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☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ The battle for Bakhmut has turned into a 'slaughter-fest' for Russia, says top US general
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia's efforts to take Bakhmut have become a "slaughter-fest" for its troops, Gen. Mark Milley said. Russia likely wants a symbolic victory in Bakhmut, but its progress there has been slowing. "They are getting slaughtered, the Russian troops are" he said. Milley went further, describing Bakhmut as a "slaughter-fest for the Russians. The UK Ministry of Defence said last week that Russia's progress in Bakhmut appeared to have slowed.

☆ Ukrainian troops say Russia's Wagner fighters would rather die in Bakhmut than retreat and face punishment
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Bakhmut say Wagner troops are the toughest opponents, NYT reported. One soldier said Wagner units face punishment if they retreat, so they "prefer to die" in battle. Wagner units have played a major role in Bakhmut battles. But that assessment isn't necessarily due to Wagner's training — Ukrainian troops told The New York Times that Wagner troops fight harder because they face physical punishments if they retreat or lose. Milley said that Wagner units have taken heavy losses in Bakhmut over the past month, CNN reported.

☆ Ukraine says Russian forces make progress in frontline city of Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Pavel Polityuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"Enemy forces had a degree of success in their actions aimed at storming the city of Bakhmut," the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in its regular nighttime report. Russian officials say their forces are still capturing ground in street-by-street fighting inside Bakhmut. [1/5] A tank is towed through a road, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, near the bombed-out eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, in the eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine, March 29, 2023. Russian forces shelled towns in central Zaporizhzhia region, including the contested centre of Hulyaipole, the Ukrainian general staff statement said. Rocket and artillery in the past 24 hours struck two areas of concentration of Russian forces, an ammunition depot and two fuel depots, it said.

[1/7] FILE PHOTO-Dmytro Zilko, a soldier and a patient of the clinic exercises on a new prosthesis with rehabilitation specialist Maria in a prosthetics clinic in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 9, 2023. "Unfortunately, the number of patients has increased significantly," said Andrii Ovcharenko, who works with a team of medics and technicians at the "Without Limits" prosthetics clinic, one of almost 80 now operating in Ukraine. On a recent morning, Ovcharenko's Kyiv clinic assessed two soldiers for artificial legs and adjusted the new limb of a third. U.S. Army General Mark Milley estimated in November at least 100,000 Russian military casualties - killed or wounded, with "probably" the same for Ukraine. It plans to expand, depending on how the war unfolds but is not sure where to open new clinics.

☆ Iran Could Produce Nuclear Weapon in Several Months if It Decides to Do So, Mark Milley Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Laurence Norman | Michael R. Gordon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Gen. Mark Milley’s statement was coupled with a warning that the U.S. won’t allow Iran to have a “fielded nuclear weapon.”Iran would need only several months to build a nuclear weapon if Tehran opted to produce a bomb, Gen. Mark Milley , chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress on Thursday. Gen. Milley’s assessment provides a significantly shorter estimate for how quickly Tehran could become a nuclear power than other public estimates by Western officials and adds to mounting concern about the advances in Iran’s nuclear program.

☆ U.S. carries out air strikes in Syria after deadly attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] U.S. Joint Chiefs Chair Army General Mark Milley speaks with U.S. forces in Syria during an unannounced visit, at a U.S. military base in Northeast Syria, March 4, 2023. REUTERS/Phil Stewart/File PhotoWASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. military carried out multiple air strikes in Syria on Thursday night against Iran-aligned groups who it blamed for a deadly drone attack that killed a contractor, injured another and wounded five U.S. troops, the Pentagon said. The strikes were in retaliation for an attack against a U.S.-led coalition base near Hasakah in northeast Syria at approximately 1:38 p.m. (1038 GMT) on Thursday, it said. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the strikes targeted groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. "The airstrikes were conducted in response to today’s attack as well as a series of recent attacks against Coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the IRGC," Austin said in a statement.

[1/2] U.S. Joint Chiefs Chair Army General Mark Milley speaks with U.S. forces in Syria during an unannounced visit, at a U.S. military base in Northeast Syria, March 4, 2023. The attack against U.S. personnel took place at a coalition base near Hasakah in northeast Syria at approximately 1:38 p.m. (1038 GMT) on Thursday, it said. The other two wounded American troops were treated at the base in northeast Syria, the Pentagon said. Thousands of other Islamic State fighters are in detention facilities guarded by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, America's key ally in the country. American officials say that Islamic State could still regenerate into a major threat.

☆ Top US general says Iran could produce a nuke within 'several' months
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Gen. Mark Milley told lawmakers it would take Iran "several" months to produce a nuke. Before then-President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — formally known as the JCPOA — in May 2018, Iran's breakout time to a nuclear weapon was roughly a year. "Back in 2018, when the previous administration decided to leave the JCPOA, it would have taken Iran about 12 months to produce one bomb's worth of fissile material," Kahl said. Iran has repeatedly maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful, an assertion that has been met with widespread skepticism in the West. During a visit to the Middle East last July, Biden said that the US would use military force as a "last resort" to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

☆ Top US general says it will be really hard and cost a lot of 'blood and treasure' for Ukraine to 'kick out every single Russian' invader
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The top US general believes Russia's war in Ukraine will likely end at the negotiating table. It'll cost Ukraine a lot of "blood and treasure" and be really difficult to expel all the invading Russians, he said. "At some point people will figure out that the cost of continuing to execute this war through military means is extraordinarily challenging. "But there's also the practical matter of being able to physically kick out every single Russian out of all of Ukraine," he continued. "That's really hard to do militarily, and it's an enormous cost in blood and treasure."

☆ Top US general predicts that much of the world's armies, navies, and air forces 'will be robotic' in 15 years, if not sooner
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

He said that robots will play a huge role in the world's armies, navies, and air forces within the next decade or so. Gen. Mark Milley also highlighted the role of artificial intelligence as a military application. Within the next 15 years, if not sooner, Milley said, "you're going to see significant portions of armies and navies and air forces that will be robotic." Some examples of robotic or unmanned systems already exist within the US military, such as drones, but more systems are in the works. Just last month, the Air Force announced that it successfully let AI pilot a fighter jet, building off past testing involving simulated dogfights.

☆ Top Ukraine, U.S. defense officials discussed military aid in call, Kyiv says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Three senior U.S. security officials held a video call with a group of their Ukrainian counterparts to discuss military aid to Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff said on Saturday. "We discussed the further provision of necessary assistance to our country, in particular vehicles, weapons and ammunition," Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram. Yermak said he, Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov, top general Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, and several other senior commanders and officials had attended the meeting. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, top military commander Mark Milley, and the White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan represented the other side. Ukrainian forces continued on Friday to withstand Russian assaults on the ruined city of Bakhmut, the focal point for eight months of Russian attempts to advance through the industrial Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine bordering Russia.

☆ Top Ukraine, U.S. defence officials discussed military aid in call
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, March 18 (Reuters) - Three senior U.S. security officials held a video call with a group of their Ukrainian counterparts to discuss military aid to Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff said on Saturday. "We discussed the further provision of necessary assistance to our country, in particular vehicles, weapons and ammunition," Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram. Yermak said he, Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov, top general Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, and several other senior commanders and officials had attended the meeting. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, top military commander Mark Milley, and the White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan represented the other side. Reporting by Max Hunder Editing by Gareth Jones and Frances KerryOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Replying to Russia’s Drone Provocation
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Pentagon on Thursday released footage of a Russian fighter jet that harassed, dumped fuel on and then collided this week with an American reconnaissance drone. The provocation warrants a U.S. response, and the right one is giving the Ukrainians the sophisticated and long-range weapons they need to defeat Vladimir Putin’s military. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley said Wednesday that it wasn’t clear whether the Russians intended to ram the MQ-9 drone’s propeller; the U.S. was forced to bring down the drone in the Black Sea. But a collision was a risk Russia accepted when its pilots dumped fuel in what the Pentagon calls an “unprofessional” intercept. Gen. Milley noted that the “very aggressive” episode fits “a pattern” of behavior by the Russians.

☆ Russia's new offensive in Ukraine has likely fizzled out after only a month, Western intel says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

UK intelligence suggests Russia's new offensive is on its last legs, just a month after it began. Russian forces have depleted their "combat power," the assessment said. "Even local offensive actions are not currently sustainable," it added. The British Defense Ministry said this is likely because Russian forces have depleted their "combat power" to such a degree that "even local offensive actions are not currently sustainable." There's been an evolving debate between Kyiv and its Western partners over Ukraine's insistence on continuing to defend Bakhmut, which analysts have suggested could fall to Russian forces in the coming days.

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