Ukraine

[Vrede too]

Emboldened?
https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/20 ... 9816902726
https://x.com/Osinttechnical/status/2067464916055814326
https://x.com/AdamKinzinger/status/2067585466279370990
https://x.com/bayraktar_1love/status/20 ... 9421857173

Wow. Congrats to the new nation of North Ukraine!

[Vrede too]

Who would have guessed that USA USA USA and Russia would lose their Wars of Choice in the same year?

Ukraine launches major drone attack again on Russia

Ukraine has mounted another large drone attack against Russia overnight, launching hundreds of drones and once again targeting oil infrastructure and military sites near St. Petersburg.

Videos online appear to show large smoke plumes rising from an oil facility in St. Petersburg's port. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine had successfully hit oil infrastructure in the port as well as military targets around the Kronstadt naval base.

Russia's defense ministry said nearly 500 long-range drones were involved in the attack. Moscow's mayor said 200 targeted the capital.


In this screen grab from a video released by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, smoke rises after a Ukrainian drone strike near St. Petersburg, Russia, on July 4, 2026

Ukraine is now successfully hitting oil refineries and infrastructure, as well as defense industry facilities, deep inside Russia on an almost daily basis, as its long-range drone campaign grows.

Many Russian regions are suffering fuel shortages as a result, with people filming themselves waiting in long lines at gas stations.

The Ukrainian drone strikes are bringing the war home to Russians not previously seen.

[Russia’s fuel crisis is so bad that a mom and her baby waited in line for 18 hours to get gas — ‘Are we in the Soviet Union?’
Ouch.]

At the same time, Russia's troubles of the battlefield have appeared to mount. An increasingly effective campaign by Ukraine using medium-range drones is targeting Russia's logistics and seeking to cut off supply lines into occupied Crimea.

Authorities in Crimea have declared a state of emergency over fuel shortages and imposed curfews amid power outages caused by Ukrainian strikes.

... The Russian gains are also coming at enormous cost. Russia's forces are taking tens of thousands of casualties, according to independent analysts and Western intelligence assessment.

A report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) this week assessed Russia's military has now suffered around 1.4 million casualties, including as many as 450,000 deaths.

Ukraine has suffered between 525,000 to 625,000 casualties, the CSIS report found.

Slava Ukraini!

[GoCubsGo]

Ukraine may be feeling more optimistic about their chances.

[supesalemgr2]

Ukraine may be feeling more optimistic about their chances.

The question is:

Which dumb ass - Putin or Iran will blink first?

[GoCubsGo]

The question is:

Which dumb ass - Putin or Iran will blink first?

Neither will probably blink, but Russia may be defeated militarily and monetarily.

[GoCubsGo]

The question is:

Which dumb ass - Putin or Iran will blink first?

Neither will probably blink, but Russia may be defeated militarily and monetarily.

The bloom may be off Vladimir's rose.


Putin Gets Spectacularly Ambushed on Live TV After Leaving His Bunker



Vladimir Putin has ventured out of his safety net for the first time in months and walked smack dab into an ambush during a televised meeting that went off the rails.

Fresh off a tightly controlled publicity stunt in Irkutsk on Friday—where the Russian leader, flanked by bodyguards, made a show of inspecting aircraft—Putin sat down with Kazakhstan's president in the Russian city of Omsk on Saturday.

The 73-year-old Russian president could barely conceal his nervous grimace as Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev used the meeting that was supposed to be about Russia-Kazakh cooperation to throw Putin under the bus.

[GoCubsGo]

3D chess.

[Vrede too]

America:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV5yFY0AzWs

Ukraine, November 2, 2022:

What will be the first thing you’ll do after victory? ‘I will go to Crimea’ says Zelenskyy

... In an interview for Czech television, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was asked: “Mr. President, what will be the first thing you will do after victory? “ (Hint: He’s not going to Disneyland).

Zelenskyy replied with a laugh: “I will go to Crimea. I really want to see the sea.” ...

Russian Mi-8 helicopter shot out of the sky with MANPADS by Ukrainian forces near Donetsk

Putin Has Completely Lost Crimea | Paul Warburg
Fingers crossed


Ukraine Just Killed the One Warship It Could Never Touch — a Russian Kilo Submarine

Ukrainian drones destroy Russian Su-24M bomber at Saky Airfield in Crimea

Divers from the Omega Special Purpose Center of the Ukrainian National Guard, using strike drones, destroyed a Russian Su-24M bomber at the Saky Military Airfield in temporarily occupied Crimea.

Divers?

According to Ukrinform, Major General Oleksandr Pivnenko, commander of the National Guard of Ukraine, announced this on Facebook.

“Our special forces from the Omega Special Purpose Center destroyed a Russian Su-24M bomber at the Saky Military Airfield in the temporarily occupied Crimea,” Pivnenko said....

"temporarily occupied"

Russian $50M stealth jet DOWNED over Moscow is sign that Putin’s air defences are failing

A RUSSIAN fighter jet has crashed and gone up in flames after a suspected friendly fire shootdown near Moscow....

Ouch, own goals really sting, especially when Ukraine manipulates you into them.

Ukraine Waited for Russia's Crimea Helicopters to Land at Berdyansk — Then Blew Them
Wow

Too long, I didn't watch, but looks like it might be exciting and inspiring:

Russia Hid Something HUGE Deep in Donetsk… Ukraine Found It — Then THIS Happened

Russia’s hidden logistics network in occupied Donetsk was meant to keep its war machine fueled and out of Ukraine’s reach. Instead, months of intelligence gathering and precision drone strikes turned a secret fuel depot into an inferno. In this video, we break down Operation Hell, how Ukraine uncovered the concealed facility, the strategy behind the attack, and why strikes on fuel infrastructure could have major consequences for Russia’s military logistics and operations.

[Whack9]

CIA chief John Ratcliffe reportedly made secretive Moscow trip to warn Russia against attacking NATO

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/27/ratclif ... -iran.html

Ratcliffe’s first publicly known visit to the Russian capital as CIA chief came to light on Tuesday, when a U.S. Air Force jet was spotted arriving at a Moscow airport, and footage of a diplomatic motorcade moving through the city emerged on social media.

The purpose of Ratcliffe’s trip to Moscow was first reported Wednesday by the Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources briefed on the trip.

Politico and CBS News separately reported the same motive, citing multiple people familiar with the matter. CBS News added that Ratcliffe also brought up Iran, warning of additional sanctions if the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz does not reopen to shipping traffic.

In 2021 Biden sent then CIA director William Burns to warn Russia against invading Ukraine. US intelligence indicated Russia was building up its forces in preparation for an invasion. Some months later Russia invades Ukraine.

Some are speculating that Russia is planning something against a smaller Nato member, such as one of the baltic countries. Maybe not a full scale invasion like Ukraine, but something to test the resolve of the alliance, especially in light of today's unprecedented US geopolitical weakness. Of course there's absolutely no way of knowing for sure.

[GoCubsGo]

Thought DonOld was gonna end that war in three days.

It was from Russia that the first missiles and the first drones came, and they crossed our country’s border from Russian airspace. This escalation cannot and will not remain confined to Ukrainian territory.

Today, we want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace, every insurer, and everyone who still uses Russia’s key airports: Russian airspace is becoming completely unsafe. Ukraine does not threaten civilian aviation as such – not a single civilian aircraft. There will simply be drones in Russia’s skies on a scale that has to be taken into account. Although the Russian authorities are not properly informing people about this, Russian airspace will effectively be closing – the war started by Russia is closing its skies.

We in Ukraine do not want innocent lives to be lost. That is why we are warning our partners: the safe days in Russia’s skies are over. It is important that this is heard by the ambassadors of countries represented here in Ukraine, as well as by ambassadors working in Moscow. Every one of them knows exactly what Russia’s war means for our country and our people, and they must convey this information to their capitals. It is important that the airlines currently flying to airports primarily in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other key destinations in Russia hear this as well.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and our other institutions will provide international organizations with full information about the dangers in Russian airspace. Drone-infested skies are no place for civilian aviation.

[Vrede too]

Thought DonOld was gonna end that war in three days.

Opps. GoVolodymyrGo Slava Ukraini!

Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv says 2,500 Russian troops trapped on tiny strip of land with artillery destroyed
Kyiv says it has restricted ammunition and food deliveries to the thin strip of beach sand where Moscow’s troops are stranded

Russian strikes destroy millions of school books for Ukrainian children - ICYMI

Russian attacks on Ukraine this year have destroyed about a million textbooks in strikes on publishing houses, officials in Kyiv said.

Classes were due to resume at Ukrainian schools today, but it is not immediately clear whether maybe parents would be willing to send their children in. Schools have air raid shelters, and classes can also be held online.

The destruction of textbooks has potentially delayed deliveries for the start of the school year, Ukraine’s education ministry said.

A plant on the outskirts of Kyiv destroyed this week was in the process of delivering 1.3 million copies of textbooks, almost 10 per cent of the country’s supply, local media reported.

Monsters.

Putin’s friends finally tell him the truth: Get out of Ukraine to save yourself
The Russian president didn’t like what Narendra Modi told him but India’s PM is trying to keep the global gang together, explains world affairs editor

... Putin is on the back foot. Almost 40 per cent of the economy of the Russian Federation is dedicated to the war effort, but that effort is proving fruitless. Its harvest is only death – more than 30,000 Russian soldiers are being cut down every month for microscopic gains that ebb and flow on a tide of blood.

Russian capital is being yanked out of banks. Ukrainian deep strikes against the fuel infrastructure across Russia are causing long queues at gas stations while white Russians, who rule the federation, are sending the different ethnicities from Russia’s eastern empire into the Donbas meat grinder.

Putin is rattled. That is why he has been threatening Europe and the United Kingdom. But his weakness is covered by the fig leaf of threat. But that fig leaf may not be just show. (CIA director John) Ratcliffe is understood to have told his fellow spymasters in Moscow to back off from any plans to nip at Nato, via military incursions and hybrid attacks, as a way of easing the pressure in Ukraine.

Modi has been described by Trump as a “great person” and a “great friend of mine over the years” even though he has decried India’s close economic relations with Moscow.

These are crocodile tears because, of course. Trump has not, for example, kept his promise of sanctions against New Delhi over Russian crude sales, which hit a record of 50.8 per cent of India’s imports in July.

Trump is also dazzled by Putin. He seemingly behaves as if he’s part of the Kremlin’s own machine.

Trump has backed Putin’s demands for a massive chunk of Ukrainian territory, cut military aid to Ukraine, sought to gouge Kyiv over mineral extraction deals like a mafia mobster, and consistently threatened to invade Denmark’s Greenland and annex Canada. A Russian spymaster could never have dreamed of so highly placed an asset so absolutely serving Moscow’s interests.

Reagan rolls over in his grave.

So, Trump has been a useful idiot for Moscow and India.

But he is not without his own power and he needs them both to help him out of a fix called the mid-term elections to Congress. In November he could lose control of the House and even the Senate and then spend the dotage of his presidency hamstrung by indictments.

Fingers crossed.

He has got the US stuck in an unpopular and unwinnable illegal war against Iran. Globally Trump, who promised peace in Ukraine, has shown that he’s made America weak, not great.

Wounded and dangerous, Putin is threatening Europe and his flunkies like to hint at the use of nuclear weapons. But his army in Ukraine could collapse and what remains of his economy could be shattered if he took on Nato. Indeed, a sudden implosion of command and control on his western front is not unlikely now anyway. This could be the end of him.

Fingers crossed.

And that would be bad for Trump and bad for Modi who want, and need, to keep the band together.

[GoCubsGo]

If Vlad didn't have nukes, they'd be targeting his ass.

A Russian jet-drone (basically a cruise missile) just flew into the office of the head of Ukraine’s intelligence service SBU, Poklad, in the heart of Kyiv. He wasn’t killed but Zelensky has ordered a mirror retaliation whenever possible. Looks like FSB chief Bortnikov has made himself a target. Fewer and fewer red lines in this war.

[supesalemgr2]

If Vlad didn't have nukes, they'd be targeting his ass.

A Russian jet-drone (basically a cruise missile) just flew into the office of the head of Ukraine’s intelligence service SBU, Poklad, in the heart of Kyiv. He wasn’t killed but Zelensky has ordered a mirror retaliation whenever possible. Looks like FSB chief Bortnikov has made himself a target. Fewer and fewer red lines in this war.

The pressure on Putin has to be huge. How long before he realizes he needs to go? I accept he runs a very tight ship, but at some point some generals are going to decide for him.

[Whack9]

If Vlad didn't have nukes, they'd be targeting his ass.

A Russian jet-drone (basically a cruise missile) just flew into the office of the head of Ukraine’s intelligence service SBU, Poklad, in the heart of Kyiv. He wasn’t killed but Zelensky has ordered a mirror retaliation whenever possible. Looks like FSB chief Bortnikov has made himself a target. Fewer and fewer red lines in this war.

The pressure on Putin has to be huge. How long before he realizes he needs to go? I accept he runs a very tight ship, but at some point some generals are going to decide for him.

Does he though? One of the traps these types of authoritarian leaders nearly always fall into is being surrounded by yes-men that only report positive spins rather than the truth. Putin seems to be experiencing the same.

[Vrede too]

Does he though? One of the traps these types of authoritarian leaders nearly always fall into is being surrounded by yes-men that only report positive spins rather than the truth. Putin seems to be experiencing the same.

They might have trouble spinning this:

Putin Humiliated as He Suffers Nearly $750 Million Blow

3 ships, oil and port facilities, Siberia!

SLAVA UKRAINI!