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☆ U.S. to Pay $975,000 to Resolve Sexual Assault Claims Against Air Force General
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Michael Levenson | More About Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The federal government has agreed to pay a retired Army colonel $975,000 to resolve a lawsuit she filed in 2019 that accused John E. Hyten, an Air Force general who later became vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, of sexual assault, according to court records. The retired colonel, Kathryn A. Spletstoser, had accused General Hyten of unwanted sexual advances and touching beginning in 2017, when he was her boss and the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, responsible for overseeing the country’s nuclear arsenal. Colonel Spletstoser reported the accusations to military investigators in April 2019 after President Donald J. Trump nominated General Hyten to be vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the country’s No. General Hyten strongly denied the accusations, and an Air Force official charged with investigating Colonel Spletstoser’s complaint declined in June 2019 to refer him to a court-martial. But Colonel Spletstoser spoke publicly about the accusations the following month, telling The New York Times that she had a “moral responsibility to come forward” as the Senate considered his nomination.

Persons: John E, Kathryn A, Hyten, Spletstoser, Donald J, Trump, General Hyten Organizations: Army, Air Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S . Strategic Command, New York Times, Senate

☆ Analysis: How Michael Flynn went down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

When you have General Flynn and Sidney Powell suggesting somehow the military should indeed seize voting machines. As we say in the podcast, Trump called him publicly at a recent conference in May, where he vowed to bring back Mike Flynn again, implying that Flynn would be part of his national security team. WOLF: Do you have any insight into how this kind of conspiracy theory fever afflicts a person? Why does it happen to Michael Flynn and not retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who I learned from your podcast was a mentor to Flynn in Afghanistan? From intelligence work to conspiracy theoriesWOLF: You talk in the podcast about encountering Flynn in his previous line of work – somebody involved in the intelligence community.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Michael Flynn, Patrick Byrne, Giuliani, Powell, Flynn, Byrne, Jack Smith, Peter Bergen, ”, who’s, Smith, WOLF, “, ” He’s, President Trump, Mike Flynn, It’s, Covid, Stanley McChrystal, Richard, Hofstadter, ” There’s, that’s, You’ve, they’re, Vladimir, Putin, That’s, Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Locher, Osama bin Laden Organizations: CNN, … Prosecutors, Trump, Twitter, New, Apple, Spotify, White, Defense Intelligence Agency, World Economic, Army, State Department, Republican, New America, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Black Panthers, Puerto Locations: New America, Bergen, BERGEN, Washington ,, United States, America, Davos, Switzerland, Afghanistan, Russian, Ukraine, Bedford , New Hampshire, New York, Miami, Puerto Rican

NUCLEAR WEAPONS? Amid today's Ukraine war, the biggest land war in Europe since 1945, the town is again being enclosed by the tentacles of distant tumult. "No one is ever going to tell you where the tactical nuclear weapons are stationed - you should understand that," Kasinsky said. He repeatedly refused to confirm or deny whether the nuclear weapons were outside Osipovichi. "You should not try to make some sort of horror story out of the tactical nuclear weapons," said Kasinsky.

Persons: Wagner, Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Gorbachev, Alexander Lukashenko, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Prigozhin, Leonid Kasinsky, Kasinsky, Osipovichi, Hans Kristensen, Vladimir Lenin, Ilya Petrov, Lukashenko, Guy Faulconbridge, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: Putin, Town, Bolshevik, Foreign, Belarus OSIPOVICHI, Red Army, U.S . Central Intelligence Agency, Federation of American Scientists, CIA, Communist, Thomson Locations: Belarus, Belarusian, Russia, Osipovichi, Tsel, Russian, Minsk, Ukrainian, Grand Duchy, Lithuania, Nazi Germany, Ukraine, Europe, Moscow, West

☆ Opinion: I was the most senior Islamic leader to visit Auschwitz. Here’s what I know about peace
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Opinion Dr. Sheikh Mohammed Al-Issa | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Editor’s Note: Sheikh Mohammed Al-Issa is the Secretary General of the Muslim World League. Sheikh Mohammed Al-Issa The Muslim World LeagueOurs was the most senior Islamic delegation to visit the site during its sorrowful history. For it was here that 1.1 million people, the vast majority of them Jews, were murdered during the Holocaust. Trivializing the Holocaust, we know too well, opens pathways to denial and to antisemitism, which still persists in the world, for sure. And as we remember the liberation of Majdanek, that is the truth that shall set us free.

Persons: Sheikh Mohammed Al, Issa, Read, CNN —, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Arthur Schneier, Nazi barbarity Organizations: Muslim World League, CNN, Muslim, Islamic, Allies, American Jewish Committee, Interfaith Research, Columbia University, League, of Nations, Twitter, Facebook, United Nations Headquarters, Soviet Red Army Locations: Auschwitz, Nazi, Bali, Indonesia, New York, Soviet, America

☆ The last survivor of Adolf Hitler's bunker, where the Nazi leader spent his final days, has died at 94
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Johanna Ruf was a nurse in the Berlin bunker where Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler spent his final days. In 2017, she published her memoir on her time in the bunker as the Red Army advanced in 1945. Ruf died at 94, the Berliner Zeitung reported, citing confirmation from her publisher. The Berliner Zeitung reported that Ruf was also one of the last people to see Goebbels' children before they were murdered by their parents in the bunker. Wieland Giebel, who edited Ruf's book, said that he hoped it provided an insight into what really happened at the time, per Berliner Zeitung.

Persons: Johanna Ruf, Adolf Hitler, —, Hitler, Goebbels, Helmut, Magda, Joseph Goebbels, Wieland Giebel, Reichminister Joseph Goebbels, Bundesarchiv, Eva Braun, Braun Organizations: Red Army, Ruf, Berliner Zeitung, Service, Bund Deutscher Mädel, Hitler Youth, The Times, Reich, Soviet Red Army, Third Locations: Berlin, Hitler's Berlin

☆ Biden is turning the screw on Putin even as US denies role in Russia’s insurrection
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Russia’s short-lived insurrection has handed Joe Biden the most perilous version yet of a dilemma that has confounded the last five US presidents: how to handle Vladimir Putin. Ex-President George W. Bush looked into Putin’s eyes and got “a sense” of his soul, only for Putin to invade Georgia on his watch. Let me emphasize, we gave Putin no excuse to blame this on the West or to blame this on NATO. Putin has shown no sign that outside heat from Moscow’s foes will force him to retreat and bring his troops home. But with the war going poorly in Ukraine, Putin is now facing a new political front at home after his personality cult of an all-powerful autocrat impervious to challenge was punctured by Prigozhin.

Persons: CNN —, Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin, Bill Clinton, George W, Bush, Putin, Barack Obama, didn’t, Donald Trump, Biden, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s, Wagner, Prigozhin, “, Volodymyr Zelensky, Antony Blinken, Putin’s, James, Josep Borrell, John Bolton Organizations: CNN, KGB, Soviet Union, Soviet, Wagner Group, Western, NATO, British, Putin, Russian, US, Red Army, Union High Representative, Foreign Affairs, Trump Locations: Russia, Georgia, Crimea, Washington, Geneva, Russia’s, Ukraine, Moscow, Belarus, Syria, Russian, Soviet, Europe, Bakhmut, Kremlin

☆ Russian troops still build battlefield defenses like they did in World War II, and it's one of their rare successes in Ukraine, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Russian troops have spent the past several months constructing intricate fortifications in Ukraine. Ukrainian troops now have the tough task of fighting their way through those trenches and barriers. Current Russian fortification doctrine has seen "little methodological change" since the Cold War, according to the RUSI report. BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty ImagesClearing minefields is difficult because Russian mines have multiple triggers and anti-tampering devices. In addition, Russia did not sign the 1997 Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel mines, which has allowed its forces to "freely utilize victim-initiated" anti-personnel mines, RUSI said.

Persons: —, Doce, BEN STANSALL, Ukraine isn't, Dominika Zarzycka, RUSI, Obama, Trump, Biden, Michael Peck Organizations: Service, Red Army, Britain's Royal United Services Institute, Technologies, Russian, REUTERS, Bradley, Getty, US, Pentagon, Defense, Foreign Policy, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: Ukraine, Stalingrad, Velyka Blahovischenka, Kherson Oblast, Russia, Luhansk, Crimea, Posad, Kherson, Ukrainian, England, AFP, Russian, Finland, Nemishaieve, Bucha, Ottawa, North, South Korea, Forbes

☆ Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked 'Pentagon Papers,' dies at 92
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Bill Trott | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

In his later years Ellsberg would become an advocate for whistleblowers and leakers and his "Pentagon Papers" leak was portrayed in the 2017 movie "The Post." Courtesy Daniel Ellsberg Papers, Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center, UMass Amherst Libraries. Ellsberg secretly went to the media in 1971 in hopes of expediting the end of the Vietnam War. Courtesy Daniel Ellsberg Papers, Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center, UMass Amherst Libraries. He said he was inspired to copy the "Pentagon Papers" after hearing an anti-war protester say he was looking forward to going to prison for resisting the draft.

Persons: Daniel Ellsberg, Ellsberg, Long, Edward Snowden, Robert S, Henry Kissinger, Robert McNamara, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Baines Johnson, CourtesyDaniel Ellsberg, John F, Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Gordon Liddy, Howard Hunt, Snowden, Chelsea Manning, Carol Cummings, Patricia Marx, Bill Trott, Kanishka Singh, Dan Grebler, Diane Craft Organizations: U.S, Wikileaks, University Archives Research Center, UMass Amherst Libraries, Nixon, State Department, Harvard, Marine Corps, Pentagon, RAND Corporation, Ellsberg's, Chiefs, Staff, RAND, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York Times, The Times, Washington Post, Times, FBI, UMass, Libraries, National Security Agency, WikiLeaks, Thomson Locations: Vietnam, Kensington , California, America, Saigon, United States, Boston, U.S, North Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, American, Chicago , Illinois

☆ Opinion: In Ukraine, the Russian military response to the counteroffensive shows how it’s improved – and how it hasn’t
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Opinion Sébastien Roblin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —The beginning of the much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia seems not to have been a resounding success for Kyiv. But they don’t mean that all is lost for Ukraine – or even that Ukraine is now losing. Russia’s artillery ammunition, missile stockpiles and most-modern ground combat vehicles were gravely depleted, so 60-year-old tanks have been withdrawn from storage. It was while attempting to breach a path through one such fortified minefield that the 47th Brigade’s vehicles bogged down last week. Notably, a parallel drive toward Mariupol at the same time as the 47th’s failed attack last week has made fast gains, compelling Russian forces to withdraw from several settlements.

Persons: Sébastien Roblin, Bradley, ” Sebastien Roblin, Sebastien Roblin, Putin, Biden, —, Jens Stoltenberg, ” Organizations: Popular Mechanics, NBC, Forbes.com, Georgetown University, Peace Corps, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine’s 47th Brigade, Ukraine, Red Army, 47th Brigade, NATO, Twitter, Facebook Locations: China, Russia, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Kursk, Kherson, Normandy, Berdyansk, Crimea

☆ Draining reservoir from Ukraine's destroyed dam is revealing World War II weapons
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Sam Fellman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The draining reservoir is revealing weapons that date back to World War II. The lurking dangers are also a reminder of the heavy fighting Ukraine saw in World War II. "The water area of the reservoir is contaminated with ammunition. S-300s are Russian-made surface-to-air missiles, and Smerch rockets are heavy rockets fired from mobile launchers. The older dangers lurking in the area are a reminder of the heavy fighting Ukraine saw in World War II.

Persons: —, Oleksandr Chechko, Julian Borger Organizations: Authorities, Service, Soviet, Nazi, Ministry, Internal Affairs, Ukrainian, Nazi Wehrmacht, Red Army Locations: Ukraine, Russia

Traditional dishes are served for lunch at a Crimean Tatar restaurant in Kyiv. The Crimean Tatars were accused of collaborating with the Nazis and were taken off in cattle trucks to the Ural Mountains and to Uzbekistan, thousands of kilometers away. I see now how stupid it is to hold back on making new friends and acquaintances.”Crimean Tatar history books -- Viktor Shevchenko's reading during frontline deployments. According to Shevchenko, Crimean Tatars are grateful Ukraine allowed them to return in the 1990s. Ukraine’s politicians, too, were too often guilty of making empty pledges, Shevchenko said, promising greater freedoms for Crimean Tatars that never materialized.

Persons: Viktor Shevchenko, Volodymyr Zelensky, Shevchenko, ” Zelensky, Zelensky, ”, Andrew Carey, Catherine the Great, Joseph Stalin, –, Vladimir Putin’s, I’ve, “, ” Viktor Shevchenko, Viktor Shevchenko's, Ukraine’s, Ukraine Zelensky, Victor, Berkut Organizations: CNN, Crimean Tatars, Hitler’s Wehrmacht, Crimean, Tatars, United Nations General Assembly, Rights Watch, European Union Locations: Kyiv, Crimean Tatar, Crimea, Russian, Crimean, Hitler’s, Uzbekistan, Soviet Union, Ukraine, Crimean Tatars, Russia, Poland, Bilohorivka, Tatars, Moscow

☆ Vladimir Putin was never the Soviet super spy he'd like us to believe. He was merely a KGB 'errand boy,' report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been portrayed as an elite KGB intelligence officer in the 1980s. But a new report from Der Spiegel suggests he was never the super spy he was thought to be. Horst Jehmlich, a former Stasi officer who also worked in Dresden, told Der Spiegel that Putin was nothing more than an "errand boy." Putin worked for the KGB, the Soviet Union's intelligence service, for nearly two decades. Officially he retired from active KGB service with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Der Spiegel, —, Spiegel, Der, Putin, Horst Jehmlich, Oleg Kalugin Organizations: Service, Red Army, Dresden University, KGB, RFE Locations: Soviet, West Germany, Dresden, East Germany, Germany, Russia

☆ After a year of fighting in Ukraine, the brutal logic behind Russia's 'human wave' attacks is becoming clear
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

At the bottom of the hierarchy is what RUSI terms "disposable infantry." According to the RUSI report, the term "human wave attacks" has been misleadingly applied to the way Russia has employed these infantry forces. The assault troops attack in larger company-size formations, backed by tanks and artillery as they attempt to outflank Ukrainian defenses. Once their mission is complete, assault forces are replaced by line and disposable infantry, who begin preparing for the next attack. Disposable troops are fed into the meat-grinder and killed or wounded before they can gain enough experience to survive.

Persons: —, Wagner Group's, Arkady Budnitsky, Wagner, They're, Diego Herrera Carcedo, demographically, Michael Peck Organizations: Service, Royal United Services Institute, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Wagner Group, Donetsk People's Republics, Russian, Soviet, —, Defense, Foreign Policy, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Russian, British, Rostov, Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Forbes

☆ China deletes 1.4 million social media posts in crackdown on 'self-media' accounts
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Eduardo Baptista | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BEIJING, May 27 (Reuters) - China's cyberspace regulator said 1.4 million social media posts have been deleted following a two-month probe into alleged misinformation, illegal profiteering, and impersonation of state officials, among other "pronounced problems". The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in a statement on Friday it had closed 67,000 social media accounts and deleted hundreds of thousands of posts between March 10 and May 22 as part of a broader "rectification" campaign. Since 2021, China has targeted billions of social media accounts in a bid to "clean" its cyberspace and make it easier for authorities to control. The latest crackdown targeted accounts on popular Chinese social media apps including WeChat, Douyin, and Weibo that fall under the category of "self media," a term that broadly refers to accounts that publish news and information but are not government-run or state-approved. Some 25,000 other accounts were targeted for impersonating public institutions, such as disease and prevention control centers and state-run research institutes.

☆ Under Xi Jinping, China's military has become an untouchable nationalist symbol
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Yue’s alleged transgression: “uglifying” and “insulting” China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Under Xi, China passed a law in 2018 to ban the slander of national “heroes and martyrs,” a crime punishable by up to three years in prison. To outsiders, it may appear puzzling that China’s military, the largest and one of the most powerful in the world, would be so easily offended by a seemingly tame joke. Xi has staked his legitimacy on returning China to its former greatness, and a strong and powerful military plays a key role in driving that nationalist agenda. He has also ramped up China’s military posturing, sending fighter jets and warships to the Taiwan Strait and around the disputed islands with Japan.

☆ UK, France, Italy, Germany and U.S. condemn Kosovo violence
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, May 26 (Reuters) - Britain, France, Italy, Germany and the United States condemned Kosovo's decision to force access to municipal buildings in northern Kosovo on Friday, calling on the authorities to step back and de-escalate the situation. "We condemn Kosovo's decision to force access to municipal buildings in northern Kosovo despite our call for restraint. Police fired tear gas in the town of Zvecan to disperse a crowd from in front of a municipality building. The protesters were trying to prevent a newly-elected ethnic Albanian mayor from entering his office following an election which Kosovo Serbs had boycotted. Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Frank Jack DanielOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russia is claiming victory in Bakhmut, but the price it paid for it 'doesn't bode well' for Putin's bigger plans, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Russian forces are claiming victory in Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region. Russian leadership praised Wagner for its achievements in the devastated city of Bakhmut and promised the presentation of state awards. Casualty estimates likely skew significantly higher for Russian forces. AdvertisementAdvertisementBy April 11, Russian forces occupied over 76 percent of the city, according to a terrain assessment from the ISW think tank. An aerial view of Bakhmut, the site of heavy battles with Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday, March 26, 2023.

Persons: it's, —, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Gen, Oleksandr Syrskiy, Bakhmut, Wagner, ISW, Russia's, Vladimir Putin's, bode, Jeffrey Edmonds, Jens Stoltenberg, Marina Miron, Zelenskyy, Putin, Miron, Edmonds Organizations: Military, Service, Wagner Group, Institute for, CIA, AP Moscow, Russian, NATO, CNN, Moscow, AP, King's College London's Centre, Military Ethics, Bakhmut Locations: Bakhmut, Ukraine's Donetsk, Ukrainian, Moscow, Washington, Ukraine, Berlin, Soviet, Stalingrad, Russia, Kyiv, Donbas, Donetsk, Kramatorsk, Moreso

☆ Israel aims to be 'AI superpower', advance autonomous warfare
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"There are those who see AI as the next revolution in changing the face of warfare in the battlefield," Zamir told the Herzliya Conference, an annual international security forum. He named GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) and AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) as deep-learning realms being addressed by civilian AI industries which could eventually have military applications. The ministry declined to provide figures on AI funding. This month, state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled an autonmous intelligence-gathering submarine which, it said, had already completed "thousands of hours" of operations. Similary, he said, "our mission is to turn the State of Israel into an AI superpower and to be at the head of a very limited number of world powers that are in this club".

☆ In New Mexico, an unlikely wildfire thinning alliance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Andrew Hay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Near Taos in northern New Mexico, Vicente Fernandez, a mayordomo, or forest caretaker, cut saplings and seedlings crowding a mature fir tree. In an about-face, the Forest Service is now paying local woodcutters or leñeros $300 an acre to cut these trees for personal use or sale. Some environmentalists oppose Taos County's so called Mayordomo Program, and other thinning, saying it is a waste of time, harms forests and is often a guise for logging. "The Forest Service believes in helping communities to wisely use the forests," the agency said in a statement. "We cannot fireproof forests, we can fireproof communities," said Horning, who has lived in northern New Mexico for 30 years.

☆ A Russian warlord posed over the body of a US Army vet killed in Ukraine — then bizarrely said he'd send him back to America draped in a flag as a sign of respect
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Rebecca Cohen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Wagner mercengary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin posed over the dead body of a US Army veteran in Ukraine. Prigozhin bizarrely said the mercenary group would send the body back to the States covered in an American flag. The video appeared to show American documents that identified the fallen soldier as retired Army Staff Sgt. In the video, Prigozhin oddly said the group will send the body back to the US covered in an American flag as an act of respect. In a June 2022 interview with the Idaho Statesman, Maimer said he felt a calling to go and help when the war broke out.

☆ The US could 'screw up' Ukraine's counter offensive by exerting too much pressure on the country to deliver a decisive blow against Russia, former Army general says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But a former Army general told Insider that too much Western pressure could tank the attack. "I would reject the talk that Ukraine's only got one shot," said Ben Hodges, a retired Army general. But global expectations of a triumph could torpedo the offensive before it even begins, a former Army general told Insider. While the exact timing of Ukraine's much-anticipated counteroffensive is still unknown, military experts told Insider earlier this month that the assault could start as soon as the coming weeks. But framing this offensive as make-or-break for Ukraine sets a dangerous precedent, said Ben Hodges, a retired lieutenant general and former commander of US Army Europe.

“This is the second train, there was one like it just before.”The video, seemingly filmed in late March, shows old Soviet tanks being transported, somewhere in Russia. Moscow has been known to bring out older military equipment from storage to help it prosecute the war in Ukraine, but these are different. The tanks are T-55s, a model first commissioned by the Soviet Union’s Red Army in 1948, shortly after the end of World War II. Soviet T-54/T-55 tanks form a threatening ring round the Parliament buildings in Hungary on November 12, 1956. T-55 tanks drive through the streets of Prague, capital of what was then Czechoslovakia, in 1968.

But a new audio message posted Sunday on Telegram suggests he has changed his mind after concessions from the Russian government. The Russian Ministry of Defense did not immediately comment on Prigozhin’s latest claim. Yulia Morozova/ReutersBakhmut has been the site of a months-long assault by Russian forces that has driven thousands from their homes and left the area devastated. Prigozhin’s blunt and brutal tactics in Bakhmut have long been likened to a “meat grinder.” But, in his repeated threats to withdraw from Bakhmut, Prigozhin claimed this approach was no longer viable. The Wagner boss had said Wagner positions in and around Bakhmut would be transferred to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s forces from May 10.

☆ Russia's Prigozhin says no further offensive in Bakhmut possible without ammunition
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 6 (Reuters) - The head of Russia's mercenary Wagner Group said on Saturday that he had still not received additional ammunition from Moscow ahead of the expected withdrawal of his forces from Bakhmut because of heavy losses and inadequate supplies. "As of today, no one has come to replenish ammunition, to provide it in the necessary volume," Prigozhin said in an audio message posted on the Telegram channel of his press service. Wagner forces, he said, had no ammunition and could not pursue any further offensives near the city, under Russian siege for some 10 months. He added that his forces have taken 95% of Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine that had a population of more than 70,000 before the war. Reporting by Nick Starkov and Ron Popeski, Editing by Lidia Kelly and Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

For this last 5%, the ‘Red Army’ [the Russian Armed Forces] are not playing any role,” Prigozhin said. His most recent challenge to Russian defense officials comes as Bakhmut remains heavily contested. In his Telegram message Saturday, Prigozhin said Wagner’s role in Bakhmut had been to grind down Ukrainian forces while allowing Russian forces to regroup. In Bakhmut, we grinded (the Ukrainian forces), hence the name – ‘Bakhmut meat grinder,’” Prigozhin said. “With regards to the Bakhmut meat grinder, there will be no more meat grinder because there’s nothing left to grind the meat with,” Prigozhin said.

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