Russia attacks Ukraine

Politics, History, & 'Conspiracy'
User avatar
Edge Guerrero
Posts: 8287
Joined: Tue Oct 22, 2013 7:14 am
Reputation: 3064
Location: Smackdown Hotel at "the corner of Know Your Role Blvd

Re: Russia attacks Ukraine

Postby Edge Guerrero » Fri Jan 20, 2023 4:53 pm

Luigi wrote:History of Wagner Group:



- I like to read about PMC. Wagner group is a Juggernaut of this area!
- I rent this space for advertising

Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.

I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain

User avatar
Edge Guerrero
Posts: 8287
Joined: Tue Oct 22, 2013 7:14 am
Reputation: 3064
Location: Smackdown Hotel at "the corner of Know Your Role Blvd

Postby Edge Guerrero » Tue Jan 24, 2023 4:20 pm

Deadly and disposable: Wagner’s brutal tactics in Ukraine revealed by intelligence report

By Tim Lister, Frederik Pleitgen, and Victoria Butenko, CNN
Updated 5:36 AM EST, Tue January 24, 2023


Kyiv
CNN

Wagner Group fighters have become the disposable infantry of the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, but a Ukrainian military intelligence document obtained by CNN sets out how effective they have been around the city of Bakhmut – and how difficult they are to fight against.

Wagner is a private military contractor run by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has been highly visible on the frontlines in recent weeks – and always quick to claim credit for Russian advances. Wagner fighters have been heavily involved in taking Soledar, a few miles northeast of Bakhmut, and areas around the town.

The Ukrainian report – dated December 2022 – concludes that Wagner represents a unique threat at close quarters, even while suffering extraordinary casualties. “The deaths of thousands of Wagner soldiers do not matter to Russian society,” the report asserts.

Assault groups do not withdraw without a command… Unauthorized withdrawal of a team or without being wounded is punishable by execution on the spot.”

Phone intercepts obtained by a Ukrainian intelligence source and shared with CNN also indicate a merciless attitude on the battlefield. In one, a soldier is heard talking about another who tried to surrender to the Ukrainians.

“The Wagnerians caught him and cut his f**king balls off,” the soldier says.

CNN can’t independently authenticate the call, which is alleged to have taken place in November

Wounded Wagner fighters are often left on the battlefield for hours, according to the Ukrainian assessment. “Assault infantry is not allowed to carry the wounded off the battlefield on their own, as their main task is to continue the assault until the goal is achieved. If the assault fails, retreat is also allowed only at night.”

Despite a brutal indifference to casualties – demonstrated by Prigozhin himself – the Ukrainian analysis says that Wagner’s tactics “are the only ones that are effective for the poorly trained mobilized troops that make up the majority of Russian ground forces.”

It suggests the Russian army may even be adapting its tactics to become more like Wagner, saying:Instead of the classic battalion tactical groups of the Russian Armed Forces, assault units are proposed.”

That would be a significant change to the Russians’ traditional reliance on larger, mechanized units.

On the ground, according to Ukrainian intelligence phone intercepts, some mobilized troops are thinking about switching to Wagner. In one such intercept, a soldier contrasts Wagner with his unit and says: “It’s f**king heaven and earth. So if I’m going to f**king serve, I’d better f**king serve there.”

The Wagner way of war

The Ukrainian report says that Wagner deploys its forces in mobile groups of about a dozen or fewer, using rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and exploiting real-time drone intelligence, which the report describes as the “key element.”

Another tool the Wagner soldiers have is the use of communications equipment made by Motorola, according to the document.

Motorola told CNN it has suspended all sales to Russia and closed its operations there.

Convicts – tens of thousands of whom have been recruited by Wagner – frequently form the first wave in an attack and take the heaviest casualties – as high as 80% according to Ukrainian officials.

More experienced fighters, with thermal imagery and night-vision equipment, follow.

For the Ukrainians, their own drone intelligence is critical to prevent their trenches being overwhelmed by grenade attacks. The document recounts an incident in December in which a drone spotted an advancing Wagner group, allowing Ukrainian defenses to eliminate it before its troops were able to fire RPGs.

If Wagner forces succeed in taking a position, artillery support allows them to dig foxholes and consolidate their gains, but those foxholes are very vulnerable to attack in open land. And again – according to Ukrainian intercepts – coordination between Wagner and the Russian military is often lacking. In one intercepted call – again not verifiable – a soldier told his father that his unit had mistakenly taken out a Wagner vehicle.

Prigozhin has repeatedly insisted that his fighters were responsible for capturing the town of Soledar and nearby settlements in the past week, the first Russian military gains in months. “No units other than Wagner PMC operatives were involved in the storming of Soledar,” he claimed.

Wagner’s performance is Prigozhin’s route to more resources and is instrumental in his ongoing battle with the Russian military establishment, which he has frequently criticized as inept and corrupt.

According to UK intelligence, Russian military chief of staff Valery Gerasimov gave orders that soldiers should be better turned out. Prigozhin responded that “war is the time of the active and courageous, and not of the clean-shaven.”

Commenting on the new Gerasimov strictures, the UK Defense Ministry said Monday: “The Russian force continues to endure operational deadlock and heavy casualties; Gerasimov’s prioritisation of largely minor regulations is likely to confirm the fears of his many sceptics in Russia.”

Gerasimov was appointed the overall commander of Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine earlier this month amid mounting criticism of its faltering progress.

So long as the Russian defense ministry underperforms, Prigozhin will snap at its heels and demand more resources for Wagner.

The group also appears able to gain weapons by other means. US officials said last week that Wagner had sourced arms from North Korea. “Last month, North Korea delivered infantry rockets and missiles into Russia for use by Wagner,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

Full read at. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/23/europe/russia-wagner-tactics-report-ukraine-intl/index.html
- I rent this space for advertising

Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.

I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain

User avatar
Luigi
Posts: 4234
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2013 11:01 pm
Reputation: 2931

Postby Luigi » Fri Jan 27, 2023 12:24 am

Image

User avatar
Edge Guerrero
Posts: 8287
Joined: Tue Oct 22, 2013 7:14 am
Reputation: 3064
Location: Smackdown Hotel at "the corner of Know Your Role Blvd

Postby Edge Guerrero » Wed Feb 01, 2023 6:26 pm

Fighting Wagner is like a ‘zombie movie’ says Ukrainian soldier

By Tim Lister, Frederik Pleitgen and Konstantin Hak, CNN
Published 9:57 AM EST, Wed February 1, 2023


Near Bakhmut, Ukraine
CNN

Southwest of the city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian soldiers Andriy and Borisych live in a candle-lit bunker cut into the frozen earth. For several weeks they have been confronting hundreds of fighters belonging to the Russian private military contractor Wagner throwing themselves against Ukrainian defenses.

Disguised in a balaclava, Andriy recounts one seemingly endless firefight when they came under attack by a flood of Wagner fighters.

“We were fighting for about 10 hours in a row. And it wasn’t like just waves, it was uninterrupted. So it was just like they didn’t stop coming.”

Their AK-47 rifles became so hot from constant firing, Andriy says, that they had to keep changing them.

“It was about 20 soldiers on our side. And let’s say 200 from their side,” he says.

The Wagner way of war is to send a first wave of attackers that mainly comprises raw recruits straight out of Russian prisons. They know little of military tactics and are poorly equipped. Most just hope that if they survive their six-month contract they can go home rather than back to a cell

“They make the group – let’s say from 10 soldiers – reach 30 meters, then they start digging in to keep the position,” Andriy says of Wagner.


Another group follows, he says, to claim another 30 meters. “That’s how, step by step, (Wagner) is trying to move forward, while they lose a lot of people in the meantime.”


Only when the first wave is exhausted or cut down do Wagner send in more experienced combatants, often from the flanks, in an effort to overrun Ukrainian positions.

Andriy says facing the assault was a frightening and surreal experience.

“Our machine gunner was almost getting crazy, because he was shooting at them. And he said, I know I shot him, but he doesn’t fall. And then after some time, when he maybe bleeds out, so he just falls down.”

Andriy compares the battle to a scene out of a zombie movie. “They’re climbing above the corpse of their friends, stepping on them,” he says.

“It looks like it’s very, very likely that they are getting some drugs before attack,” he says, a claim that CNN has not been able independently to verify.

Even after the first waves were eliminated, the attack continued as the Ukrainian defenders say they ran out of bullets and found themselves surrounded.

“The problem was that they went around us. And that’s how they surrounded us. They came from the other side. We didn’t expect them to come from there.

“We were shooting until the last bullet, so we threw all the grenades we had and left only me and a few guys. We were helpless in that situation.”

They were lucky. Held off until the last moment, the Ukrainian fighters say, Wagner withdrew at the end of the day.

Andriy’s account of Wagner’s approach matches that of a Ukrainian intelligence report obtained by CNN last week.

According to that report, if Wagner forces succeed in taking a position, artillery support allows them to dig foxholes and consolidate their gains. According to Ukrainian intercepts, coordination between Wagner and the Russian military is often lacking.

CNN reached out to Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin this week about allegations of abuse in the company’s ranks.

Prigozhin responded in a statement that was largely sarcastic in tone via his press service, calling CNN an “open enemy” before insisting Wagner is an “exemplary military organization that complies with all the necessary laws and rules of modern wars.”

As he speaks to CNN, the fields above Andriy’s bunker reverberate to almost constant shelling. The whine of outgoing artillery is followed by a distant thud a few seconds later and a few kilometers away.

The chatter of small arms fire erupts as Ukrainian soldiers detect what they believe to be a Russian drone and try to bring it down.

Andriy’s unit says it captured one Wagner fighter, whose story is as tragic as Wagner’s tactics are primitive and brutal.

According to a recording of the man being questioned, the man is an engineer but had taken to selling drugs to make some money. He volunteered to join Wagner in the belief it would expunge his criminal record so that his daughter would have fewer problems following her dream to become a lawyer.

“And when did you realize, you are just meat?” Andriy asks him.

“At the first combat mission. They brought us to the frontline on December 28. They sent us forward last night.”

“How many people were in the group?”

“Ten,” he answers.

Andriy says he had told the engineer: “Obviously, you know that you will be killed (in battle). But you’re afraid to fight for your freedom in your country.”

“He said, ‘Yes, this is true. We’re afraid of Putin.’”


Andriy contrasted Russian President Vladimir Putin with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who not so long ago was the country’s leading comedian.

“Our advantage is that yes, we do, we really can choose the guy whom the [Russians] call a clown. But as we can see, now, this guy is really the leader of the free world, at the moment, on our planet.

Andriy, who is from the southwestern city of Odesa and joined up within days of Russia’s invasion, says that no matter how many more fighters are sent to storm their positions, they will resist.

“Most of my guys, they are volunteers. They had (a) good business, they had (a) good job, they had a good salary, but they came to fight for their homeland. And it makes a great difference,” he says.

“This is the war for freedom. It’s not even the war between Ukraine and Russia. This is a war between a regime and democracy.”


https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/01/europe/ukraine-soldiers-fighting-wagner-intl-cmd/index.html
- I rent this space for advertising

Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.

I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain

User avatar
Masato
Site Admin
Posts: 18295
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:16 pm
Reputation: 8226

Postby Masato » Thu Feb 16, 2023 3:39 pm

nice

There are (at least) 2 sides to this story... but when one side absolutely refuses to acknowledge simple facts and logic, insisting to keep the narrative even when it sounds completely retarded in the face of common sense... its best maybe to start questioning further


User avatar
Masato
Site Admin
Posts: 18295
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:16 pm
Reputation: 8226

Postby Masato » Tue Feb 21, 2023 6:07 pm

Ukraine was never officially part of NATO

Listen to this war-mongering insanity:


User avatar
Masato
Site Admin
Posts: 18295
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:16 pm
Reputation: 8226

Postby Masato » Fri Feb 24, 2023 9:26 pm

Zelensky says its 'dangerous' for people to know where all the hundreds of billions of dollars being funnelled into the Ukraine is actually being spent on.

Just keep sending money, and stop asking questions:


User avatar
Edge Guerrero
Posts: 8287
Joined: Tue Oct 22, 2013 7:14 am
Reputation: 3064
Location: Smackdown Hotel at "the corner of Know Your Role Blvd

Postby Edge Guerrero » Sat Feb 25, 2023 12:06 am

UN Security Council hears echoed demands to end war in Ukraine

The UN chief told the Security Council on Friday that “we need peace” in Ukraine, calling for urgent action on multiple fronts.

“Life is a living hell for the people of Ukraine,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Council, which has held more than 40 debates on the conflict since Russia’s full-scale invasion one year ago.

On the occasion, the 15-member organ held a ministerial-level meeting on the heels of the UN General Assembly’s new demand that Russia immediately leave Ukraine, adopted at the world body’s resumed eleventh emergency special session on Thursday.

“The guns are talking now, but in the end we all know that the path of diplomacy and accountability is the road to a just and sustainable peace, in line with the UN Charter and international law,” the Secretary-General said.

The conflict has erased 30 per cent of pre-war jobs, millions are displaced, and nearly 40 per cent of the population of Ukraine require aid and protection. Almost 10 million people, including 7.8 million children, are at risk of acute post-traumatic stress disorder, he said, adding that Russia is also suffering the deadly consequences.

“We must prevent further escalation, encourage every meaningful effort to end the bloodshed and, at long last, give peace a chance,” he said.

Ukraine: ‘Justice must be served’

Ukraine’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba pointed to clear violations of Charter provisions related to acts of aggression, saying “Russia is the problem of the world.”

“Justice must be served,” he said. In this vein, he called for creating a special tribunal with jurisdiction over the crime of aggression against Ukraine and the ability to deal with the personal immunities of principal perpetrators.

“Peace means justice, and all the peace-loving nations will win peace on the battlefield and at the diplomatic table,” he said, requesting a minute of silence in memory of victims of aggression.

Russia: ‘Goal is not to destroy Ukraine’

Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the “goal of our military operation is not to destroy Ukraine”. But, there had been a missed opportunity to forge peace.

Recalling that the conflict had started with a coup in 2014, he said Ukraine is “not a victim” and is “up to its elbows in blood and Nazi tattoos”. If Kyiv did not wage war on the people of Donetsk and Luhansk, there would have been no need for Russia’s special military operation, he added.

“If Russia stops hostilities, Ukraine will continue discriminating against Russian-speaking people and glorifying Nazism,” he warned. “If Ukraine stops hostilities, it will save many lives. Russia stands ready to negotiate for peace.”

Echoing calls for peace

Echoing calls for peace, many Council members pointed to such reflections of strong international support as the 141 countries who voted for the General Assembly’s new resolution.

“If we abandon Ukraine, we abandon the UN Charter itself and invite a world where might makes right and the strong dominate the weak,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has failed to break the spirit” of Ukrainians.

Emphasizing that Council members must now push for a just peace and ensure accountability, he said “we can never let the crimes Russia committed become ‘normal’. Behind every atrocity in this wretched war and in conflicts around the world is a human being. One man started this war – Vladimir Putin; one man can end it.”

Global impact

The war has caused a grave global crisis, including among developing countries, cancelling out gains made in the COVID-19 pandemic recovery, said Domingos Estêvão Fernandes of Mozambique, which had cast an abstention on the new General Assembly resolution.

From an African perspective, he said, wars only result in people’s suffering. In fulfilling its duty, the international community must now uphold the UN Charter’s provisions on collective security, he added.

Ambassador Michel Xavier Biang of Gabon, which had also abstained on the new resolution, said the UN Charter forms the foundation for all nations’ existence. Recalling divergent views shared in the Council over the past year, he called for unity “to silence the guns in Ukraine”.

“It is time to stem the blood flow,” he said, highlighting the war’s wide-reaching devastating impact. “As Council members, we owe a response to all those killed and injured and to those asking when they can return home.”

‘War of choice’

Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said this is a “war of choice”, by President Putin.

“This war matters both for the principles at stake and for the shockwaves it is creating; it needs to stop, and it needs to stop now,” he said, pointing to Ukrainian and Chinese proposals on that goal. “Looking to the future, we need to build on this [new General Assembly] resolution and make it happen.”

UN chief calls for urgent action

At the outset of the meeting, the UN Secretary-General outlined a range of urgent actions. Efforts must prioritize civilian protection, including ending targeted attacks against them and the use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas.

Some achievements demonstrate that international cooperation is possible, even in the midst of conflict, he said, underscoring the importance of continued engagement in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, by which more than 700 ships have carried more than 20 million metric tonnes of foodstuffs to global supply chains. As the agreement expires in March, he called for its extension.

At the same time, the Secretary-General called for unimpeded humanitarian access for life-saving assistance, and support for reconstruction and recovery efforts. In addition, he urged all parties to swiftly agree and implement a nuclear safety and security protection zone at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, in line with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“Veiled threats to use nuclear weapons in the context of the conflict have spiked nuclear risks to levels not seen since the darkest days of the cold war,” he said. “These threats are unacceptable.”

https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/02/1133877
- I rent this space for advertising

Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.

I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain

User avatar
Diet Butcher
Posts: 1611
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2014 9:31 am
Reputation: 2070

Postby Diet Butcher » Sat Feb 25, 2023 5:59 am


User avatar
Masato
Site Admin
Posts: 18295
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:16 pm
Reputation: 8226

Postby Masato » Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:57 pm

NEW - NATO chief: "Allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member of our alliance" in the long term.



Return to “The Grand Chessboard”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 113 guests