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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.

☆ 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.

☆ Ukraine could launch its offensive against Russia any moment now. Here's what's waiting
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Tim Lister | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The defenses continue for hundreds of miles across the meandering southern front – where Ukrainian forces are expected to concentrate their counter-offensive in the coming weeks. This area will be critical should Ukrainian forces try to advance towards the city of Melitopol and split Russian forces in the south. It’s unclear where the equipment went but likely that it was sent north to reinforce Russian defensive lines. Russian-appointed officials in Zaporizhzhia claim there is already a large build-up of Ukrainian forces in the area. Ukrainian officials do not disclose the movement of units.

☆ Iranian drones used by Russia in Ukraine are powered by stolen Western tech, research shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Tim Lister | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Russia wants Iranian drones and ballistic missiles; Iran wants Russian investment and trade. And for the Russians, Iranian drones are a bargain substitute for much more costly missiles, stocks of which are dwindling, according to Western officials. Last October, the head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said Russia had ordered about 1,700 Iranian drones of different types. “These modifications have prevented investigators from identifying the acquisition networks facilitating the international supply of key components into Iran,” CAR says. CARThe revenues from the sale of hundreds of Shahed-136 drones to Russia will likely be reinvested in further improving the industry.

CNN —The US has sensitive nuclear technology at a nuclear power plant inside Ukraine and is warning Russia not to touch it, according to a letter the US Department of Energy sent to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy firm Rosatom last month. The Energy Department warned Rosatom in the letter that it is “unlawful” for any Russian citizens or entities to handle the US technology. The Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration told CNN in a statement that the letter is authentic. “The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration can confirm that the letter is legitimate,” said Shayela Hassan, the deputy director of public affairs for the National Nuclear Security Administration. She added: “The Secretary of Energy has the statutory responsibility for authorizing the transfer of unclassified civilian nuclear technology and assistance to foreign atomic energy activities.

Azamat Uldarov, a former convict, made his retraction in a video call with Russian news agency RIA-FAN. I had to say it because I had no choice.”“I said whatever I was told to say,” Uldarov then said. Osechkin also claimed that both interviewees, Uldarov and Savichev, had been threatened with murder if they didn’t retract their statements to him. Savichev told Gulagu that his unit was ordered to kill any men 15 years old or older. Wagner has been seeking Savichev for the past 24 hours, according to Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.

☆ Russian inmates only had to march a few yards to be considered fit enough to fight in Ukraine for the Wagner Group, 2 captured fighters say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Two captured Wagner Group fighters say the company hired convicts as long as they could march a few yards. Both Russian fighters told CNN they were serving prison sentences when the Wagner Group approached them in September and August, offering six-month contracts in exchange for pardons. The pair said Prigozhin told them they would be stationed on the second line of defense on Russia's front, per CNN. Similar reports previously emerged of Russian reservists dying by the hundreds from Ukrainian shelling and of Wagner Group recruits being executed for refusing to participate in suicide charges. "Those who disobey are eliminated — and it's done publicly," Yevgeny Novikov, a former inmate recruited by Wagner, told the Russian independent outlet Poligon Media.

CNN —Multiple explosions have been reported in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol in southern Ukraine, in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and in annexed Crimea – including at a Russian military barracks. Federov last month said Russia had turned Melitopol into “one giant military base.”“The Russian military is settling in local houses they seized, schools and kindergartens. The Ukrainian military has not yet confirmed or commented on the attack. The unofficial Crimean media portal “Krymskyi veter” said an explosion at a Russian military barracks in Sovietske had set the barracks on fire and there were dead and wounded. “In total, Russian terrorists used 15 Shahed drones against Odesa,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during his daily address on Saturday.

☆ Ukraine keeps patching up its power grid. But Russia’s barrage could force more Ukrainians to flee as winter bites
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Tim Lister Olga Voitovych Victoria Butenko | Tim Lister | Olga Voitovych | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The result is a grinding battle of attrition: Barrages of Russian missiles fly across Ukraine, and Ukrainian power engineers work for days in freezing temperatures to restore power. “By the nature of the attacks we see that Russian missiles are directed by Russian power engineers,” says Tymoshenko. 15 gigawatts of Ukraine’s power capacity have been taken out, compared to the pre-war capacity of 56 gigawatts (GW) of power, according to Ukrenergo. Tymoshenko told CNN that Ukraine’s power system has been part of the continental network since March after synchronization of the systems. “And this, of course, will encourage us to further technological development of the power system after victory,” he says.

☆ Putin floats possibility that Russia may abandon 'no first use' nuclear doctrine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Tim Lister | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

(CNN) Russian President Vladimir Putin, for the second time this week, floated the possibility that Russia may formally change its military doctrine of not being the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict, days after he warned of the "increasing" threat of nuclear war. "They (the US) have it in their strategy, in the documents it is spelled out -- a preventive blow. We, on the other hand, have formulated a retaliatory strike in our strategy," Putin said at a news conference in the Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek. Putin said that United States' policy was not to exclude the possibility of "disarming" nuclear strike, while Russia's doctrine is to use nuclear weapons as the last resort. No one was shy when they talked about it out loud in previous times and years," he said.

CNN —A series of attacks deep inside Russia this week have raised the stakes for Moscow at a time when its war on Ukraine is faltering. Russia has said that Ukrainian drones carried out three strikes on its air bases, yet two of the targets are hundreds of miles inside Russian territory and beyond the reach of Ukraine’s declared drone arsenal. Russia said it was targeted in three separate drone attacks on Monday and Tuesday. Russia said a second drone flew to the city of Engels, around 500 miles southeast of the capital, before attacking an air base with the same name. However, they have so far refused to provide Kyiv with long-range attack drones, fearing that strikes inside Russian territory would escalate the war and draw them directly into a conflict with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

CNN —Explosions at two Russian air bases Monday have focused attention on Ukraine’s efforts to develop longer-range combat drones. The Russian Defense Ministry says the attacks were carried out by Ukrainian drones, which it claims were brought down by Russian air defenses. Imagery – both satellite and photographs – indicates some damage was done to Russian military planes at one base in Ryazan region. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has offered no official comment on the explosions, and the Ukrainian government has not acknowledged adding long-range attack drones to its arsenal. The two bases hit, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, are hundreds of miles inside Russian territory and beyond the reach of Ukraine’s declared arsenal of drones.

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