WW3? Ukraine/US vs. Donbass/Russia

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by norman (here)
After being struck by a Russian missile, the iconic Harry Potter Castle in Odesa is engulfed in flames, a devastating event that has shocked fans and residents alike. The beloved landmark, known for its enchanting architecture and magical ambiance, now stands as a symbol of the destruction caused by the ongoing conflict

I did a quick search to find out why the Russians had done this, but of course western media is full of screeching propaganda about the evil destructive ruthless Putin, etc etc etc etc.

My first guess would be that mercenaries (or French troops??) were hiding there, but I don't know the facts at all. No way would Russia have struck this target without pretty good reason. Maybe we'll learn more later today.

[Tintin]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by norman (here)
After being struck by a Russian missile, the iconic Harry Potter Castle in Odesa is engulfed in flames, a devastating event that has shocked fans and residents alike. The beloved landmark, known for its enchanting architecture and magical ambiance, now stands as a symbol of the destruction caused by the ongoing conflict

I did a quick search to find out why the Russians had done this, but of course western media is full of screeching propaganda about the evil destructive ruthless Putin, etc etc etc etc.

My first guess would be that mercenaries (or French troops??) were hiding there, but I don't know the facts at all. No way would Russia have struck this target without pretty good reason. Maybe we'll learn more later today.

This was a Ukrainian air defence projectile that, not for the first time, failed to intercept a Russian missile heading elsewhere targeted as they usually are at military installations, and (the debris from AD - air defence) landed on the Law Academy of Sergei Kivalov. You can take that to the bank

Library saved footage here:



PS: of course if the Russians had actually targeted it - which they didn't - it wouldn't be there at all; it'd be dust

[shaberon]

At this point, Ukraine is perishing at a rate of over a thousand per day:


...at least 8,280 Ukrainian soldiers were neutralized during one week on the battlefield.


And the way in which they are being slowed down:



The Russian military treats the abandoned bodies of dead Ukrainians to avoid their decomposition and infections.

In an attempt to slow down Russian offensive, the Ukrainian military command has deployed fresh reserves to the area of Chasov Yar. The reinforcement included nationalist militants from the former Kraken Nazi Battalion. Together with the nationalist militants, units of the special forces of the Amin Intelligence Directorate, as well as the 18th brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine was also thrown to the battles for Chasov Yar.


According to Asia Times:


In a disturbing and rather underreported development, NATO is starting to deploy combat troops to Ukraine, with British, French, Polish and other soldiers arriving in huge numbers, writes Stephen Bryen (former staff director of the Near East Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and former deputy undersecretary of defense for policy), noting that those are not mercenaries, but regular military “in uniform, home country proclaimed via insignia”, and mostly “concentrated in the western part of the country, although in some cases they are close to the actual fighting in the east.”


As for the debris:

The infamous Odessa Law Academy is known to be highly corrupt. The building of the educational institution confirms this. Last year, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Zaluzhny, defended his thesis there.


We see where Temptation lives:


Italy has joined the list of countries that supply Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles. In his interview with The Times, British Secretary of State for Defence Grant Shapps confirmed that together with Paris and London, Rome is preparing its SCALP EG/Storm Shadow cruise missiles for supply to Ukraine for the attacks in Russian rear, in particular in Crimea.



Why does that seem like a natural fit?

[ExomatrixTV]

• NATO is starting to deploy Troops in Ukraine and Russia is Racing to Win
  "US Troops to Ukraine After Biden is reelected?"

• dutch 🇳🇱 (+ Multi-Language Options). 🦜🦋🌳

[ExomatrixTV]

• Aaron Maté : Ten Years of US in Ukraine:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=gp2fMIGyXNw

This presentation by Aaron Mate should be re broadcast by Judge Andrew Napolitano several times. It is the most comprehensive summary of what has happened in Ukraine in the last 10 years.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Tintin (here)

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by norman (here)
After being struck by a Russian missile, the iconic Harry Potter Castle in Odesa is engulfed in flames, a devastating event that has shocked fans and residents alike. The beloved landmark, known for its enchanting architecture and magical ambiance, now stands as a symbol of the destruction caused by the ongoing conflict

I did a quick search to find out why the Russians had done this, but of course western media is full of screeching propaganda about the evil destructive ruthless Putin, etc etc etc etc.

My first guess would be that mercenaries (or French troops??) were hiding there, but I don't know the facts at all. No way would Russia have struck this target without pretty good reason. Maybe we'll learn more later today.

This was a Ukrainian air defence projectile that, not for the first time, failed to intercept a Russian missile heading elsewhere targeted as they usually are at military installations, and (the debris from AD - air defence) landed on the Law Academy of Sergei Kivalov. You can take that to the bank

Library saved footage here:



PS: of course if the Russians had actually targeted it - which they didn't - it wouldn't be there at all; it'd be dust

An interesting, detailed and useful comment posted by Svetlana Vladimirova under Alex Christoferou's video update for today.

@SvetlanaVladimirova8590

Update from Odessa: Yesterday my hometown of Odessa was once again hit by Russian missiles. One destroyed Ukrainian army HQ in the city center. If The New York Times is to be believed, another missile hit “a Gothic-style building known locally as ‘Harry Potter’s Castle’, which houses a private law academy.”

This is utter nonsense. Setting aside the fact that Russian military would hardly target a building of zero military or strategic value, “Harry Potter’s Castle” is not at all “a private law academy,” but the opulent, private home of former Rada deputy Sergei Kivalov, owner of the aforementioned academy, notorious and loathed big-time Ukrainian crook.

Moreover, the available evidence strongly suggests that the castle was in fact hit by a Ukrainian air defense missile, although details regarding how this happened are unclear. Tragically, five people walking near the castle were killed. However, many Odessa residents are deriving some solace from the fact that the hideously corrupt and despised Kivalov, at home at the time, was badly injured.

Unsurprisingly, Western MSM are Ukrainian authorities are blaming this on Russia. Don’t believe it.

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/TarasKuzio/status/1785585511337202162

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/7...aba16a7eee85a3

Four killed in Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s ‘Harry Potter castle’
Children and a pregnant woman among those injured in attack

The architectural landmark houses the Odesa Law Academy, one of Ukraine’s leading higher educational institutions, and serves as the residence of Serhiy Kivalov, a prominent former MP who is the president of the university. It was reported that Kivalov was among those injured in the strike.

Kiper said that among eight people seriously injured were two children, one of them four years old, and a pregnant woman. It was reported that 23 people were being treated in hospital.

“Monsters. Beasts. Savages. Scum. I don’t know what else to say,” Gennadiy Trukhanov, the mayor of Odesa, said in a video posted on Telegram. “People are going for a walk by the sea and they are shooting and killing.”

Trukhanov added that separate Russian shelling had killed one person in the past 24 hours. At least two people were killed and six injured in the northeastern city of Kharkiv on Tuesday, according to Oleh Syniehubov, governor of Kharkiv Oblast.

President Zelensky said: “My condolences to family and friends. Many wounded — everyone is being helped now.” He called for more support from Ukraine’s allies to stop “Russia’s regular missile attacks, as well as the occupier’s efforts to destroy as many Ukrainian positions as possible”.

He said: “Ukrainian strength must be backed up by sufficient support from partners. ‘Patriots’ that need to be in Ukraine now, the 155mm-calibre [artillery ammunition] … and weapons with sufficient range to destroy Russian logistics.”

Jens Stoltenberg, secretary-general of Nato, said “serious delays in support have meant serious consequences on the battlefield” for Ukraine and that that the “process must be sped up”.

Speaking from Kyiv, Stoltenberg added: “The lack of ammunition has allowed the Russians to push forward along the front line. Lack of air defence has made it possible for more Russian missiles to hit their targets, and the lack of deep strike capabilities has made it possible for the Russians to concentrate more forces.”


https://x.com/Zagonel85/status/1784992067757760985

https://x.com/Newsweek/status/1785256155222028480

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/OlgaBazova/status/1785545609098736097

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
🇷🇺🇺🇦 Army group O broke into Arkhangelskoye and completed the defeat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the village near Avdeevka
▪️After the liberation of Ocheretino, Novokalinov and Keramika, the “Center” group of troops broke into Arkhangelskoye, continuing the offensive from Avdeevka.
▪️The Central Military District soldiers broke through the defenses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and actually defeated the enemy, taking most of the village under control.
▪️The cleansing and finishing off of scattered groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the outskirts continues.
▪️Meanwhile, Ukrainian military analysts recognize the new advances of our troops, but traditionally underestimate them:
➖"In the Pokrovsky direction, Russian troops took the village of Novokalinovo and the village of Keramik , advancing in an area up to 5.2 km wide to a depth of 1.4 km.
➖East of the village of Novoaleksandrovka, the Russian Armed Forces advanced along two forest belts in a northern direction in an area up to 900 m wide to a depth of up to 630 meters.
➖West of Solovyovo, the Russians continue attacks in the direction of the Samoilov beam."
http://t.me/RVvoenkor

https://x.com/GeromanAT/status/1785748737555406984

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://x.com/warintel4u/status/1785758567196172679

https://x.com/ArthurM40330824/status...88959836065966

[COLOR="red"]

https://x.com/dana916/status/1785869557866852603

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇸🇺🇦Earlier a warehouse with shells from the United States, which had just been brought, was destroyed in Odessa.

Perhaps even within the framework of the newly accepted assistance package. 155 mm shells arrived in the morning from Romania by sea. At the moment, detonation is going on and a fire is raging. The SBU has cordoned off the area where two missiles from Comrade Iskander K. arrived, and catches everyone who is trying to film the place on video.

Detonations are still ongoing. $61 billion well-spent.

ForeignAgentIntel

https://x.com/dana916/status/1785859808198824435

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦🇺🇸🇪🇺Communications equipment, drones and weapons - more NATO trophies at an exhibition on Moscow's Poklonnaya Gora.

The West has handed over to Ukraine not only equipment, but also many other devices for combat operations.

Western radios, grenade launchers, small arms, heavy weapons and NATO-made shells are on display in the "Trophies of the Russian Army" tent.

Russian soldiers have also managed to keep drones in good condition. Including a heavy hexocopter.

ukraine_watch

https://x.com/dana916/status/1785860649790140694

[Tintin]

Posted by Ravenlocke (here)
https://x.com/TarasKuzio/status/1785585511337202162

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/7...aba16a7eee85a3

Four killed in Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s ‘Harry Potter castle’
Children and a pregnant woman among those injured in attack

The architectural landmark houses the Odesa Law Academy, one of Ukraine’s leading higher educational institutions, and serves as the residence of Serhiy Kivalov, a prominent former MP who is the president of the university. It was reported that Kivalov was among those injured in the strike.

Kiper said that among eight people seriously injured were two children, one of them four years old, and a pregnant woman. It was reported that 23 people were being treated in hospital.

“Monsters. Beasts. Savages. Scum. I don’t know what else to say,” Gennadiy Trukhanov, the mayor of Odesa, said in a video posted on Telegram. “People are going for a walk by the sea and they are shooting and killing.”

Trukhanov added that separate Russian shelling had killed one person in the past 24 hours. At least two people were killed and six injured in the northeastern city of Kharkiv on Tuesday, according to Oleh Syniehubov, governor of Kharkiv Oblast.

President Zelensky said: “My condolences to family and friends. Many wounded — everyone is being helped now.” He called for more support from Ukraine’s allies to stop “Russia’s regular missile attacks, as well as the occupier’s efforts to destroy as many Ukrainian positions as possible”.

He said: “Ukrainian strength must be backed up by sufficient support from partners. ‘Patriots’ that need to be in Ukraine now, the 155mm-calibre [artillery ammunition] … and weapons with sufficient range to destroy Russian logistics.”

Jens Stoltenberg, secretary-general of Nato, said “serious delays in support have meant serious consequences on the battlefield” for Ukraine and that that the “process must be sped up”.

Speaking from Kyiv, Stoltenberg added: “The lack of ammunition has allowed the Russians to push forward along the front line. Lack of air defence has made it possible for more Russian missiles to hit their targets, and the lack of deep strike capabilities has made it possible for the Russians to concentrate more forces.”


https://x.com/Zagonel85/status/1784992067757760985

https://x.com/Newsweek/status/1785256155222028480

Yup, the screeching propaganda that Bill referred to, further back on the thread Pathetic stuff from legacy media - really pathetic drivel. Once upon a time Western propaganda used to be really very good, or at the least a little convincing. Much like the DEI infested military apparatuses in the 'West' even the PR machine is getting rusty and decrepit.

[Tintin]

Musing on Odessa

Some of my own passing thoughts here concerning Odessa: now, according to intel and commentary I've picked up through Telegram over the last couple weeks or so there seems to be an active Russian underground in operation in the city; that oughtn't to be too much of a surprise in truth. One guesses that there are probably Russian Special Forces embedded there too (Spetsnaz, or equivalent maybe?) My hunch is that in tandem with the targeted missile strikes on military installations - ammunition silos and the like - that the city will be 'softened up' from within, with any concerted show of force at brigade level and more intense aerospace operations following later on in support of any sabotage ops. 'Big arrow' WW2 style offensive activity is likely off-the-table due to advances in ISR capability.

Those of us following events here closely are already aware that the capture of Odessa would seal what's left of Ukraine into an essentially land-locked and somewhat rump entity. We'll see of course but securing Odessa must most definitely be a Russian strategy and may well have been for quite some time, and certainly following the Western sponsored scuppering of the Istanbul 'peace' talks from April 2022, and subsequent to the referenda held in the four new regions from autumn/fall of 2022.

The other area of immense interest is of course Kharkov where it seems that there have been incremental Russian advances, and military successes.

[Tintin]

Posted by Tintin (here)
Known defective German Leopard 1A5 tanks acquired by Ukraine November 2023

Via Intel Slava Z on Telegram published 2 hours or so ago. *Documents are written in Ukrainian with no English translation, save for below*.

Russian hackers from the Beregini group published a report of the Ukrainian military, which received German Leopard 1A5 tanks in Poland in November last year. During acceptance, it turned out that almost all tanks had defects

*With thanks to Simplicius in his most recent, here, we now have an English translation

[ExomatrixTV]

• 'Ukraine Is Not Anymore Sovereign State', Says Hungary's Orban:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=7LqxzeUZqTk

. Various of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arriving at conference

2. Various of Orban walking on stage, preparing to speak

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Viktor Orban, Hungarian Prime Minister:

“The sense of this European election is - change the leadership. What is election for? The sense of election is that if the leadership proves to be bad, must be replaced. That is so simple. And this leadership of European Union is simply bad. It has failed. So it's not just a political statement, it is very much factual.”

4. Orban on stage

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Viktor Orban, Hungarian Prime Minister:

“I think that nations have the right to decide about their own future. So if somebody would like to make an attempt to create a mixed society, Christian-based with Muslim community, and as liberal thing that the outcome will be something good - let's do it, it is your fate, your future, but don’t force us to do so. That’s what we called the offer of tolerance, what I have made several times to Brussels. I said, 'guys, you can create whatever migration system you would like to do, but don’t force Hungary to do the same thing, because we simply don’t believe.' We think that mixture of two civilizations will not result in good things.”

6. Orban on stage

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Viktor Orban, Hungarian Prime Minister:

“We respect (inaudible) rights of Ukraine, sovereignty of Ukraine, (inaudible) people to maintain their own state. So therefore the invasion of Putin against Ukraine is totally against values of international relations and all the values we respect, so no question of that. But the Hungarian point of interest is that something must be between Russia and Hungary, so this is the number one. So we support Ukraine to survive somehow, which is questioned, because Ukraine is not any more sovereign state. Ukraine is now just the protectorate of the West. So without getting the money and weapons from the European Union and United States, Ukraine as a state would cease to exist. So it is not a sovereign state anymore.”

8. Wide of conference

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Viktor Orban, Hungarian Prime Minister:

“Hungary has always had good economic relations with Russia, so I would not like to give up that kind of cooperation. Because the war between Ukraine and Russia is not the war of Hungarians. It is the war of two Slavic nations, one big Slavic nation attacked another one. And they have a war. And we don’t behave like the Europeans who said - 'oh it is our war, because it is about values, it is about international order, whatsoever, so we are in the war, it is our war but not fully. Because we would not like to die. So, please Ukrainians die, we give the money, give the weapons and defend our values please. So it is not so much our war to go into, to take the lives, to fight there, but just to finance your (inaudible).' So, I don’t like that approach at all.”

10. Wide of conference

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Viktor Orban, Hungarian Prime Minister:

”The reason of the war is very simple. It is called NATO membership. And just as a country who was occupied by the Russians for 45 years, I can say from personal experience that Russians will never allow to have membership of Ukraine as it is now in NATO. For the geopolitical thinking, it is impossible. They will always do everything to have something between the Russian border and NATO countries' border. It could be called Ukraine, it could be war zone, whatever, but a buffer zone must exist between NATO and Ukraine.”

12. Wide of conference

[Tintin]

Referring to Hervé's post on the Ukraine Webcast thread. There may actually be a case for merging these but that can perhaps wait a bit. Given the purges on YouTube and link breakages as a result of censorship I felt it timely to recover this moment, and save it to our archives:

[HISTORICAL] Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet And Catherine Ashton Discuss Ukraine Over The Phone

Intercepted telephone conversation from 2014

Description:

Officers of Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) loyal to the ousted President Viktor Yanukovich have hacked phones of Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Paet and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and leaked their conversation to the web.

The officials discuss their impressions of what's happening in the country after the revolution.

The gist of it is that Ukrainian people have no trust in any of the leaders of Maidan.

However the most striking thing of all is the fact which concerns the use of force during the revolution, particularly the snipers who killed both protesters and officers of the riot police.

Mr. Paet reveals astonishing information which confirms the rumours that the snipers were employed by the leaders of Maidan.

MP3 below:

Duration: 00:10:49
Year: 2014

Conversation proper starts at 00:01:53

[Tintin]

"The State Department has accused Telizhenko being part of a "Russia-linked foreign influence network." In Sept. 2020 it revoked his visa to travel to the United States. Telizhenko, who now lives in a western European country where he was granted political asylum, denies working with Russia and says that he is a whistleblower speaking out to expose how U.S. interference has ravaged his country. RealClearInvestigations has confirmed that he worked closely with top American officials while they advanced policies aimed at severing Ukraine’s ties to Russia. No official contacted for this article – including former CIA chief John Brennan and senior State Department official Victoria Nuland – disputed any of his claims.

- Aaron Maté, for RealClearInvestigations, April 30, 2024

What 10 Years of U.S. Meddling in Ukraine Have Wrought (Spoiler Alert: Not Democracy)

Way too long to post here but can be read in its entirety via our Avalon Library PDF copy, here, or at source:

"This account of U.S. interference in Ukraine, which can be traced to fateful decisions made by the Obama administration, including then-Vice President Biden and his top aides, is based on often overlooked public disclosures. It also relies on the personal testimony of Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian diplomat and Democratic Party-tied political consultant who worked closely with U.S. officials to promote regime change in Ukraine.

Although he once welcomed Washington’s influence in Ukraine, Telizhenko now takes a different view. “I'm a Ukrainian who knew how Ukraine was 30 years ago, and what it became today,” he says. “For me, it's a total failed state.” In his view, Ukraine has been “used directly by the United States to fight a [proxy] war with Russia” and “as a rag to make money for people like Biden and his family.”"

Source: https://www.realclearinvestigations....y_1027411.html

[Vicus]

Odessa Massacre Ten Years On: How Radicals Drowned City in Blood to Subdue Ukraine



Thursday marks the 10th anniversary of the May 2, 2014 Odessa Trade Unions Building massacre, in which 48 anti-Maidan activists were burned alive by neo-Nazi thugs. The violence, coming soon after Kiev kicked off its ‘anti-terrorist operation’ in the Donbass, demonstrated the new regime’s readiness to drown Ukraine in blood to cling to power.

The warm weather of the spring of 2014 was accompanied by the winds of revolutionary fervor across southeastern Ukraine, with activists from across Kharkov, the Donbass, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Kherson, Nikolayev and Odessa rising up in opposition to the Euromaidan coup in Kiev that had taken place in February.
The US and EU-sponsored insurrection in the Ukrainian capital, which culminated in the ouster of democratically elected government of President Viktor Yanukovych and his replacement by radical pro-US and ultra-nationalist forces seeking to scupper relations with Russia in favor of closer ties with the West, was met with anger by many residents in Ukraine’s southeast. Holding dear the centuries of common historical, cultural, linguistic, family, economic and other bonds with Russia, residents of southeastern regions favored Ukraine’s entry into the Eurasian Union, and expressed opposition to the pro-EU, pro-NATO course of the new authorities in Kiev.

When the Euromaidan protests began in November 2013, and as pro-Maidan activists had only just established their first encampments in the center of Kiev to protest the Yanukovych government’s rejection of a European association deal with the EU, Odessa became among the first cities in Ukraine’s southeast where opposition to the Maidan was organized.

continue: https://sputnikglobe.com/20240502/od...118193803.html

[Vicus]

Pro-Maidan activists and football ultras watch burning House of Trade Unions Building in Odessa after setting it alight with dozens of anti-Maidan activists inside.

“Another piece of evidence that these events were planned in advance is that on April 29, [then-Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Andriy] Parubiy came to Odessa. As I said, there were five checkpoints around the city. There was also a post near the Seventh-Kilometer Market, which he visited, bringing bulletproof vests to the Maidan protesters. I don’t know what else he brought, but in any case, it included about 20 pieces of level 5 body armor. Then he held a meeting at the Odessa Regional Administration. I believe he came to review the preparations, to check whether everything was ready for the operation, which was already planned for May 2, under the pretext of the football match…Was he in Odessa on May 2? I cannot say. I don’t think he was. But among those who committed the crimes of that day, some were in touch with him,” the investigator said.

“At about 7 pm, when the Trade Unions building had started to burn and I saw that people were dying, I began calling the Fire Department, but the line was always busy. I saw a man jump out of the building before my eyes, or get thrown out the window – literally five meters in front of me a body slammed down onto the ground. As it turned out, it was former Odessa Regional Council lawmaker Slava Markin. Before that, I heard a woman’s cry ‘help, people, help!’ They shouted from the street in response ‘Shout your mouth!’ Suddenly the woman fell silent, and a man appeared in the window with the flag of Ukraine shouting ‘Glory to Ukraine!’ and from the street they shouted back ‘Glory to Heroes!’ and applauded. I don’t know for certain, but I believe they killed Irina Yakovenko – the woman who was then shown repeatedly in television reports dead in an unnatural position on the table in the Trade Unions building. She was strangled with a wire.”

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240502/od...118193803.html

[Vicus]

Nowhere to Hide: Ukrainian Retreat Shows Their Defense Lines Barely Exist 2 hours ago

A recent article has stressed that Ukrainian soldiers are outmatched and outgunned and often forced to retreat to poor rear defenses.

Ukrainian soldiers find no shelter even after retreating from the front lines since rear defenses barely exist, a new report by the Associated Press has revealed.
According to the outlet, Ukraine is currently bracing to build concrete-fortified trenches, yet this comes amid constant shelling by the Russian Army and in the absence of proper equipment, limiting the impact of the measure.
The Kiev regime has allocated $960 million to create a fortified network, however corruption and bureaucracy plague the process.
According to the data, construction companies were awarded contracts to erect the third defensive line without a typical bidding process – clearly increasing the risk of corruption. The managing directors of these businesses lament the passivity of the Ukrainian state.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240502/no...118228062.html