ONGOING ARMED CONFLICT Russia Declares Open War on Ukraine And Launches Missles on Major Cities

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Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s mercenary Wagner group, has written to Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, to warn that the Ukrainian army is planning an imminent offensive aimed at cutting off his forces from the main body of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine. In the letter published by his press service today, Prigozhin said the “large-scale attack” was planned for late March or the start of April. Separately, Prigozhin also intensified his attack on Shoigu, calling the minister’s son-in-law a “scumbag blogger”.
 


A residential building damaged after a Russian missile strike in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 22. One person was killed and 32 injured.

 
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Putin Planned ‘Total Cleansing’ of Ukraine with ‘house-to-house’ Terror and Victims Dragged off to Concentration Camps, Leaked FSB Documents Reveal​


www.thesun.co.uk

Putin planned 'total cleansing' of Ukraine with 'house-to-house' terror & victims dragged off to camps, leaked docs show

VLADIMIR Putin wanted a “total cleansing” of Ukraine with “house-to-house terror” to subdue its people, leaked spy documents show. Chilling emails from within Russia’s…
www.thesun.co.uk www.thesun.co.uk

Putin wanted a “total cleansing” of Ukraine with “house-to-house terror” to subdue its people, leaked spy documents show.

Chilling emails from within Russia’s FSB intelligence service talk about orders “from the very top” for civilians to be taken to concentration camps in a bid to conquer Ukraine.
 
Smoke rises from burning buildings in Bakhmut, Ukraine, on March 26.

 

Russian pro-war Military Blogger Killed in Blast at St Petersburg Cafe​


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Full story and graphic aftermath video here.
 
Ukranian soldier survived and returned to family after getting injured on Nov 30 last year. Dude was in a coma for two weeks both legs amputated, no eyes, broken hip, ribs and multiple shrapnel wounds throughout what remains of his body.

 


A fuel tank is on fire in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, the Russian-backed governor of the annexed city, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said on Telegram early Saturday.

Razvozhaev said the fire has spread to around 1,000 square meters and that initial reports indicate it was caused by a drone.

The fuel tank is in the Cossack Bay neighborhood, he said, adding response teams are working on site.
 

Smoke rises above Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Wednesday, April 26
 

Putin’s Hitler-like tricks and tactics in Ukraine Exposed​


Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a speech in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia on May 9, 2023.

The glorification of violence and the disregard for law is central to the history of fascism. Taking law seriously and preventing senseless war was supposed to be the lesson learned from World War II.​


Vladimir Putin’s excuse for his senseless attack on Ukraine is “denazification.” With a straight face, the president of Russia claimed that he needs to replace a neighboring democracy with his own foreign tyranny in the name of World War II. He also referred, as he has several times, to an entirely imaginary “genocide” of those who speak Russian in Eastern Ukraine. In fact, speakers of Russian enjoy far greater freedoms in Ukraine than they do in Russia.

The very government that Putin has vowed to topple makes this clear enough. Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, is himself a Russian speaker. Just before the Russian invasion began, he gave the best political speech given in Russian in many a year, turning directly to Russians and asking them if they really wanted war. He also referred to the grotesque Nazi charge, pointing out that Ukrainians had died by the millions in World War II fighting the Germans. “Tell it to my grandfather,” he said, “who fought in the infantry of the Red Army and died a colonel in independent Ukraine.”

What Zelensky did not say, but which is worth knowing, is that his grandfather’s family was murdered in the Holocaust. He is Jewish and won 73 percent of the vote in the last presidential election in Ukraine. For a while, both the president and the prime minister of Ukraine were Jewish, something that has never happened anywhere else, aside from Israel. This does not make them better or worse politicians than anyone else. It simply means that Putin’s claim about “denazification” is not only baseless and wrong, but also cruel and grotesque. It is hard to think of something darker than invading a democracy with a Jewish leader in the name of fighting Nazis.

Using the language of World War II in this way makes it meaningless, and that is part of the point. Putin perhaps imagines that Russians can be mobilized through references to historical trauma, even one that makes no sense. But he is also taking aim at the Holocaust itself. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum called Putin’s claims “groundless and egregious,” which they certainly are. They are also trivializing, and deliberately so. When a political leader invokes genocide and Nazis in a way that Putin has done, he is mocking people who actually care about history and insulting people who survived and remember.

Even as Putin was busy with his own absurd historical propaganda, his former political partner, Dmitry Medvedev, was characterizing Ukraine in a way that was clearly antisemitic. His view was that the presence of Jewish leaders meant that Ukraine is not a real country. Medvedev weds this antisemitic canard to the perverse insult that if Zelenky is not a Nazi himself, he serves Nazis. All of these senseless and painful exploitations of history that people rightly take seriously serve a purpose: to make it harder for anyone to do so in the future.

Adolf Hitler had some public relations advice: Tell a lie so big that people will not believe that you would ever try to deceive them on such a grand scale. The Putin regime does something similar. Call it not the Big Lie, as with Hitler, but the Big Mock. Russia’s leaders mock symbols that are so important that people just cannot believe that they would do such a thing. Surely Putin must mean something by denazification? But he doesn’t. The Holocaust is just a button to push, and if pounding that button wears out the reference to actual history, so much the better. Mockery of the Holocaust is so shocking that people do not wish to believe that it is happening. But it is happening. Right now. In addition to the other more palpable horrors of Putin’s unprovoked and cruel war, he is assaulting the history that decent people hold dear.

With his “denazification” talk, Putin is also distracting us, preventing us from making what might be otherwise obvious connections. If we take his claim to be fighting Nazis even a little bit seriously, we will not think to ask what he himself has learned from fascism. Our thoughts are directed away from his own debts to Russian fascist tradition. We might forget that Putin is regarded as a leader by white supremacists all around the world. We might overlook that his regime’s cheerleaders include contemporary Russian fascists who are given prominence in Russian media.

We might fail to notice that, in Putin’s speech justifying the invasion, he spoke of the need to protect “people bound by blood” from a “virus.” We might not take in that all of his utterances this week rely on Hitlerian tricks and tactics. The idea that a neighboring democracy is the artificial creation of the international order? Entirely false atrocity talk about compatriots over the border who need military assistance? These were Hitler’s moves in 1938, just as they are Putin’s now. And of course the glorification of violence and the disregard for law is central to the history of fascism. Taking law seriously and preventing senseless war was supposed to be the lesson learned from World War II.

Denazification should really begin at home.

Originally published in the Boston Globe by Timothy Snyder - an author of a half-dozen books on Russia and Ukraine, including “The Road to Unfreedom” and “Bloodlands.” He is a professor of history at Yale University and writes the newsletter “Thinking About. . . .”.
www.bostonglobe.com

Putin’s Hitler-like tricks and tactics in Ukraine - The Boston Globe

The glorification of violence and the disregard for law is central to the history of fascism. Taking law seriously and preventing senseless war was supposed to be the lesson learned from World War II.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
 

‘It’s like the USSR’: Residents on Life in Mariupol a Year Since Russian Occupation​


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The mood in Mariupol has “changed dramatically”, according to residents who thought Russia would stay forever but are now expecting a swift Ukrainian military offensive to recapture the city.

In a series of anonymous interviews with the Guardian, people said Mariupol had been transformed into a gloomy version of the Soviet Union since the last Ukrainian defenders holed up in the Azovstal steelworks surrendered to Russian troops a year ago.


“I feel as if I’ve fallen into some terrible submerged and downtrodden collective farm. The shops are primitive and the prices astronomical,” one said. “The city isn’t the one I knew. The people are not the same. Everything is changed. I have a permanent feeling of wanting to go home.”

They said Russian flags flew above municipal buildings, soldiers were visible on the streets, and portraits of Vladimir Putin and the leader of the self-proclaimed republic in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, hung on the walls of offices and schools.

The occupying authorities pulled down more than 300 blocks of flats which were destroyed when Russian forces besieged and pulverised the city. The centre was now an “empty wasteland”, a resident said. “To me it looks awful. There are craters. Everything is mutilated.”

www.theguardian.com

‘It’s like the USSR’: residents on life in Mariupol a year since Russian occupation

People tell Guardian of ‘primitive’ living standards, propaganda in schools and constant risk of arrest
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 

Wagner Chief Warns of Revolution and Says 20,000 Fighters Killed in Bakhmut​


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The head of the Wagner mercenary force has said that 20,000 of its fighters have been killed in the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, and warned that Russia could face another revolution if its leadership does not improve its handling of the war.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said 20% of the 50,000 convicts Wagner had recruited, and a similar number of its regular troops, had been killed over several months in the fight for Bakhmut.

Prigozhin pointed to the social disparity underlined by the war, with the sons of the poor being sent back from the front in zinc coffins while the children of the elite “shook their arses” in the sun.

www.theguardian.com

Wagner chief warns of revolution and says 20,000 fighters killed in Bakhmut

Yevgeny Prigozhin says children of Russian elite ‘shook their arses’ in sun while sons of poor returned in coffins
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Good evening, a lot has been happening today so here is my quick late evening war summary:

  • Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, has ordered shelters to be operational in the capital on a 24-hour basis, after allegations that yesterday three people who were killed by falling debris from a Russian missile attack were stuck outside a “locked” air raid shelter. Three people including a child were killed and at least 11 people were injured in Thursday’s early morning missile attack. Residents of Kyiv have been leaving flowers, toys and sweets at a makeshift memorial at the location where Olha Ivashko, 33, and her daughter Vika, nine, were killed.

  • The US’s top military officer says training for Ukrainian forces on advanced US Abrams tanks has started, but those weapons crucial over the long term in trying to expel Russia from occupied territory will not be ready in time for Kyiv’s imminent counteroffensive.

  • The Belarusian tennis star Aryna Sabalenka skipped her post-match press conference at the French Open tennis tournament on Friday, citing mental health reasons, two days after she was asked to comment on the war in Ukraine after her second-round win.

  • Alexei Navalny, the imprisoned Russian opposition leader, released excerpts of his correspondence with prison administrators on Friday, detailing his sarcastic demands for things like a bottle of moonshine, a balalaika and even a kangaroo. His requests were denied.

  • Ukraine would be ready to continue exporting grain across the Black Sea as part of a “plan B” without Russian backing if Moscow pulls the plug on the current grain export deal and it collapses, Ukraine’s farm minister said on Friday.

  • Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had received ‘powerful support’ from allies attending a summit in Moldova on 1 June as it emerged F-16 fighter jets could be made available to Ukraine within six months. Several countries, including the UK, Denmark, Poland, the Netherlands and Belgium, have said they want to help procure F-16s for Ukraine.

  • A Russian-installed official in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region said on Friday that Ukrainian forces shelled the Russian-controlled port city of Berdiansk, on the Sea of Azov. Footage shows a large cloud of grey smoke rising from near the port area.

  • The former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev has reacted to the imposition of sanctions on him by Ukraine, and has defended his investments in occupied Crimea, Luke Harding reported.

  • Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, and other city leaders of negligence after witness reports emerged that civilians had died earlier this week because a bomb shelter had not been opened in time, the Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh reported from Kyiv.

  • Denis Pushilin, the Russian-imposed leader of the occupied Donetsk region, has claimed three people have been killed and four injured, including a three-year-old girl, by fire from Ukrainian armed forces.

  • Ruslan Stefanchuk, chair of Ukraine’s parliament, has posted to social media about meeting Lithuania’s president, saying “We are grateful for the support of Lithuania, the EU, and the Euro-Atlantic future of Ukraine.”

  • Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he understood Ukraine would not join Nato while the war with Russia was ongoing

  • Britain supports Ukraine joining Nato, the defence minister, Ben Wallace, said on the sidelines of the Shangri-La dialogue security meetings in Singapore, saying the path is open to them, although political realities may slow the process as it is not possible to add members in the middle of a war.

  • The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has said the US “calls the tunes” for Nato, which Ukraine wants to join. Asked at a news briefing about Ukraine’s push to join the western military alliance, Peskov said Kyiv’s Nato ambitions underscored its unwillingness to resolve problems at the negotiating table.

  • Russia again attacked Kyiv overnight, with Ukrainian forces claiming air defence shot down all 15 cruise missiles and 21 attack drones. Overnight the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lysak, said the city of Nikopol had been struck by shelling.

  • The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Friday that two people had been killed and two others injured when Ukrainian forces shelled a road in the town of Maslova Pristan near the Ukrainian border. “Fragments of the shells hit passing cars. Two women were travelling in one of them. They died from their injuries on the spot,” governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

  • The governor of Russia’s Bryansk region said on Friday that four houses were damaged after Ukrainian forces shelled a town near the border. There have also been reports of explosions in occupied Berdiansk, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, one of the areas of the country the Russian Federation has claimed to annex.

  • Two long-range drones attacked fuel and energy infrastructure in Russia’s western Smolensk region overnight on Friday, but no injuries or fires were reported, the region’s acting governor said.

  • Mariupol’s mayoral aide Petro Andryushchenko has claimed that three people have been killed by the detonation of a landmine on the Mariupol-Donetsk H20 highway. He said the incident happened near Olenivka, the location of a prison massacre earlier in the war.

  • China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, said on Friday that the Russian side appreciated China’s desire and efforts to resolve the Ukraine crisis. “The risk of escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war is still high,” Li said at a news briefing about his visit to Europe. “All sides must ensure the safety of nuclear facilities and take concrete measures to cool down the temperature,” he said.

  • The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Friday the US was working with Ukraine and other allies to build consensus around the core elements of a “just and lasting peace” to end the war with Russia. Washington would also encourage initiatives by other countries to bring about an end to the conflict, as long as they uphold the UN charter and Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.

  • Two close allies of the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, on Thursday publicly criticised Russia’s most prominent mercenary, casting Yevgeny Prigozhin as a blogger who “screams” all the time about his problems.

That's it for June 2! Thanks for following our updates. The war continues. :kissess:


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People grieve near the body of a person killed in a missile strike in Kyiv on Thursday, June 1, 2023.
 

Moscow Mayor Tells People to Stay Home as Wagner Mercenaries Move Towards the Russian Capital​




The mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, earlier this evening put out a statement on Telegram announcing that "a counter-terrorist operation regime has been declared in Moscow" and that Monday will be a "non-working day" to "minimise risks".

He asked Muscovites to "refrain from travelling around the city as much as possible".

"City services are on high alert," he said.

Wagner mercenaries appear to be moving north from central regions of Russia, in the direction of the capital.

 

Xi Jinping Warned Vladimir Putin Against Nuclear Attack in Ukraine​




Xi Jinping personally warned Vladimir Putin against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, indicating Beijing harbours concerns about Russia’s war even as it offers tacit backing to Moscow, according to western and Chinese officials.The face-to-face message was delivered during the Chinese president’s state visit to Moscow in March, one of Xi’s first trips outside China after years of isolation under his zero-Covid policy.Since then, Chinese officials have privately taken credit for convincing the Russian president to back down from his veiled threats of using a nuclear weapon against Ukraine.
 

U.S. Intelligence Suggests Ukraine will Fail to Meet Offensive’s Key Goal​


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The U.S. intelligence community assesses that Ukraine’s counteroffensive will fail to reach the key southeastern city of Melitopol, people familiar with the classified forecast told The Washington Post, a finding that, should it prove correct, would mean Kyiv won’t fulfill its principal objective of severing Russia’s land bridge to Crimea in this year’s push.

The grim assessment is based on Russia’s brutal proficiency in defending occupied territory through a phalanx of minefields and trenches, and is likely to prompt finger pointing inside Kyiv and Western capitals about why a counteroffensive that saw tens of billions of dollars of Western weapons and military equipment fell short of its goals.

Ukraine’s forces, which are pushing toward Melitopol from the town of Robotyne more than 50 miles away, will remain several miles outside of the city, U.S. officials said. U.S., Western and Ukrainian government officials interviewed for this report spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

Melitopol is critical to Ukraine’s counteroffensive because it is considered the gateway to Crimea. The city is at the intersection of two important highways and a railroad line that allow Russia to move military personnel and equipment from the peninsula to other occupied territories in southern Ukraine.

 
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This is from just a few minutes ago.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of Russian private mercenary group Wagner was killed in a plane crash this evening near Moscow.

He was 62.



www.bbc.com

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin presumed dead after Russia plane crash

The Russian private military company boss was on the passenger list of the jet which came down near Moscow.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
Ukrainian forces appear to widen breach of Russian defenses on southern front lines

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Almost no buildings are still standing in Robotyne after weeks of fighting in the area.

Signs are growing that Ukrainian forces have penetrated Russian defenses along part of the southern front lines in Zaporizhzhia region and are expanding a wedge toward the strategic town of Tokmak, while stepping up attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea.

The Ukrainian General Staff said Friday there had been further success in two areas – towards the village of Novoprokopivka and further east in the direction of another small settlement, Ocheretuvate.

Earlier this week, the Ukrainians said they had secured the village of Robotyne. Fighting continues to the south of that village.

 
German magazine Der Spiegel has published a lengthy and detailed investigation into the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline.

It cites German investigators – who are undertaking what one senior security official described as “the most important investigation of Germany’s postwar history because of its potential political implications” – and reported that “a striking number of clues point to Ukraine”.

The pipelines were built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany and Der Spiegel reported that the operation intended to inflict “lasting damage to the functionality of the state and its facilities. In this sense, this is an attack on the internal security of the state.”

A member of parliament from a party that is a member of the German government coalition told the magazine: “Everyone is shying away from the question of consequences.”

Nancy Faeser, Germany’s interior minister, said: “I hope that the [German] federal prosecutor will find enough clues to indict the perpetrators.”

Der Spiegel said that while Germany “couldn’t simply brush off such a serious crime … suspending support for Ukraine in its war against Russia also wouldn’t be an option.” If the US provided assistance to the attack, that would add further complexity to the issue facing German policymakers, it added.

According to Der Spiegel’s sources, investigators are certain that the saboteurs were in Ukraine before and after the attack. Indeed, the overall picture formed by the puzzles pieces of technical information has grown quite clear.


And the possible motives also seem clear to international security circles: The aim, they says, was to deprive Moscow of an important source of revenue for financing the war against Ukraine. And at the same time to deprive Putin once and for all of his most important instrument of blackmail against the German government.
 
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