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☆ Biden to Name Air Force Chief to Top Military Post, Officials Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Helene Cooper | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — President Biden is expected to announce soon that he has chosen Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the Air Force chief of staff, to become the country’s most senior military officer, according to two U.S. officials. General Brown would be only the second Black man to become chairman, following Colin L. Powell, who served in that position during the presidencies of George H.W. General Brown’s appointment and confirmation would also mean that along with Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, the top two Pentagon leadership positions would be inhabited by African American men for the first time in American history. It would be a singular step for minorities in a military whose leadership has long been dominated by white men.

☆ Kremlin document shows how Russia is instructing state news outlets to handle potential losses in Ukraine counteroffensive: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Kremlin has prepared media talking points about Ukraine's expected counteroffensive, per Meduza. Sources told independent Russian outlet Meduza the document is aimed at priming the public for potential losses, or to capitalize on any Russian success. Reporters have been told "not to downplay expectations for the NATO-supported counteroffensive," and not to say that "Kyiv is unprepared for a 'counteroffensive," Meduza reported. Dr Precious Chatterje-Doody, an Open University lecturer in politics and an expert on Russian media, told Insider that the reported guidance fits "perfectly" with Russia's existing coverage of the war. Most Russian media is subject to strict controls over how the Ukraine war is discussed.

☆ Top US general predicts troops will have to always be on the move and be 'nearly invisible' to survive on future battlefields
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Gen. Mark Milley painted a terrifying picture of what future battlefields will look like in a new podcast interview. Soldiers will have to be almost invisible to survive on battlefields that are far more lethal, he warned. Breakthroughs in this space include the development of long-range precision munitions, the emergence of hypersonic weapons, an increased ability to sense and track environments, and integration of unmanned robotic systems. "What are some of the attributes of a future force? But speed, size, and being nearly invisible will be fundamental to survival on a future battlefield."

☆ US intelligence believes 'slaughter-fest' fighting in Ukraine has cost Russia 100,000 dead and wounded in only a matter of months, White House reveals
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties since December, a top White House official said, citing US intelligence. John Kirby revealed that 20,000 Russian troops have been killed fighting in Ukraine in that time. Ukrainian troops have fought the Russians along a largely static front line across eastern and parts of southern Ukraine for months. In January 2023, the top general went on to say that Russia had suffered "significantly well over" 100,000 casualties. Recently leaked US intelligence documents reviewed by Insider suggested that Russia had endured up to 223,000 casualties, including 43,000 soldiers killed in fighting.

CNN —President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden capped South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s official state visit with a glamorous state dinner at the White House Wednesday night to celebrate the two nations’ 70-year alliance. May we do it together for another 170 years.”But Biden wasn’t the only leader who took the mic. Following a round of musical performances, his South Korean counterpart joined him on stage to give his own – a karaoke rendition of Don McClean’s “American Pie” – which received a standing ovation from the crowd. The elaborate dinner is the result of weeks of careful diplomatic preparations, with each detail meticulously planned by a team of White House chefs, social staff, and protocol experts. U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden pose with South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee in front of the Grand Staircase of the White House before an official State Dinner, in Washington, U.S. April 26, 2023.

☆ Russian ground forces 'bigger today' than at start of the war in Ukraine, general says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Haley Britzky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

“The Navy has lost one ship.”Classified military documents allegedly leaked by a junior enlisted National Guard airman for months gave a snapshot of where Russia’s ground forces were committed in the war. One document, dated February and March, said that 527 of 544 of available Russian battalions have been committed to the war against Ukraine; 474 of them are already in the country, the intelligence said. One document also estimated that between 35,000 and 43,000 Russian forces have been killed in action during the conflict. “For about the last 20, 21 days, the Russians have not made any progress whatsoever in and around Bakhmut. Asked about Russia’s submarine patrols in the Atlantic, Cavoli said that “much of the Russian military has not been affected negatively” by its invasion of Ukraine.

☆ Russia is still losing 500 soldiers a day in Ukraine even after reducing its casualties by 30%, UK intel says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

But Russia is still likely suffering around 500 casualties a day, the UK Ministry of Defence said. It comes as Russia is "preparing for anticipated Ukrainian offensive operations," it added. In March, the country was losing an estimated 776 soldiers a day, which dropped to 568 in April, it said. Russia does not release its own casualty figures, but the UK MOD pointed to figures released by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Russia's slowing losses are explained by it moving to a more defensive position ahead of Ukraine's expected counteroffensive efforts, the UK MOD said.

☆ Special forces swiftly evacuate US embassy staff from Sudan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Smoke rises during clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum, Sudan on April 19, 2023. U.S. special operations forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the American embassy in warring Sudan on Sunday, sweeping in and out of the capital, Khartoum, with helicopters on the ground for less than an hour. However, John Bass, a U.S. undersecretary of state, denied claims by one faction, Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, that it assisted in the U.S. evacuation. Biden had ordered American troops to evacuate embassy personnel after receiving a recommendation from his national security team, with no end in sight to the fighting. The U.S. evacuation planning for American employees of the embassy got underway in earnest on Monday after the embassy convoy was attacked in Khartoum.

☆ U.S. to Begin Training Ukrainian Forces on Abrams Tanks in May
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Nancy A. Youssef | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Illustration: Adam AdadaThe U.S. will send 31 Abrams tanks to Germany next month and begin training Ukrainian forces on how to operate them, defense officials said Friday. Speaking to reporters at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where Ukrainian allies met Friday to discuss how to coordinate their support, Army Gen. Mark Milley , the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that tanks designed for training would begin arriving in the next few weeks.

☆ Allies move to bolster Ukrainian tank forces ahead of counteroffensive
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Ukraine has pressed its allies for long-range weapons, jets and ammunition ahead of a counteroffensive to push back Russian troops that is expected in the coming weeks or months. Abrams battle tanks will arrive in Germany in the coming weeks for Ukrainian troops to begin training, U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters. NATO member states and their allies have provided Ukraine with weapons and armour, but Ukraine's leadership has repeatedly asked for more powerful weapons and quicker supplies. "The Russians are cautious to come into Ukraine because of the effective use of the Ukrainian air defense system. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban poured cold water on Ukraine's NATO prospects, simply tweeting "What?!"

☆ Pentagon Speeds Up Tank Timeline for Ukraine but Resists Calls for Jets
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Helene Cooper | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — Ukrainian troops will begin training on American M1 Abrams tanks in Germany in the next few weeks, U.S. defense officials say, in what would be a major step in arming Kyiv as it seeks to seize back territory from Russia. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III announced the timeline on Friday during a meeting with allies at Ramstein Air Base. Defense officials said that about 31 tanks were expected to arrive in Germany to begin a training program for Ukrainian troops that is expected to take 10 weeks. Combat-ready tanks could reach the battlefields in Ukraine by the fall, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss security matters. But the United States stood firm in its refusal to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets.

☆ NATO's chief is talking openly about alliance membership for Ukraine as Putin's war continues to shoot Russia in the foot
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Ukraine has long sought NATO membership, something Vladimir Putin deeply opposes. Ukraine has long sought NATO membership. As early as April 2008, NATO said it "welcomed" aspirations from Ukraine and Georgia — the latter was attacked by Russia later that year — to join the military alliance. Finland officially became the 31st member of the military alliance earlier this month, a huge setback for Putin. in a Friday tweet that included a link to a media report about Stoltenberg telling Zelenskyy Ukraine belongs in NATO.

☆ A fifth of Russian prisoners recruited to fight in Ukraine are HIV positive, with convicts promised anti-viral drugs if they agreed to fight: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A fifth of recruits in Russian prisoner units are HIV positive, says Ukraine, per The New York TImes. Prisoners were recruited to join the Wagner Group in Ukraine with promises of anti-viral medication. Captured soldiers said they agreed because Russian prisons deprived them of effective HIV treatment. "I understood I would have a quick death or a slow death," he said, referring to the high death toll among Wagner Group soldiers. Last year he was bedridden with pneumonia, and later became sick while at a training camp for the Wagner Group, according to the newspaper.

☆ Russian mercenary group Wagner tried and failed to get weapons from China earlier this year, according to a leaked US intel report: FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Leaked US intelligence documents say the Wagner Group approached China for weapons, per the FT.China reportedly rebuffed the group's request earlier this year for lethal aid in Ukraine. The infamous Wagner Group "sought munitions and equipment" from China in "early 2023," the leaked documents reportedly say. But as of January, China had not sent weapons, "not even for testing, and had no contact with [Wagner] regarding weapons deliveries," the FT reported the documents as saying. China has long professed neutrality in the conflict in Ukraine, and has publicly rebuffed the idea that it would send lethal aid to Russia. The US has increasingly signaled concern over the potential for China to aid Russia with weapons.

☆ Wagner is 'desperate for manpower' and trying to poach regular Russian soldiers while feuding with their commanders, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Wagner Group is trying to recruit from Russia's military, the Institute for the Study of War said. It's "increasingly desperate for manpower" after heavy losses in Ukraine, the think tank said. The group has feuded with the military, but now seems desperate for its troops, per the ISW. The Wagner group, which has thousands of mercenaries and recruited prisoners fighting in Ukraine, has, in recent months, been leading Russia's assault on the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The Institute for the Study of War noted that Wagner and regular Russian military forces have recently started working more closely together in their bid to take Bakhmut.

☆ Ukraine's fighter jet fleet is slowly growing, but its weapons to bring down Russian jets are dwindling, leaked US document shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The jets will bolster Ukraine's fighter fleet, which is still under fire from Russia's larger air force. But air-defense ammunition is a more urgent need, one underscored in recently leaked US documents. Berlin approved Warsaw's request to send jets to Ukraine on Thursday, the same day it was received. Both air forces have shifted tactics and now operate farther from the front line, playing to the advantage of the Russian aircraft, which have an edge at longer ranges. Without the threat posed by those interceptor missiles, Russian aircraft would have greater freedom to attack Ukrainian aircraft and bomb Ukrainian targets, including in support of Russian front-line troops, the leaked document says.

Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call Group | Getty ImagesAn embarrassing leak of highly classified Pentagon documents has endangered intelligence methods, exposed American strategy and undermined trust among U.S. allies, former defense department officials and intelligence experts tell CNBC. America's control over its most valuable secrets has been thrust into question amid the fallout from the most damaging intelligence leak since Edward Snowden's breach more than a decade ago. 'Devastating' for American alliesThe major security breach also contained intelligence gathering on American allies, including South Korea and Israel. "Our allies can't trust us … That's why the Middle East, they're talking to the Chinese. one American defense industry executive told CNBC, speaking anonymously due to professional restrictions.

Russian forces are slowly edging forward in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. A timelapse map shows how Russia has now moved forward to enclose the city on three sides. The changing map shows how Russian forces have moved forward, and now surround the city on three sides. It added that fighters with the Wagner mercenary group, which is leading Russia's fight in the city, took the Bakhmut City Administration building on April 2. US Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last month that the battle had turned into a "slaughter-fest" for Russian forces.

☆ Russia is set to pass a measure that bans people who have been drafted to the military from leaving the country
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The measure would ban people who have been drafted from leaving the country, and track summons. According to The New York Times, Russia's state Duma has passed a measure which bans those who have been drafted to the military from leaving the country, imposing electronic draft summons and other measures. In Ukraine, the army is also trying to recruit more manpower amid heavy casualties sustained in the ongoing battle with Russia in eastern Bakhmut. At the outset of the war, Ukrainian imposed martial law, banning men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country in case they're needed for a draft. The country also instituted mobilization rules which make that same pool of men eligible to be drafted on a whim.

☆ What's in the leaked Pentagon documents that could hurt Ukraine and has US officials panicking
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( John Haltiwanger | Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Dozens of secret Pentagon documents were leaked online in recent weeks. Many of the documents appear to be intelligence briefing materials on a wide range of subjects, dating back to around early March. When were the documents leaked and who leaked them? But Bellingcat reported that some of the materials date back to January and may have been leaked online earlier. Leaked documents claim that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sought to attack Russian troop deployments inside Russia with drones.

☆ Ukraine's military intel chief privately warned Bakhmut was 'catastrophic' as he made a gamble to get it under control, leaked documents show
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The disclosure offers a glimpse into Ukrainian decision-making as Russian forces were closing in. Ukrainian soldiers ride atop a tank in the frontline in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. The leaked US intelligence on Bakhmut, which offers insight into high-level Ukrainian decision-making, is only a slice of what the documents contain about Kyiv's military. One document in particular includes information about casualties on each side and indicates that more than twice as many Russian soldiers as Ukrainian soldiers have died fighting. Ukrainian soldiers help a wounded comrade into an evacuation vehicle in the frontline in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023.

☆ Ukrainian civilians are attending military trainings and workout sessions to prepare for an expected influx of draft notices ahead of a spring offensive
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Some civilians are participating in military trainings to prepare for possibly being drafted. "If the war lasts another year, we're all going to be in the army," one man told The Washington Post. Ukrainian civilians, as a result, are starting to realize that they may soon be drafted, according to a Washington Post report. He told the outlet that he anticipates being sent to the frontlines following his military training. "I'm 100% sure I'll be drafted sooner or later," Sasha, the casting director, told the Post, citing the spring counteroffensive.

☆ U.S. reviewing whether Ukraine war documents were leaked
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A member of the Ukrainian special force engages in zeroing his weapon prior to a mission, amid Russia?s attack on Ukraine, in the region of Bakhmut, Ukraine, April 6, 2023. They are not war plans and they provide no details on any planned Ukraine offensive. If the published documents are authentic to any degree, however, the leak of classified data is troubling and raises questions about what other information about the Ukraine war — or any coming offensive — could be distributed. The Justice Department released a statement Friday night saying, "We have been in communication with the Department of Defense related to this matter and have begun an investigation." One U.S. official said the documents resemble data produced daily by the Joint Staff, although some numbers are wrong.

☆ Former Russian commander in Ukraine says Moscow was unprepared for a protracted war and is now 'heading for military defeat'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

He has criticized Russia' war strategy, saying on Sunday that Russia is sleepwalking toward defeat. Girkin, who is also known by his alias "Strelkov," is now a prominent war blogger who has criticized the Russian military strategy in Ukraine. "I'm not afraid to say that we are heading towards military defeat," Girkin said, adding that the Russian economy, military, and political system were unprepared for such a "long, protracted war." In February, Girkin criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin's national address about the war with Ukraine for blatantly ignoring Moscow's "failures" and "defeats." In October 2022, Ukrayinska Pravda reported that Girkin was believed to be fighting for Russia in Ukraine.

☆ Russia's President Vladimir Putin could be a 'dead man walking,' a former CIA counterintelligence chief told an interviewer
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Isobel Van Hagen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A former CIA official laid out why he believes Putin will be 'eliminated' as leader of Russia. In an interview with The Sun, James Olson said, "I think Putin will be taken out." Olson said there is a "strong undercurrent of opposition to Putin" in the military and among oligarchs. He would not discount the most dramatic option in this possibility, saying, "I think Putin will be taken out. Olson believes Putin's generals are "disgusted" by the futility and the carnage of the fighting in Ukraine.

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