circulated online.

h/t RM

A court in Ukraine has jailed a Russian tank commander for life for killing a civilian at the first war crimes trial since the invasion.

Captured soldier Sgt Vadim Shishimarin was convicted of killing Oleksandr Shelipov, 62, in the north-eastern village of Chupakhivka on 28 February.

He admitted shooting Mr Shelipov but said he had been acting on orders and asked forgiveness of his widow.

Multiple other alleged war crimes are being investigated by Ukraine.

Amid Russian Calls For ‘Tribunals,’ Concerns Expressed Over Fate Of Azovstal Defenders

Concerns have been expressed over the fate of Ukrainian soldiers taken prisoner by Russian forces after abandoning the Azovstal steel-mill complex in the Azov Sea port city of Mariupol.

Prominent Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia’s faction in the State Duma and chairman of the Duma’s International Affairs Committee, said on May 22 that the fate of the captured soldiers, many of whom are members of the ultra-nationalist Azov Regiment, “should be determined by a tribunal.”

Four Km?

#Ukraine: A really impressive strike from a Ukrainian Stugna-P operator – hitting a moving and partially visible Russian MT-LB APC from a distance of 4 kilometers. pic.twitter.com/hZd4t0tqkt

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 23, 2022

Partisans fighters have assassinated 100 high-ranking Russians

The bodies of the two Russian officers lay on the pavement for an hour in Melitopol city centre before the sun rose and their comrades picked up the courage to come and collect them.

A few hours later a hand grenade detonated next to the building where the Russians had set up their headquarters. A gunfight ensued in broad daylight before the attackers melted away.

A food insecurity expert said the world has only about 10 weeks of wheat supplies left in storage amid the conflict in Ukraine and as India has moved to bar exports of wheat in recent weeks.

Sara Menker, the CEO of agriculture analytics firm Gro Intelligence, told the United Nations Security Council that the Russia–Ukraine war “simply added fuel to a fire that was long burning,” saying that it is not the primary cause of the wheat shortage. Ukraine and Russia both produce close to about a third of the world’s wheat.

Another shortage!

Over 50 specialists skilled in delivering crude explosive working with Putin’s forces

Technicians linked to the Syrian military’s infamous barrel bombs that have wreaked devastation across much of the country have been deployed to Russia to help potentially prepare for a similar campaign in the Ukraine war, European officials believe.

Intelligence officers say more than 50 specialists, all with vast experience in making and delivering the crude explosive, have been in Russia for several weeks working alongside officials from Vladimir Putin’s military.

Their arrival is understood to be one factor behind US and European warnings that the Russian military may have been preparing for the use of chemical weapons in the conflict, which has entered its fourth month with little sign of slowing.

#Ukraine: The 59th Motorized Brigade of the Ukrainian Army struck a Russian armoured vehicle, which detonated in dramatic fashion. pic.twitter.com/n5iulu4Jif

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 21, 2022

NATO’s northward expansion is nothing to celebrate.

‘There is a before and after 24 February.’ So said Swedish prime minister Magdalena Andersson when she announced Sweden’s intention to apply for NATO membership last week. Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin voiced a similar sentiment when she announced her country’s NATO application. ‘Our security environment has fundamentally changed’, she told parliament.

All this is true. The Kremlin’s decision on 24 February to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine has proven a singularly transformative event. In a very real sense, there is a before and an after Putin’s act of aggression.