True Left

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, warned that Russia could face a revolution similar to those of 1917 and lose the conflict in Ukraine unless the elite got serious about fighting the war.

Russia’s most powerful mercenary said his political outlook was dominated by love for the motherland and serving President Vladimir Putin, but cautioned that Russia was in danger of turmoil.

Prigozhin said there was a so-called optimistic view that the West would get tired of war and China would broker a peace deal, but that he did not really believe in that interpretation.

“Most likely of all, this scenario will not be good for Russia so we need to prepare for an arduous war,” he said in an interview posted on his Telegram channel.

“We are in such a condition that we could f—— lose Russia – that is the main problem … We need to impose martial law.”

Prigozhin said his nickname “Putin’s chef” was stupid as he could not cook and had never been a chef, quipping that “Putin’s butcher” might be a more apt nickname.

Prigozhin criticized Russia’s post-Soviet policy towards Ukraine and cast the implementation of what the Kremlin calls the “special military operation” as unclear, contradictory and confused.

Russia’s military leadership, he said, had “f—– up” repeatedly during the war. The stated aim of demilitarizing Ukraine, he said, had failed.

Prigozhin said Soviet leader Josef Stalin would not have accepted such failure. A cross-border attack into Russia’s Belgorod region indicated the failures of the military leadership, he said, warning that Ukraine would seek to strike deeper into Russia.

Wagner, he said, had recruited around 50,000 convicts during the war, of whom about 20 per cent had perished. Around the same amount of his contract soldiers – 10,000 – had perished, he said.

In Bakhmut, Prigozhin said, Ukraine had suffered casualties of 50,000-70,000 wounded and 50,000 dead.

Reuters is unable to verify casualty claims from either side, and neither Russia nor Ukraine release figures on their own casualties. Ukraine has said Russian losses are far higher than its losses.

Prigozhin said Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu should be replaced by Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev while Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov should be replaced by Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian media.

A new video shows Russian reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs was seemingly hit by an unmanned surface vessel in the Black Sea, disputing a claim by Moscow, which said it had been able to thwart a Ukrainian attack on the craft. CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports. #CNN #News

Over a year ago, as Russian mobs masquerading as soldiers charged through Ukrainian towns and cities - killing, raping and looting - Germany decided enough was enough. Berlin leapt into action.

They sent Kyiv 5,000 helmets.

Fast forward a year, and Germany has pledged tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, drones, guns, shells - enough heavy metal to fill Moscow’s Red Square.

In one short year, other countries also transformed from ugly, kit-hogging ducklings into beautiful weapon-gifting swans.

Defence chiefs realised that Russia’s land army was being written down in Ukraine, with varying estimates asserting a minimum of 10-year period for Russia to rebuild its forces.

Russian forces have launched a rare daytime aerial assault on Kyiv. Ukraine's military said it shot down all the missiles fired at the city, with reports of injuries and fires from falling debris.
The city's residents raced for shelter as explosions were heard in Kyiv's central districts. It's the latest in a series of attacks on Kyiv and other parts of the country in recent days. Officials in western Ukraine say a military facility there was hit. At least one person was killed and several injured. The increasing bombardment comes amid speculation that a Ukrainian campaign to reclaim occupied territory will begin soon.
For months Ukraine has been calling for more ammunition, as it struggles to retake land occupied by Russian forces.
Officials say they need 350,000 shells a month. High in demand is the 155-mm shell. Weighing around 45 kilograms with a range of around 30 kilometers, it’s small enough to travel far distances. But big enough to incur a lot of damage.
The European Union says it’s on course to provide a million shells this year, drawn from existing stocks and new orders. So far the US has sent 1.5 million rounds.
And the US Army is ramping up production from 14,000 rounds a month before the war began to 85,000 by 2028.

Ukrainian officials say they shot down more than three dozen drones over Kyiv — Russia's largest drone attack on the city since the start of the war. The bombardment lasted more than five hours and killed at least one person.

MOSCOW / KYIV -

Moscow said Ukrainian artillery had hit a town inside Russia for a third time this week and reported drone strikes on two Russian oil refineries on Wednesday, while Ukrainian shelling in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine killed five people.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the Russian reports, in a week when both countries accused each other of spreading terror in their capitals with air attacks as Ukraine prepares a Western-backed push to end Russia's invasion.

 Russia's envoy accused Washington of encouraging Kyiv after the attack. The White House had said it was gathering information on the incident and reiterated that Washington does not support attacks inside Russia.

A senior Russian official also hit out at Britain after British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was reported to have said Ukraine had a right to project force beyond its borders.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi laid out five principles at a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday to try to safeguard the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine committed to respect them.

Thursday saw yet another attack by anti-Putin Russian partisans in the Belgorod Oblast and, once again, Ukraine denied any involvement. So in this video, we'll explain what's happened and why this could signal the beginning of Ukraine's counter offensive.

Recent days have seen large-scale Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv. At the same time there have been increasing reports of attacks on Russian territory near Ukraine.
Hundreds of people have taken refuge in a sports arena in the Russian city of Belgorod. They're among thousands reported to have fled after increased shelling near the Ukrainian border. According to local officials, at least two people were killed by heavy artillery fire in the region on Friday.

“We don’t see any opposition in Russia. People who live in Russia see this as an attack on Russia.”

Oleksey Sorokin, Senior Editor for the Kyiv Independent, discusses Ukrainian’s recent strike along the Russian border on #TimesRadio.

CNN's Sam Kiley reports from eastern Ukraine, where Russians are encountering attacks in territory held by them. CNN's Alex Marquardt discusses with CNN contributor Jill Dougherty and CNN military analyst Ret. Gen. Cedric Leighton. #CNN #News

In Germany a video has gone viral showing Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a rare outburst of anger, shouting at protesters who attacked his government's military support of Ukraine.
Scholz was at a gathering of his party near Berlin when a group of protesters disrupted his speech, shouting slogans like 'Make peace without weapons' and calling him a warmonger.

That was not a man giving a political speech but speaking from the heart. Need more politicians like that.

My opinion of Scholtz prior to this wasn’t particularily high, but this speech got my respect. That was genuine

Good for the Chancellor for standing up to his beliefs against those who are trying to silence all those they disagree with.

I didn't expect this from Mr. Scholz but well done 👏

Scholz is right.

Russian neo-Nazi fighters are using a computer games platform to raise money in Europe to help fund the war in Ukraine, in what specialist lawyers have called a "clear-cut violation" of western sanctions.

An ITV News investigation has revealed how Taskforce Rusich, a paramilitary group blamed for the torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war and described as "non-human" by one of its victims, is using a Dutch gaming platform to circumvent financial blocks and funnel funds to the front-line to buy arms and military vehicles. 

The unlikely route uses an app called DonationAlerts, designed to allow viewers of live gaming streams to make payments.

But members of Taskforce Rusich have set up accounts on the platform and are openly using it to raise money.