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The fighting is reminiscent of a battle for another eastern city, Bakhmut, which fell to Russian forces last May after months of brutal urban combat. Since Moscow launched its renewed offensive around Avdiivka in October, Ukraine's top general and Western military experts have made downbeat assessments of Ukraine's ability to break Russian lines. Located just north of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in the industrial Donbas region, Avdiivka hosts deeply entrenched Ukrainian defences. Pushing Ukrainian forces out of Avdiivka would be seen as enlarging the amount of territory Russia controls and making Donetsk city safer. Seizing Avdiivka could boost Russian morale and deal a psychological blow to Ukrainian forces, which have made only incremental gains in a counteroffensive launched in June.

Persons: Nuzhnenko, Ukraine's, Russia's, Andrei Gurulyov, Semyon Pegov, Vladimir Putin, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Mykola Bielieskov, Bielieskov, Dan Peleschuk, Andrew Osborn, Mike Collett, White Organizations: Ukraine's National Guard Omega, Radio Free, Radio Liberty, REUTERS Acquire, Mechanized Brigade, Avdiivka, National Institute for Strategic Studies, Kyiv, Timothy Heritage, Thomson Locations: Avdiivka, Ukraine, Donetsk region, Radio Free Europe, Ukrainian, Bakhmut, Russian, Moscow, Kyiv, Soviet, Donetsk, Luhansk, Russia

☆ Old video sparks wild theories on fate of Russia's Prigozhin
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Kremlin said Western suggestions he had been killed on its orders were an "absolute lie." "Today we have reached the boiling point," he said in the clip published on Grey Zone, Wagner's Telegram channel. He added, "But I will not lie, I must say honestly that Russia is on the brink of disaster. Some posts speculated Prigozhin was alive. One post said Ukraine had killed Prigozhin by order of US special services "and the Anglo-Saxons" and added, "it is inconvenient for us to lose such a hero," to which someone responded with three crying-laughing emojis.

Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Semyon Pegov, Prigozhin, Sergei Surovikin, pina colada, Vladimir Putin, Elaine Monaghan Organizations: Kremlin, Grey, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, Jamaica, France, Ukraine

☆ Opinion: What Putin’s awkward meeting with Russia’s war bloggers reveals
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Opinion Mark Galeotti | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

However, in Russia there is a particular issue: Russians have long become used to being lied to by their state. Even before the war, almost half got their news from social media, with the proportion having risen since the invasion. They have thus become powerful not just in shaping the domestic narrative, but also in the Kremlin’s wider information war. Even Putin has come to realise that to spin his message, he can no longer stick to the official media. Hence his carefully-choreographed sit-down with a group hand-picked from both the official war correspondents and the online voenkory.

Persons: Mark Galeotti, Vladimir Putin, influencers, ”, –, Semyon Pegov, Yury Podolyaka, Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Igor ‘ Strelkov, Girkin, ’, voenkory, He’s, voenkor ” Organizations: Mayak Intelligence, University College London, CNN, Mark Galeotti Mayak Intelligence, Kremlin, Twitter, Facebook Locations: Chechnya, Ukraine, Russia, Afghanistan, Russian, Kremlin Ukrainian, Crimea, Belgorod

☆ Ukraine counteroffensive: Is Kyiv's operation underway south of Zaporizhzhia?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Andrew Carey | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The attacks had been repelled, Shoigu said, adding that Ukrainian forces had suffered significant losses of both soldiers and arms. The situation facing Russian forces was very serious, he said. Breaking Russia’s land-bridge to Crimea, by rolling back Russian forces to the Sea of Azov, is clearly a central military objective for Ukraine. Ukrainian troops fire a Caesar self-propelled howitzer towards Russian forces near the town of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region. Viacheslav Ratynskyi/ReutersCNN cannot independently verify claims made by Russian officials or those of well-sourced Russian military bloggers.

Persons: Sergei Shoigu, Shoigu, Semyon Pegov –, ” –, Volodymyr Zelensky, Alexander Kots, Vladimir Rogov, ”, Caesar, Ratynskyi Organizations: Ukraine CNN —, Russian Ministry of Defence, 47th Mechanized Brigade, Defense Ministry, Reuters CNN, Russian Locations: Kyiv, Ukraine, Nova, Zaporizhzhia, Moscow, Orikhiv, Tokmak, Russian, Crimea, Azov, Melitopol, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Donetsk, Ukrainian

☆ Russia says it thwarts big attack in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Pavel Polityuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Asked to comment, a Ukrainian military spokesperson said: "We do not have such information and we do not comment on any kind of fake." Further north, near the long-contested city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian forces were reported to have been "moving forward" by the commander of Ukraine's ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi. Russia has launched hundreds of drones and missiles on Ukraine since early May, chiefly on Kyiv, with Ukraine saying it was targeting military facilities but also hitting residential areas. Russia now controls at least 18% of what is internationally recognised to be Ukrainian territory, and has claimed four regions of Ukraine as Russian territory. Ukraine vows to eject every last Russian soldier from its territory and casts the invasion as an imperial-style land grab by Russia.

Persons: Oleksiy Danilov, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Bakhmut, Oleksii Reznikov, Semyon Pegov, Gonzo, Staff Valery Gerasimov, William Burns, Vladimir Putin's, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, UKRAINE Putin, Guy Faulconbridge, Lidia Kelly, David Ljunggren, Philippa Fletcher, Nick Macfie Organizations: Ukraine's Security, Defence Council, Reuters, Ukraine's General Staff, Strategic Communications, Ukrainian Defence, Twitter, Staff, Russian, CIA, Wall Street, UKRAINE, Kremlin, Thomson Locations: Russia, Ukraine, KYIV, Moscow, Ukraine's Donetsk, Bakhmut, Donetsk, South Donetsk, Ukrainian, Berkhivka, Luhansk, Russia's Belgorod, Velyka, Vuhledar, Russian, Kyiv

“We are lacking 70% of the needed ammunition!” Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin says in a video posted on Telegram. Shining a small flashlight on the corpses laying outdoors near what appears to be the front lines of the war, Prigozhin claims they are the casualties of just one day of fighting. “Shoigu, Gerasimov, where … is the ammunition?” says Prigozhin, calling out Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the Russian armed forces Gen. Valery Gerasimov. In February, he accused the two men of “treason” for their alleged failures to support and supply the Wagner group in Ukraine. Shortly after that posting, he made another saying a shipment of ammunition was on its way to the Wagner troops.

☆ Head of Wagner mercenary group threatens to withdraw from Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Josh Pennington | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —The head of the Russian private military company Wagner has threatened to withdraw his mercenaries from the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut if they don’t receive more munitions to continue the fight. The pointed warnings for Russian defense officials, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, come as Bakhmut remains heavily contested. “I am appealing to Sergei Shoigu with a request to issue ammunition immediately. The mercenary leader has a track record of misleading statements and did not provide evidence for his statements. Prigozhin, whose forces have played a key role in Russian assaults on Ukrainian territory including Bakhmut, has often clashed with Putin’s generals and other defense officials in Moscow.

☆ Ukraine says it controls key supply route into Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Ukrainian soldiers are seen at their artillery position on Donetsk frontline as the Russia-Ukraine war continues in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on April 24, 2023. Ukraine remains in control of a key supply route into Bakhmut, a military spokesperson said on Saturday, as the head of Russia's mercenary Wagner Group threatened to withdraw some of his troops from the eastern city if Moscow did not send more ammunition. Kyiv has pledged to defend Bakhmut, which Russia sees as a stepping stone to attacking other cities. "It would have had been five times fewer if we had more ammunition," Prigozhin said in an audio statement published on the Telegram messaging app of his press service on Saturday evening. "We need to stop deceiving the population and telling them that everything is fine," Prigozhin said in the interview.

☆ Russia's Wagner boss escalates rift with Putin's military, threatens Bakhmut withdrawal due to a lack of thousands of artillery shells
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Yevgeny Prigozhin threatened to withdraw Wagner Group fighters from Bakhmut over shell shortages. He issued an ultimatum to Russia's defense minister and gave him 24 hours to respond. Prigozhin issued an ultimatum to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu over ammunition shortages in an interview with Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov published Saturday. Prigozhin warned that if Shoigu does not respond to his requests for more ammunition, Wagner fighters will withdraw from Bakhmut. He issued the deadline on April 27 and said the defense minister had 24 hours to reply, which has now passed.

April 28 (Reuters) - Russia's private Wagner militia, which is leading the assault on Bakhmut in Ukraine and has been active in Africa, could soon cease to exist, founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said in video remarks to a blogger that were released on Friday. Today we are coming to the point where Wagner is ending," he told Russian war blogger Semyon Pegov. Prigozhin said this week his troops were suffering heavy casualties due to a lack of support from Moscow. Last week he expressed concern about a counter-attack by well-equipped Ukrainian troops at Bakhmut. In January, the United States formally designated Wagner as a transnational criminal organization, freezing its U.S. assets for helping Russia's military in the Ukraine war.

Ukrainian troops are well trained ... and like any large city it is impossible to capture it from head-on. Prigozhin refrained from further attacks on Russia's military leadership, looking straight into the camera to stress he was not criticising anyone. The United States assesses that Wagner currently has about 50,000 personnel deployed to Ukraine, including 10,000 contractors and 40,000 convicts recruited from Russian prisons. Prigozhin denied that and asked Washington to "clarify" what crime Wagner was accused of. Prigozhin said on Friday that Wagner had stopped recruiting prisoners.

REUTERS/David MdzinarishviliSummary US, Germany promise to send dozens of tanks to UkraineKremlin: this shows West's 'direct involvement' in conflictWar bloggers say Leopard tanks pose challenge for RussiaJan 26 (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday it saw the promised delivery of Western tanks to Ukraine as evidence of direct and growing U.S. and European involvement in the conflict. "We categorically disagree with this, and in Moscow, everything that the alliance and the capitals I mentioned are doing is seen as direct involvement in the conflict. Until now, both Ukraine and Russia have been relying primarily on Soviet-era T-72 tanks. CONFRONTATIONRussia, which launched the war by invading Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year, has increasingly portrayed it as a confrontation with NATO. Another war blogger, Yuri Kotenok, said Western tanks were no "wonder weapon" but would require a change of Russian tactics.

☆ Factbox: Who is Russia's new war commander Gerasimov and why was he appointed?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Gerasimov's deputies will be Army General Sergei Surovikin, the previous theatre commander, appointed three months ago and nicknamed "General Armageddon"; Army General Oleg Salyukov; and Deputy Chief of the General Staff Colonel-General Alexei Kim. "Now the General Staff is directly and uncompromisingly responsible for absolutely everything," said Semyon Pegov, a Russian military blogger who uses the name Wargonzo. Gerasimov was appointed chief of the general staff and deputy defence minister by Putin on Nov. 9, 2012, three days after Putin's long-time ally Sergei Shoigu was made defence minister. Gerasimov played key roles in Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and in Russia's game-changing military support for President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian Civil War. Gerasimov was born on Sept. 8, 1955, in Kazan, rising through the ranks from Russia's tank forces to graduate in 1997 from the Military Academy of the General Staff.

☆ Russia blames its soldiers’ phone use for Ukraine missile strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Rhoda Kwan | Rhoda Kwan Is A Taipei-Based Journalist. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The defense ministry's public stance appeared to do little to quell the criticism from nationalist bloggers and pro-war voices within the country. Semyon Pegov, a war correspondent who was recently awarded an Order of Courage by Putin, cast doubt on the official explanation for the attack. The missile completely destroyed the school building where the Russian servicemen were based, according to the British Defense Ministry. “This incident highlights how unprofessional practices contribute to Russia’s high casualty rate,” the ministry added. Workers clear rubble after a Ukrainian rocket strike in Makiivka, Ukraine, on Jan. 3, 2023.

☆ A war reporter decorated by Putin says the Kremlin's story that cellphones are why a lot of Russian troops died in a Ukrainian strike is 'not very convincing'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But the Kremlin's story is getting pushback, including from a decorated Russian war reporter. Battlefield cellphone use has been a problem for Russian troops, but other factors may have played a role here. Over the weekend, Ukrainian forces used a US-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to deliver a devastating strike on Russian positions in the occupied Ukrainian city of Makiivka. Ukraine's military, meanwhile, offered a much higher figure and said as many as 400 Russian troops were killed with another 300 injured. He said Russian forces could have been detected by drones or Ukrainian troops could have been tipped off by an informant, CNN reported.

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