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☆ Clandestine Ukrainian unit claims successes against Russian forces in Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Sam Kiley | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Because Kyiv region, Chernihiv region, Sumy region are forested areas. An aerial view of a battle field with damaged Russian tanks near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, May 27, 2023. Brabus and his group, all former soldiers with specialist skills, coalesced around an ex-officer from the Ukrainian forces after Russia's invasion. He said that signals intelligence suggested that Russian units were being swapped over. Ukrainian Armed Forces/ReutersSince Brabus and his group were in Bakhmut, there appears to have been growing anarchy among Russian commanders.

Persons: Brabus, Vladimir Putin, ”, –, “, wasn’t, Yevgeny Prighozhin’s Wagner, He’s, Wagner Organizations: Eastern, Eastern Ukraine CNN, Russian Volunteer Force, Russia Legion, “, NATO, CNN, intel, Ukrainian Armed Forces, Reuters, Russian 72nd Brigade Locations: Eastern Ukraine, Russia, Ukraine, Kyiv, Chernihiv region, Sumy, balaclava, Bakhmut, Donetsk, Russian, “, Zaporizhzhia

☆ Nova Kakhovka: Ukraine dam collapse serves neither side well as war enters next crucial phase
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Sam Kiley | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

They were to blow up the Zaporizhzhia hydroelectric dam that bisected the eponymous industrial city, which stands 200 kilometers (125 miles) upriver from today’s Nova Kakhovka barricade). Local residents stand on the Dnipro embankment after the Nova Kakhovka dam breach on June 6. Rescue workers evacuate an elderly woman and her husband from a flooded neighborhood in Kherson, Ukraine, on Wednesday, June 7. Vladyslav Musiienko/Reuters Flooded streets are seen in Kherson on June 7 following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam. Alina Smutko/Reuters In pictures: The collapse of Ukraine's Nova Kakhovka dam Prev NextUkraine’s armed forces have insisted that their counter-offensive included contingency planning for a disaster at the dam.

Persons: Ukraine CNN — Fish, ecocide ”, unawares, Ivan Antypenko, Volodymyr Zelensky, Zelensky, General’s, ”, Ukraine’s, It’s, who’ve, Vladimir Putin, Andrei Pidlisnyi, –, Evgeniy, Angelina Kopayeva, Alex Babenko, Vladyslav Musiienko, Muhammed Enes Yildirim, Tetiana, Alexey Konovalov, Felipe Dana, Musiienko, Nina Lyashonok, Oleksandra, Alina Smutko Organizations: Ukraine CNN —, Nazi, NKVD, Reuters, International, Criminal, Kherson City, Ukrainian, CNN, AP, Anadolu Agency, Planet Labs PBC, Reuters Red Cross, AP Local, Culture, Reuters Local Locations: Kyiv, Ukraine, Nova, Dnipro, Russia, Moscow, Russian, today’s, Reuters Ukrainian, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk City, Kharkiv, Kherson . Roman, Vladyslav, Nova Kakhovka, Libkos, Crimean, Crimea, Russia’s

CNN —The collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine is one of the biggest industrial and ecological disasters in Europe for decades. Satellite images of the Nova Kakhovka dam before its collapse (left, on June 5) and after the disaster (right, on June 7). The Ukrainians point out that the facility has been under Russian control for the past year, making it easy for Russian forces to plant explosives. But much of the east bank of the river south of the Nova Kakhovka dam remains under Russian control. Maxar Technologies/APThere are also suggestions that the dam collapse took at least some Russian forces by surprise.

Persons: António Guterres, it’s, Volodymyr Zelensky, ” Mykhailo Podolyak, Zelensky, ”, Dmitry Peskov, “, Andrei Pidlisnyi, Chris Binnie, Craig Goff, ” Goff, They’ve, ” Binnie, Goff Organizations: CNN, United Nations, UN, NATO, Maxar Technologies, Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ukrainian Agricultural Ministry, Maxar, University of Exeter, Engineering, Environmental Services, UK Science Media, HR, Royal Air Force, “ Locations: Nova, Ukraine, Europe, Russia, Moscow, Russian, Kyiv, Dnipro, Kherson, Ukrainian, Zaporizhzhia, “, Crimea, Korsunka

☆ Spy chief reveals Ukraine been assassinating Russian pro-war propagandists far from the frontlines
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ukraine has been assassinating Russian pro-war propagandists since the war began, its spy chief now says. Major-General Kyrylo Budanov that his network has operated behind the frontlines, The Times reported. He also said that some Russian citizens are helping with sabotage missions. Though Budanov didn't cite specific names of people targeted in the alleged killings, several high-profile explosions have killed Russian citizens within Putin's borders. In another interview, Budanov alleged that "a minority of Russians" are cooperating with Ukraine's reconnaissance, The Times reported.

☆ Kyiv breathes sigh of relief after air defenses shoot down barrage of Russian rockets
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Josh Pennington Tim Lister Kostan Nechyporenko Olga Voitovych Ivana Kottasová Yulia Kesaieva | Josh Pennington | Tim Lister | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Most Kyiv residents would have had no way of knowing for sure that the sudden, terrifying loud bangs were the Ukrainian air defense systems taking down Russian missiles, rather than rockets hitting their city. Yulia Kesaieva/CNN“My wife counted over 30 explosions and we saw dozens of launches by the Ukrainian air defense from our balcony. Our air defense are real heroes. I think it’s both – the experience and the new air defense systems we got,” he told CNN. Russian officials including President Vladimir Putin have repeatedly talked up the hypersonic Kinzhal missiles for their ability to evade Ukraine’ original air defense systems.

☆ Amid feud with Putin, Wagner mercenary leader offered Ukrainians the locations of invading troops in exchange for sparing his for-hire army, leaked documents reveal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has been feuding with Putin over supplies for his mercenaries. WaPo reported leaked intelligence showed Prigozhin offered to sell out Russian troops to Ukraine. In exchange, Prigozhin wanted Ukraine to ease off his for-hire army on the front lines in Bakhmut. Some versions of the leaked documents circulating online have been edited, Insider previously reported, but two anonymous Ukrainian officials confirmed to WaPo that Prigozhin has spoken to Ukrainian intelligence officers on multiple occasions. The document does not specify which Russian troop positions Prigozhin offered to reveal, WaPo reported, and US officials similarly cast doubt on the Wagner leader's intentions.

“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.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Wagner group appears to do U-turn on withdrawal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CONFLICT* Russian forces are evacuating residents from the town that serves the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military said. * Russian missiles targeted an industrial site in the Mykolaiv region of southern Ukraine, while Ukrainian and Russian media reported multiple explosions across Russian-occupied Crimea. * Russia's defence ministry said its air defences had detected and destroyed 22 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea overnight. * Air raid alerts blared for several hours overnight into early Sunday over roughly two-thirds of Ukraine, with officials saying air defence systems shot down a number of drones. * The head of the U.N.'s nuclear power watchdog warned on Saturday that the situation around the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear station has become "potentially dangerous" as Moscow-installed officials began evacuating people from nearby areas.

☆ Ukraine conflict: Kyiv says it stopped a missile Russia said was unstoppable
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Tim Lister | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

An air-launched ballistic missile, the Kh-47 has a range of some 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), so can be fired far from the battlefield. It travels at about 10 times the speed of sound and is derived from the shorter-range Iskander ballistic missile, which is ground launched. Ukrainian intelligence believes Russia has only a few dozen Kinzhal missiles in its arsenal – a claim which couldn’t be independently verified. In April, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Patriot systems had arrived from the US, Germany and the Netherlands. The Patriots provide a modern dimension to Ukraine’s air defense layers, as does the German IRIS-T system.

☆ Russia's FSB says 7 Ukrainian agents arrested in Crimea
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, May 3 (Reuters) - Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday it had arrested seven people connected with Ukrainian intelligence and accused them of planning "a series of high-profile sabotage and terrorist acts" in Russian-annexed Crimea. In a statement, the FSB said the group had planned attacks against Russian-installed officials including local governor Sergei Aksyonov. In a statement, Aksyonov said the same group was behind both alleged incidents. He said, without providing evidence, that there was no doubt that the Ukrainian government was behind them. Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and used it as one of the launchpads for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

☆ Russia wanted a quick victory in Ukraine, and it sent its spies after Ukrainian nuclear power plant workers to make it happen
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Ukraine's nuclear power plants were a central part of Russia's plan to force Kyiv's capitulation. So when Russia started planning its invasion, Ukraine's nuclear energy infrastructure was a top target. According to the RUSI report, Ukraine's nuclear energy infrastructure "played a significant role" in Russia's invasion plan and in the Kremlin's public narratives about the conflict. Moscow's big planRussian military personnel at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in May 2022. Although Russian forces still control the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, that has not won the Kremlin any leverage over Kyiv.

☆ Russian troops and Wagner mercenaries killed each other in a shootout after blaming each other for their war failures, Ukrainian government says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russian and Wagner troops opened fire on each other in Luhansk over an argument, Ukraine says. The soldiers and mercenaries had been blaming each other for their mistakes in the war, per Ukraine. "As a result, a fight between Russian Armed Forces and PMC Wagner mercenaries broke out in the settlement of Stanytsia Luhanska recently." It's thus unclear whether the alleged firefight represents wider conflict or discipline issues among Russian forces on the frontline. However, multiple reports have documented Russian troops being plagued by friendly fire in Ukraine, though the Kremlin rarely acknowledges any of these incidents.

☆ Russia charges St Petersburg bomb suspect with terrorism
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary This content was produced in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine. April 4 (Reuters) - Russian investigators on Tuesday charged Darya Trepova, a 26-year-old woman, with terrorism offences over the killing of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a bomb blast in St Petersburg. Tatarsky, a cheerleader for Russia's military campaign in Ukraine whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was killed on Sunday in a cafe where he was due to talk. Trepova was transferred from St Petersburg to Moscow, where prosecutors were due to ask the Basmanny district court to remand her in pre-trial detention. Footage of the St Petersburg event had Tatarsky showing the figurine off to his audience before it exploded.

☆ Returning to frontline, Ukrainian Leopard crews see their 'cat' as game-changer
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Sabine Siebold | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

FIGHTING ALONGSIDE THE 'CAT'In Bergen, the German trainers were happy with the Ukrainians' performance over their six-week crash course. Of course, they are not heading for the training ground but directly into battle. One of the Ukrainian gunners rejected any talk of fear but warned the Russians to brace for the arrival of the Leopard. "The Leopard tanks will enable us to make the breakthroughs that we need. And other Ukrainian units will feel safer, too, when they fight alongside the cat."

☆ Russia will resort to drafting college students to throw more troops at the front lines, Ukrainian intel says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia is preparing to draft college students to the front lines in its war in Ukraine. According to Ukrainian intel, universities have set up "notification offices" to inform students. "Notification offices" are already being set up to help draft the students and ship them to the frontlines, Ukrainian intelligence alleged. The intel also said that full-time students are being assigned to work at these notification offices "without their consent or even prior notification." The draft efforts will continue through the next few months, but will finish by the spring, Ukrainian intel said.

For much of the winter, the war in Ukraine settled into a slow-moving but exceedingly violent fight along a jagged 600-mile-long frontline in the southeast. Now, both Ukraine and Russia are poised to go on the offensive. They are looking for vulnerabilities, hoping to exploit gaps, and setting the stage for what Ukraine warns could be Moscow’s most ambitious campaign since the start of the war. Ukraine must now defend against the Russian assault without exhausting the resources it needs to mount an offensive of its own. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has given an order to take all of the Donbas region by March, Ukrainian intelligence says.

[1/2] The remains of the Ninel Hotel, a hotel taken over by Russian security officials that was hit by the Ukrainian military on October 5, are seen in downtown Kherson, Ukraine November 17, 2022. Ukraine's SBU and Russia's FSB did not respond to requests for comment on Dollar’s account or other partisan operations. Pavlo Zaporozhets served in the Ukrainian army from 2014-17 and joined Ukraine's GUR military intelligence during the occupation of Kherson, Ladin said. While some details about the FSB account were true, Ladin said, the FSB falsely accused Zaporozhets of deliberately targeting civilians as well as the night patrol. Despite the liberation of Kherson, Dollar said he and Kosatka would continue aiding the resistance until Ukrainian troops recover Crimea, where the couple owns an apartment.

☆ Ukrainian MP blames looming Russian offensive on Western countries taking months to send tanks: ‘People will die because of this’
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's upcoming offensive will take advantage of delays in sending Ukraine tanks, an MP told Insider. Germany and the US hesitated for months in sending tanks to Ukraine, prompting outcry from officials. A German Leopard 2A6 tank during training at the 7th Army Training Command Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, May 2017. Both countries finally agreed to send tanks at the end of January, paving the way for other nations to announce their commitments. Sovsun told Insider that it was hard to watch countries debate sending the needed weaponry, and that she couldn't understand how the decision to send tanks was not made sooner.

☆ Russian state energy giant Gazprom is starting its own private security force, a move Ukraine fears will lead to a new Wagner-like mercenary army
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's government is allowing energy giant Gazprom to start a private security outfit. Ukraine's Ministry of Defence drew comparisons with the notorious private army the Wagner Group. Experts said it's plausible that another Russian mercenary army is in the works. Russia's government gave its go-ahead for the energy giant to create a private security organization on February 4, under the pretext of securing the country's energy sector. "Ukrainians are handling Wagner, they are handling the Russian army."

☆ Russia's top prosecutor criticizes mass mobilization, telling Putin to his face that more than 9,000 were illegally sent to fight in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's prosecutor general told Putin more than 9,000 mobilized troops were called up illegally. In a face-to-face meeting, he said their health was why many shouldn't have been sent to fight in Ukraine. In September, Russia announced a partial mobilization of 300,000 troops, which it said was completed in October. Putin said in December that 150,000 of those troops had been sent to serve in Ukraine, with the rest still in training in Russia. Widespread issues related to Russia's mass mobilization have long been reported, including a lack of training and equipment.

☆ An elite Russian tank force that's been repeatedly beaten on the battlefield appears ready to try its luck again
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

After training in Belarus, an elite Russian tank force is back in eastern Ukraine to fight again. The 1st Guards Tank Army has repeatedly been beaten in battle and has suffered heavy lossesThis move comes ahead of an expected Russian offensive in the near future. This tank army consists of several powerful divisions, including the 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division (GMRD), which had been deployed to Russian ally Belarus for training over the last few months. Smoke rises from a Russian tank destroyed by the Ukrainian forces on the side of a road in Luhansk region on February 26, 2022. Ukrainian and Western officials have warned recently that a possible Russian offensive is looming in the near future.

☆ Russia dismissed a successful commander as power struggles grip its top ranks, UK intelligence says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia dismissed a top general who had been praised for his performance in Ukraine, the UK MOD said. The MOD said there are "continued divisions" in the Russian military since the shake up. Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform reported on Tuesday that Teplinsky "cursed at" Gerasimov during a meeting and was "immediately dismissed." Other Russian military figures have also been given new roles as part of the reshuffle. The UK ministry suggested earlier this month that Russia had been using almost all deployable VDV troops as ground-holding troops up until November.

☆ Russian mercenaries are forbidden from helping wounded comrades and forced to leave them behind, Ukrainian intel says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Wounded Wagner Group soldiers are being left on battlefields for hours, Ukrainian intelligence said. The deaths of thousands of Wagner soldiers do not matter to Russian society, it suggested. "The deaths of thousands of Wagner soldiers do not matter to Russian society," the report said, according to CNN. Wagner soldiers are also being killed if they withdraw from an area without permission, the document said. The Wagner Group, which the US says is responsible for "atrocities and human rights abuses' in Ukraine, has close links to the Kremlin.

☆ Ukraine is raising funds to build a strike force of 1,000 exploding drones to help defeat Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Ukrainian intelligence unit has appealed for funds to buy up to 1,000 exploding drones. Both Ukrainian and Russian forces have made extensive use of drones in the conflict. The Kryla, part of Ukraine's military-intelligence service, wants a fleet of 1,000 so-called first-person-view drones to help defend its front line against Russian forces. The defense ministry said such drones could collect intelligence and essentially function as snipers from a distance of about 6 miles. Funds are being raised through the "Starlife-Charity" foundation, which has helped Ukrainian forces since Russia invaded in February.

WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - CIA Director William Burns recently traveled in secret to Ukraine's capital to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a U.S. official told Reuters on Thursday. "Director Burns traveled to Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian intelligence counterparts as well as President Zelenskiy and reinforced our continued support for Ukraine and its defense against Russian aggression," the U.S. official, who declined to be identified, said. The official declined to say when the visit took place. The Washington Post, which first reported the visit, said it took place at the end of last week. Zelenskiy and his aides came away from last week's meeting with the impression that U.S. support for Kyiv remained strong, the newspaper said.

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