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☆ Russia orders the creation of 24 penal colonies in occupied Ukraine, says report
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia has ordered the creation of 24 penal colonies in annexed parts of Ukraine, per Meduza. Conditions at penal colonies, which trace their roots to Soviet-era gulags, are famously harsh. The published decree outlines plans to create 12 new penal colonies in Donetsk, seven in Luhansk, three in Kherson, and two in Zaporizhzhia, Meduza reported. Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukrainian online newspaper, reported that there were 626 penal colonies in Russia as of November 2022. Ukrainian prisoners have previously been transported to penal colonies on Russian territory, according to research by Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny and Gulagu.net, per Meduza.

☆ Missile hit Turkish-owned ship in Ukraine's Kherson port -video, sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISTANBUL, Jan 25 (Reuters) - A Turkish-owned general cargo ship was struck by a missile in the port of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, sparking a fire, according to video footage from the scene and shipping sources. The missile hit the bridge of the vessel named Tuzla on Tuesday, maritime security company Ambrey said, causing the fire. A shipping source said there are twelve Turkish ships trapped in Ukrainian ports, including in Kherson, that are not covered by the U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal. "There has been an attack yesterday night, most probably to the port, and an explosive charge seems to have hit the ship. Turkish ships in Kherson are manned by a skeleton crew so there are no injuries or casualties," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

☆ Russia's military reforms respond to NATO's expansion, Ukraine -chief of general staff
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Lidia Kelly | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The military reforms, announced mid-January, have been approved by Putin and can be adjusted to respond to threats to Russia's security, Gerasimov told the news website Argumenty i Fakty in remarks published late Monday. Under Moscow's new military plan, an army corps will be added to Karelia in Russia's north, which borders with Finland. In Ukraine, Russia will add three motorized rifle divisions as part of combined arms formations in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, parts of which Moscow claims it annexed in September. "The main goal of this work is to ensure guaranteed protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country," Gerasimov said. "Our country and its armed forces are today acting against the entire collective West," Gerasimov said.

☆ Factbox: Who are the officials swept out in Ukraine's biggest shake-up of the war?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Max Hunder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERSKYIV, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A slew of high-level officials resigned or were dismissed from their posts on Tuesday in Ukraine's biggest internal shake-up since it was invaded by Russia on Feb. 24 last year. GOVERNOR OF DNIPROPETROVSK REGIONValentyn Reznichenko had served since 2015 as governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, the main wartime logistical and medical hub for Ukraine's eastern battlefront. He had already once been dismissed from the role by Zelenskiy in 2019 but reappointed in December 2020. TWO DEPUTY MINISTERS OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTIvan Lukeria and Vyacheslav Nehoda were dismissed as deputy ministers of regional development. DEPUTY MINISTER FOR SOCIAL POLICYVitaliy Muzychenko was dismissed from his role as deputy minister for social policy.

☆ Russia claims that it was ready to strike an early peace deal with Ukraine but the West ruined it
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's foreign minister said Russia was open to negotiating with Ukraine in the early months of the war. Sergey Lavrov blamed the US and other Western nations for blocking peace talks. In the weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, a number of fruitless peace talks took place as Russia continued to bomb Ukrainian cities. Neither Russia nor Ukraine have shown signs that a diplomatic resolution to the war is now forthcoming. Russia, meanwhile, has said that Ukraine would need to accept Russia's annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia as part of any peace agreement.

☆ Russia claims more progress in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 22 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry said for the second straight day on Sunday that its forces were improving their positions in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region. "During offensive operations in the direction of Zaporizhzhia, units of the Eastern Military District took up more advantageous ground and positions," the defence ministry said. Ukraine on Saturday said Russia's claims of progress in Zaporizhzhia were exaggerated. Fighting in recent weeks has centred around the town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, where Russia's Wagner mercenaries and Ukrainian forces have been locked in a battle of attrition. Neither side has claimed major movements on the southern front since November, when Russia pulled out of the city of Kherson.

☆ Russian embassy accidentally shares map ignoring Putin's bogus land claims in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia's embassy in Sweden tweeted a map that went against Putin's territorial claims in Ukraine. Putin claims a number of Ukrainian regions as part of Russia. Though Putin claims these regions as part of Russia, the territories are not fully controlled or occupied by Russian forces. The map shared by Russia's embassy in Sweden, which claimed to show gas prices in Europe, did not depict these regions as Russian territory. The Russian embassy in Sweden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

In the south, Russian mortar and artillery fire hit several towns, including the regional capital, Kherson, which Russian forces abandoned in November. Russian troops are active at night - we are in great need of night vision equipment." Western countries have produced a steady supply of weapons to Ukraine since Russian forces invaded last Feb. 24 but Zelenskiy and his government are insisting they need tanks. The OSCE is the world's largest regional security organisation, consisting of 57 states, such as the United States, all European states, including Russia and all states of the former Soviet Union. The U.S. State Department estimated last year that between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens, including 260,000 children, have been forcibly deported into Russian territory.

☆ Davos 2023: Europe, NATO to build Ukraine unity in Russian no-go zone
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( John Irish | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"On my way from Lithuania to @Davos where I have been invited to speak. Lithuania is a very good friend of Ukraine, so you know what I will be saying. Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year, calling it a "special military operation" to "denazify" and demilitarise its neighbour. Ukraine, which dominated the WEF's last big meeting in May, has sent another high-level delegation. It has one panel session on mapping Russia's trajectories, but none of its speakers are Russian.

☆ Britain to send battle tanks to Ukraine, Dnipro death toll rises to 18
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A local man examines a damaged house after Russian attacks at Karabell Island in Kherson, Ukraine, on Dec. 12, 2022. The Ukrainian city of Kherson and the surrounding villages have been repeatedly bombarded daily by Russian troops from the left bank of the Dnipro river. The death toll from Russia's missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro has climbed to 18, officials said on Sunday, while Britain said overnight it will soon send a squadron of its main battle tanks to help Ukraine's defence. The first dispatch of Western-made tanks to Ukraine is likely to be viewed by Moscow as escalation of the conflict. Germany is now expected to come under pressure to follow suit as Kyiv continues to plea for advanced military equipment.

[1/2] Smoke rises from strikes on the frontline city of Soledar, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, as seen from Bakhmut, Ukraine, January 5, 2023. In a video message, Prigozhin described Wagner as a fully independent force with its own aircraft, tanks, rockets and artillery. The short video contained no overt new criticism of the regular army, whose failings Prigozhin has lambasted in the past. Ukraine said on Saturday its forces were fighting to hold onto control of Soledar, contradicting Russian claims to have captured the town. Prigozhin complained on Friday about what he called constant attempts to "steal victory" from Wagner and belittle its achievements.

☆ A string of Russian failures got scores of troops killed in a Ukrainian strike, and Moscow's reaction only made things worse
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Scores of Russian troops were killed over the New Year holiday in a Ukrainian HIMARS strike. A string of Russian command failures allowed the deadly attack to happen. If they did, it is unclear if Russian troops were explicitly told not to use their phones and did anyways, or if these rules were actually enforced. It backfired though, as Russian milbloggers expressed anger with Russian military leadership after it came out that Russia's claims were made up. The Ukrainian strike on Makiivka is not the only time where Kyiv has been able to take advantage of Russian command failures during the nearly 11-month-long war, either.

☆ Russia claims control of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, its first victory in months
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Patrick-Smith-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Patrick Smith | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Russian forces on the frontline of the bitter fight for control of eastern Ukraine have claimed their first victory in several months of grinding conflict. After some of the war's most intense combat, Russia now controls the mining town of Soledar in the Donetsk region, Moscow's defense ministry said Friday. He had claimed victory in Soledar earlier this week and boasted on social media that his forces were in sole charge of the town. Wagner mercenary group fighters in a photo said to be in Soledar and released Wednesday. The town lies in the eastern Donetsk region, one of four that Putin claimed to have annexed last year despite failing to fully control.

☆ Russia claims capture of Ukraine's Soledar after ferocious fighting
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Russian forces captured the town, long the focus of heavy fighting and bombardment, on Thursday evening, the defence ministry said. It said this would make it possible to cut off Ukrainian supply routes to the larger town of Bakhmut, to the southwest, and trap remaining Ukrainian forces there. "The capture of Soledar was made possible by the constant bombardment of the enemy by assault and army aviation, missile forces and artillery of a grouping of Russian forces," Moscow's defence ministry said. Prigozhin issued a premature claim earlier this week that Soledar had already fallen, and said the fighting there was exclusively being waged by his men. Ukraine says Russia is throwing wave upon wave of soldiers into a pointless fight for a bombed-out wasteland.

☆ Putin's military command reshuffle reveals a power struggle at the heart of the Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Mikhail Svetlov | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesRussian President Vladimir Putin's latest reshuffle of the top brass in charge of Ukraine operations reveals a deeper power struggle between Moscow's military command and its domestic detractors, analysts say. One of the most prominent and powerful critics of Moscow's strategy in Ukraine is Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group — a private military company fighting in Ukraine. His criticism seemed to bear fruit with the October appointment of Gen. Sergei Surovikin as the overall battlefield commander for Russian troops in Ukraine. Nonetheless, Prigozhin's criticism of Russia's military commanders and frequent boasts over the Wagner Group's triumphs have raised heckles in Moscow. Sergei Surovikin, the former commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, seen here in 2021.

☆ Putin is fighting an 'internal power struggle' to weaken critics amid Russia's mounting military failures in Ukraine, war experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Putin is likely moving to silence critics with this move as he fights an internal power struggle, analysts say. Ukrainian intelligence has also suggested that Surovkin is a rival of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, ISW said. ISW said Gerasimov's appointment was also designed to "support an intended decisive Russian military effort in 2023, likely in the form of resumed Russian offensive operations." After failing to take Kyiv in the early months of the war, Russia turned its attention to Ukraine's east. It's unclear whether the recent change in leadership in Ukraine will drastically alter Russia's narrowing options on the battlefield.

The Kremlin and Russia’s defence ministry didn’t respond to Reuters’ questions, including about alleged torture and unlawful detentions. Ukraine’s top war crimes prosecutor, Yuriy Belousov, said authorities have identified ten sites in the Kherson region used by Russian forces for unlawful detentions. Belousov added that hundreds of bodies of civilians had been found in other areas that Russian forces had withdrawn from. Some of the thousands of alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces could be escalated to overseas tribunals if they are deemed sufficiently serious. The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened an investigation into alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

☆ Russia's top general has inherited a poisoned chalice in Ukraine, after his predecessor lasted just 3 months. This could lead to an escalation in the war.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Russia appointed a new general in charge of Ukraine war, replacing predecessor after just 3 months. The ministry described Gerasimov not as a simple replacement, but as occupying a new role with even greater oversight over Russia's war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov in Moscow, Russia, on December 21, 2020. McGlynn said Gerasimov's appointment "is definitely a commitment to keep fighting. McGlynn said Gerasimov's appointment "leaves him in an impossible situation and one that is only likely to get worse."

☆ Putin replaces commander of Russia’s war in Ukraine after just 3 months
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Henry Austin | Henry Austin Is A London-Based Editor For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin has replaced the commander leading his forces in Ukraine just three months after he handed him the job. He previously led Russian forces in Syria and was accused of overseeing a brutal bombardment that destroyed much of the city of Aleppo. Britain’s defense ministry called Gerasimov’s appointment “a significant development” in Putin’s approach to the war. Although it has little intrinsic value, it lies at a strategic point around 6 miles north of the city of Bakhmut, which Russian forces are aiming to surround. Taking Bakhmut would disrupt Ukrainian supply lines and open a route for Russian forces to press toward Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, key Ukrainian strongholds in Donetsk province.

☆ Intense fighting in eastern Ukraine showed the benefits — and limitations — of HIMARS, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

HIMARS destroyed Russian positions and depots, allowing Ukraine to retake a huge swath of territory. But Russian forces adapted and were able to limit HIMARS' effectiveness in fighting around Kherson. It was initially devastating, but Russian forces eventually learned how to cope with it, according to two US defense experts. GPS-guided rockets fired from the truck-mounted mobile launcher destroyed Russian headquarters and especially ammunition dumps, which helped curtail Russian artillery fire. Ukraine had access to US intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance "that played an important role, but due to political parameters was untouchable by Russia," Kofman said.

The debate centers on the precise form and function of the new fighting vehicles — but it misses the point. (The guns on the Bradley and Marder are smaller-caliber, while the AMX is wheeled rather than tracked.) And despite the downsides of providing these more sophisticated vehicles, armored vehicles can help capture ground whereas artillery, even if more lethal and at least as important, by itself can’t. A Marder infantry fighting vehicle of the German armed forces participates in the NATO Iron Wolf military exercises on Oct. 26, 2022, in Pabrade, Lithuania. Nonetheless, supplying new, tougher armored vehicles will improve Ukraine’s ability to liberate territory.

☆ Russia is trying to label as extremist maps that question its territorial claims over parts of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Maps that don't respect Russia's claimed "territorial integrity" are to be labeled extremist material. Lawmakers objected to maps that don't show occupied Crimea as part of Russia. An amendment to anti-extremism legislation would include as extremist "cartographic and other documents and images that dispute the territorial integrity of Russia," according to Reuters. Russia has claimed Crimea as Russian territory since its troops seized the land from Ukraine in 2014 — a claim rejected not only by Ukraine but by almost 100 UN member states. Independent Russian outlet Meduza, in editorial remarks, said the amendment will likely apply to the regions of Ukraine occupied by Russia since its 2022 invasion.

☆ Ukraine says its forces repel constant Russian attacks in east
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/10] A woman stands at the site of a missile strike that occurred during the night, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneJan 8 (Reuters) - Ukrainian forces are repelling constant Russian attacks on Bakhmut and other towns in the eastern region of Donbas, Ukrainian authorities said on Monday, after denying Kremlin claims of 600 soldiers killed in a missile strike. Russia launched seven missile strikes, 31 air strikes and 73 attacks from salvo rocket launchers in the past day, the general staff of Ukraine's armed forces said in a daily report. "And even though most of the town has been destroyed by Russian strikes, our soldiers are repelling constant Russian attempts to advance." Some prominent Russian military bloggers have criticised the Russian defence ministry claims.

☆ Russia plans to mobilize 500,000 soldiers in days. If they don't deliver victory, then 'Putin will collapse,' says Ukrainian spy chief.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Ukrainian military is warning that Putin is planning to mobilize up to half a million new troops. The Ukrainian Military Intelligence Service said that they believe the mobilization will be announced on January 15. "If Russia loses this time around, then Putin will collapse," said Ukraine's deputy military intelligence chief. The new infusion of manpower will massively increase the number of soldiers Russia has deployed in occupied Ukraine. Russia's first mobilization in October of 300,000 soldiers was heavily criticized, with many mobilized soldiers being untrained, elderly, unwell, or too young to fight.

☆ Ukraine’s Postal Workers Lead the Way in Reintegrating Reclaimed Lands
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Thomas Grove | Photographs Justyna Mielnikiewicz Maps For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

DARYIVKA, Ukraine—Standing behind her post office counter with bricks of cash, a calculator and a flashlight, Lyudmila Gulovskaya distributes Ukrainian state pensions to a line of eager onlookers in this front-line village near Kherson. For these pensioners, it is the first money they have received from Kyiv in six months, after their villages in surrounding areas were occupied by Russian soldiers. For Ms. Gulovskaya, it is the most tangible proof yet that their government has returned.

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