Yet another suspected Russian spy has been arrested in Germany — the third such case in recent months.
The suspect — named only as Thomas H. by the German media for legal reasons — is an employee of the department of Germany’s army, the Bundeswehr, responsible for procuring defense technology.
Some 200,000 people are thought to have been killed in fighting between Russia and Ukraine since February 24, 2022, when President Vladimir Putin opened the latest—and perhaps final—chapter of Moscow’s 30-year effort to hinder Kyiv’s westward drift and regenerate a neo-imperial sphere of influence.
Putin’s military gambit has not gone to plan. The stunning failure of Russia’s thunder run on Kyiv in the early days and weeks of the invasion proved a harbinger of Moscow’s battlefield struggles. The demands of large-scale, mechanized, 21st century warfare pulled back the veil on Russia’s supposedly modernized force, illuminating the kind of corruption and incompetence that have hamstrung Moscow’s militaries for years.
#Ukraine: A Russian T-80BV tank with a Kontakt-1 cope cage was destroyed by the Ukrainian 77th Airmobile Brigade near Yahidne, #Donetsk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/yzjPOsjfxn
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 11, 2023
KYIV, Ukraine — A first group of six Ukrainian pilots is not expected to complete training on the U.S.-made F-16 before next summer, senior Ukrainian government and military officials said, following a series of delays by Western partners in implementing an instruction program for the sophisticated fighter jet.
The timeline reflects the disconnect between Ukraine’s supporters, who envision F-16s as a key tool in the country’s long-term defense, and Kyiv, which has desperately requested that the jets reach the battle space as soon as possible, viewing them as critical for the current fight against occupying Russian forces.
#Ukraine: A Russian BM-21 Grad 122mm multiple rocket launcher was torn apart by the detonation of the rockets loaded onboard after it was targeted by the 55th Artillery Brigade using DPICM cluster projectiles in #Donetsk Oblast.
Another Grad parked nearby was damaged as well. pic.twitter.com/MvAPsA9icH
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 10, 2023
Ukrainian conscription officials accused of taking bribes and smuggling people out of the country have been sacked in an anti-corruption purge.
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed more than 30 people face criminal charges after an inspection of local army offices exposed corruption.
He said bribery at a time of war is “high treason”.
It comes amid efforts to bolster the armed forces, as Ukraine’s counter-offensive operation continues.
A statement from the president’s office said corruption allegations “pose a threat to Ukraine’s national security and undermine confidence in state institutions”.
Ukraine says it has foiled a fresh assassination attempt against President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and arrested a woman believed to have been acting as an informant for Russia.
In a statement Monday, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) alleged the woman was trying to “establish the time and list of locations” of where Zelenskyy would be during a trip of the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv, in order to help Russia carry out a “new mass airstrike” there.
President Joe Biden has claimed that the U.S.’s support for Ukraine “will not waver” amid its conflict with Russia, but new reports about the slow pace of Kyiv’s counteroffensive highlight the costs of the fighting.
The New York Times reported last week that newly Western-trained Ukrainian brigades have failed to achieve any “sweeping gains,” due to Russian artillery fire. Similarly, CNN has highlighted Ukraine’s difficulty in penetrating Russian defenses, with one Ukrainian official calling the density of Russian mines “insane.” And Politico reported Tuesday that U.S. officials expect the counteroffensive to last “at least through the fall and possibly into the winter.”
Volodya arranges his torso a little straighter to recall the moment a mortar shell exploded in front of him in Bakhmut. The 47-year old infantryman was defending a building from the Russians’ street-by-street advance when, as his squad waited to move out, he went to examine one of the block’s doorways.
Ukraine’s ability to launch attacks deep within Russian territory are vital if the Ukrainian military’s counteroffensive is to stand any chance of liberating its territory from Russian occupation.
In recent days, Ukraine has launched a series of drone attacks against Russian targets, including two drone strikes against a skyscraper in central Moscow and an attempted drone strike against Russian naval ships in the Black Sea.
The skyscraper, which houses teams from Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, and Ministry of Industry and Trade, was the target of drone strikes on two consecutive days.
#Ukraine: The "85th IRIS-T destroyed,,,,"- A Russian Lancet loitering munition successfully targeting a Ukrainian IRIS-T SLM launcher decoy in #Kherson Oblast. pic.twitter.com/KT7aVQPBat
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 1, 2023
An insecure EU is warming to nationalism
Over the past decade, and especially since the political shocks of 2016, there has been an increasing tendency to see both domestic and international politics in terms of a set of binary opposites: democracy and authoritarianism, liberalism and illiberalism, internationalism and nationalism, and so on. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last February, this predisposition — a story of good guys against bad guys — has grown even stronger. As comforting as this narrative is, however, it obscures all the complexities and contradictions of the current moment.
One of the reasons that rogue states such as Iran and Russia have become so empowered is that, thanks to the Biden Administration’s apparent decision not to enforce sanctions, both countries have been freely evading them.
Instead of enforcing sanctions, the Biden Administration has actually been issuing waivers, making the sanctions appear to be simply cosmetic. On June 10, 2023, for instance, the Biden Administration gave Iraq a sanctions-waiver along with a green light to make a payment of $2.76 billion to the Iranian regime.
It’s insane. People are dying while the corporate class rakes it in six ways from Sunday.
To say Ukraine’s counter-offensive has not progressed as quickly as it had hoped is to state an objective fact.
To say, however, that it has not progressed as quickly as it should have, or that it would have been more successful if only Ukraine had employed “proper” Western tactics, is to reveal to the world one’s utter ignorance of military matters.
That view was one taken by the German military who in a leaked assessment of the counter-offensive earlier this month, lashed out at Kyiv’s alleged failure to adopt the lessons its troops have been learning in Western boot camps.
#Ukraine: A Russian 2S7[M] Pion 203mm self-propelled howitzer was destroyed by a precision strike of the Ukrainian army in #Donetsk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/zsa2yHPLOQ
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 2, 2023
With a hypersonic missile slung under its belly, a Russian MiG-31K bomber roared into the air from Savasleyka airbase, 180 miles east of Moscow. It was less than 24 hours after suspected Ukrainian drones had struck at the Kremlin, and the pilot had orders to exact revenge.
The jet dropped its load as it raced towards the Ukrainian border. A short fall, blaze of flame and trail of smoke later, the Kinzhal, or Dagger, was arching towards the atmosphere in the direction of Kyiv. Ukrainian air defence command had only minutes to stop the Mach 10 ballistic missile from striking the seat of President Zelensky’s government.
#Ukraine: Footage from the kamikaze USV that managed to severely damage the "Olenegorsky Gornyk" Project 775 large landing ship. As per the source, this was a joint SBU & Ukrainian Navy attack.
The drone is said to have carried 450kg of explosives. https://t.co/o3cRb5hc4z pic.twitter.com/Vs2gfnyPi2
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 4, 2023
The first edition of Playboy to be printed in Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion has featured a survivor of a suspected assassination attempt as its cover star, clad in an eyepatch and a metal bikini.
Iryna Bilotserkovets, a model and TV presenter, was forced to undergo several rounds of reconstructive surgery after being hit by bullets in Kyiv shortly after Russia began its offensive. The attack was blamed on pro-Russian forces.
Washington is doing a poor job of monitoring whether the weapons it sends to Ukraine are ending up in the right hands.
Fears of loose weapons in Ukraine have become reality: Once American weapons arrive, Ukrainian criminals steal them. If U.S. arms transfer policies are not changed, Washington will inevitably accidentally arm groups that actively want to harm the United States.
In June, two separate Department of Defense inspector general reports revealed poor monitoring when U.S. weapons are transferred to Ukraine. Challenges in Ukraine’s war zone have made it nearly impossible to track the weapons.
WASHINGTON — When Volodymyr Zelenskyy was asked whether he was worried by Russian attempts to kill him, he answered he couldn’t afford to be.
“If I were thinking about it constantly, I would just shut myself down, very much like Putin now who doesn’t leave his bunker,” the Ukrainian leader said in an interview with CNN last month. “Of course, my bodyguards should think how to prevent this from happening, and this is their task. I don’t think about it.”
