OT subject but worth a main-stream read- OT News Feeds...

lousubcap

More regarding the Russia-Ukraine war:

Ukraine-watchers seem to all agree that the long anticipated spring counteroffensive has finally and officially begun—less than two weeks before the start of summer. "Activity throughout Ukraine is consistent with a variety of indicators that Ukrainian counteroffensive operations are underway across the theater," the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War announced Thursday followed by several news outlets around the globe insisting as much by the afternoon and evening. 

"Ukraine will lose much more before this is over," said Jennifer Cafarella of ISW, writing Thursday on Twitter. "May those losses not be in vain," she added. 

"This isn't something you judge based on a few days of fighting," said Michael Kofman of CNA, based in northern Virginia. "Footage of combat losses, which are to be expected, can have an anchoring effect," he said, and some that footage (here and here, e.g.) appears to have begun rolling in this week on social media. Kofman also reminded his Twitter followers on Friday, "The offensive will play out over weeks, and likely months."

There are at least three main sectors that Ukrainian forces appear to be pressuring, according to ISW. That includes western Zaporizhia Oblast, western Donetsk Oblast, and around the destroyed city of Bakhmut.

Also new: The U.S. military just announced another $2 billion in weapons headed to Ukraine. That includes more Patriot air defense missiles, more HAWK air defense systems and missiles, more artillery, Puma drones, laser-guided rocket system munitions, and more.

lousubcap

Monday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russia appears to have moved to take direct control of the paramilitary organization Wagner group. On Saturday, Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov said that “volunteer formations” will be asked to sign contracts directly with the Ministry of Defense. The move comes after months of infighting between defense officials and the private military group. Matt Murphy reports for BBC News. 

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the paramilitary organization Wagner group, yesterday said that his fighters would not sign any contract with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Guy Faulconbridge reports for Reuters.

The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is “hugely worse” than before the Kakhovka dam collapsed, the U.N.’s Undersecretary-General, Martin Griffith, warned on Friday. An “extraordinary” 700,000 people require drinking water, Griffith said, warning that the flooding in one of the world’s most essential breadbaskets will lead to lower grain exports, higher food prices around the world, and less to eat for millions in need. Edith M. Lederer report for AP News. 

The last reactor still producing energy at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine was shut down as a safety precaution after the dam’s destruction threatened the facility’s water supply, Ukrainian energy officials said. The dam’s destruction caused water to drain from the Kakhovka Reservoir, leaving less available water to cool the reactors. Russian forces have occupied the Zaporizhzhia plant since the war’s early stages, but it is still run by Ukrainian staff. Marc Santora and Andrew E. Kramer report for the New York Times."

lousubcap

Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Ukrainian troops have liberated seven villages in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions over the past week, Ukrainian officials said yesterday. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar also claimed Monday that Ukraine had retaken more than six square miles near the destroyed eastern city of Bakhmut. While no exact figures were given, officials recently warned that their forces would likely suffer high casualties in the counter-offensive. David L. Stern reports for the Washington Post. 

Ukrainian pilots could begin training to fly U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets as soon as this summer, the Dutch defense minister has said. NATO allies the Netherlands and Denmark are leading an international coalition to train pilots and support staff, maintain aircraft and ultimately supply F-16s to Ukraine. The U.S.-backed training program will include Belgium and Luxembourg, while France and Britain have offered assistance. A final decision has yet to be taken on a request from Kyiv to supply dozens of F-16s. Anthony Deutsch reports for Reuters. 

The U.S. is concerned that an attack drone manufacturing facility that Russia is building with Iran’s help could be fully operational by early next year, National Security Council official John Kirby said on Friday. Russia has been using Iranian-made drones in its war on Ukraine. The U.S. released a satellite image of the purported drone factory site inside Russia’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone, about 600 miles east of Moscow. Kirby said that the U.S. is releasing this information to the public “to expose and disrupt” the countries’ “full-scale defense partnership.” Natasha Bertrand reports for CNN."

JohnInCarolina

https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-orange-man-is-bad

lousubcap

@JohnInCarolina - that twitter feed article lays it out there for all to see.  Doubt any acolytes will read it and if any do won't see the light of day.  Too bad for all of us!

fishlessman

i can see pence saying SORRY but joe would have blamed trump for the records found in his garage.......

lousubcap

Wednesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"The Biden administration announced a $325 million drawdown of U.S. military stocks yesterday as it scrambles to replace armored vehicles lost in the early thrusts of Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia. Paul McLeary Reports for POLITICO. 

The latest $325 million in security assistance for Ukraine brings the total value of the pledged assistance to $40 billion since the full-scale invasion began. Ellen Mitchell reports for The Hill. 

The Biden administration is expected to send Ukraine depleted-uranium rounds after weeks of internal debate about how to equip the Abrams tanks the United States is giving to Kyiv, U.S. officials said on Monday. The rounds are highly effective as they can penetrate the frontal armor of a Russian tank from a distance. Some have argued that sending the rounds may open the U.S. to criticism that it is providing a weapon that may carry health and environmental risks. Michael R. Gordon and Gordon Lubold report for the Wall Street Journal.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine was making progress in its counteroffensive against Russia and said NATO leaders would work “to sustain and step up support for Ukraine” when they meet next month.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, told a group of military bloggers that Ukraine’s counteroffensive was failing with Kyiv’s losses “10 times bigger than Russia’s”.

Ukraine also lost a significant number of its Western-supplied military vehicles, Putin said in the meeting. Russia’s defence ministry earlier released a video showing what it said were German-made Leopard tanks and United States-made Bradley Fighting Vehicles that had been captured by Russian troops.

In its counteroffensive, Ukraine has “proved highly adept at masking their strategic aims with feints, disinformation and by shuffling troops from one area to another, keeping Russian military planners guessing as to their next move,” according to Al Jazeera’s defence editor, Alex Gatopoulos.

Major-General Sergei Goryachev, a top Russian officer, was killed in a Ukrainian missile attack on the Zaporizhia front on Monday, a Russian-backed official in Ukraine announced."

lousubcap

Thursday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday threatened to order troops to take more land in Ukraine to protect Russian territory. The additional territory would create a “sanitary zone” on Ukrainian land to prevent any Ukrainian attack into Russia. Nick Robertson reports for The Hill. 

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko on Tuesday said that Belarus had started to receive nuclear weapons from Russia. Gaya Gupta reports for the New York Times. 

Large-scale emigration and the mobilization of around 300,000 men have exacerbated an already tight Russian labor market, possibly leaving Russia without sufficient workers to boost the economy and support the war effort in Ukraine. In Q1 of this year, Russian companies reported the most significant shortage of workers since data collection began in 1998. Last month, President Vladimir Putin ordered officials to develop measures to reverse the population outflow, including unspecified financial and social incentives. Georgi Kantchev reports for the Wall Street Journal. "

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/DavidCornDC/status/1668988337942589440?s=20

lousubcap

Another insight from Ukraine today:

Ukraine's military is praising the survivability of U.S.-made Bradley Fighting Vehicles after several have come under attack during Ukraine's counteroffensive to retake land occupied by Russian forces. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar shared three photos of the incident on Telegram Thursday, including the crew of the Bradley and the vehicle itself, which she says, "received a direct missile hit in the tower and caught fire." 

Fortunately, "The crew evacuated safely," and "took the armored vehicle to a safe position and extinguished the fire," Maliar says. The Bradley "helps to save the most valuable thing—the lives of military personnel. And steel can always be restored." Indeed, it's "already under repair," she added. "

HeavyG

https://twitter.com/MarkHertling/status/1669507623694094336

An interesting thread.

lousubcap

Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, yesterday said that ensuring water for cooling was a priority of his visit to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, adding that the station could operate safely for “some time.” Grossi’s plant inspection follows last week’s breach in the Kakhovka dam downstream on the Dnipro River. Reuters reports. 

Russian forces have stepped up aerial strikes, targeting the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa and shelling the eastern Donetsk region early Wednesday, killing at least six people and damaging dozens of homes. Jamey Keaton reports for AP News. 

While it is too early to give any verdict, Ukraine’s grueling and bloody counteroffensive has made some gains, Ukrainian and American officials said yesterday. Ukraine retook small settlements and villages last week. Independent analysts say that in recent days, Kyiv’s advances in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions have advanced by a few hundred feet. Marc Santora reports for the New York Times.

United States General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a meeting of the US-led Ukraine Contact Group that an “international effort” has trained nearly 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers. More than 6,000 Ukrainians are currently being trained at 40 different locations, he added."

lousubcap

More on Russia - Ukraine today:

"Ukraine has "a very violent fight" ahead that will "likely take a considerable amount of time," Joint Chiefs Chairman Army Gen. Mark Milley said Thursday in Brussels—echoing warnings from several experts with a keen eye on the conflict (like Jack Watling, John Hardie, and others) while standing beside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The Washington Post has more from Milley and Austin's remarks to reporters Thursday, here. 

"Armored vehicles, anti-tank weapons, and ammo. This is what we need to protect our land, and help the Russians to find their way home," Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said before that contact group meeting. "That is our plan for this summer and beyond—until we win," he added. 

If the U.S. stops militarily assisting Ukraine, the country's president said Thursday, the world should expect "Russia will continue going toward Baltic countries, Poland, etc. They will start war with one of the NATO countries," President Volodymir Zelenskyy told Richard Engel of NBC News. "And at this moment the United States will have to choose, the collapse of NATO or go to war," Zelenskyy said. He also claimed that he thinks Russia will lose the wider conflict if Ukrainian forces succeed in their current counteroffensive. Read more at NBC News, here. 

A second opinion: "This war is the most urgent and important issue on the [U.S.] national security agenda, and Western governments need to treat it as such," said Gideon Rose of the Council on Foreign Relations, writing this week in Foreign Affairs. When it comes to Ukraine, he argues, the U.S. "is not acting as the world's policeman or as a global bully but as the arsenal of democracy. And it has been doing all this effectively and efficiently, without firing a gun or losing a single soldier. The effort to date has been a model of how to blend hard and soft power in a single strategy." More, here. "

lousubcap

Interesting article regarding tanker oil storage in the Red Sea:

https://gcaptain.com/saudi-crude-tankers-cluster-near-red-sea-coast-in-rare-move/?subscriber=true&goal=0_f50174ef03-d3df50c852-170052525&mc_cid=d3df50c852&mc_eid=10465e83ed

lousubcap

Monday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Evidence suggests that Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka dam from within. Satellite and seismic detections of explosions in the area suggest the most likely cause of the collapse was an explosive charge in the maintenance passageway that runs through the dam. James Glanz, Marc Santora, Pablo Robles, Haley Willis, Lauren Leatherby, Christoph Koettl, and Dmitriy Khavin report for the New York Times. 

Ukrainian officials are grappling with the potential for outbreaks of waterborne diseases as the flooding following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southeastern Ukraine recedes. Floods can increase the transmission of communicable, waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera, leptospirosis, and hepatitis A. “Currently, trucks carrying essential medical supplies for infectious diseases such as cholera are being unloaded,” Oleksandr Chebotarov, the Kherson City Clinical Hospital medical director, said. Megan Specia reports for the New York Times. 

The U.N. yesterday condemned Russia for denying humanitarian aid access to Russian-occupied areas affected by the flooding caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam. Mariya Knight and Richard Roth report for CNN.

Ukrainian forces destroyed a large Russian ammunition depot in an occupied part of the country’s south yesterday amid advances along the southern and eastern parts of the front line to break through solid Russian defenses. Matthew Luxmoore reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Ukrainian forces recaptured the village of Piatykhatky in the country’s southern Zapororizhzhia region, a Russian-installed official said yesterday. Russia and Ukraine took heavy losses over the weekend as Ukraine made “small advances,” according to an intelligence update from Britain’s Defense Ministry. Leila Sackur reports for NBC News. "

lousubcap

Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Even as there is no sign the Chinese government is sending lethal aid to Russia, the United States is worried that private Chinese companies will provide matériel and technology that Moscow’s military could use in Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday. Blinken’s comment marks a change in emphasis compared to recent months. Blinken had previously said that the Chinese government was considering sending lethal aid to Russia for its war in Ukraine. Edward Wong reports for the New York Times. 

Alexei Navalny faces multiple charges, including creating an extremist organization and financing extremist activities, that could add decades to his nine-year prison term. The trial is being held behind closed doors. Navalny says investigators told him to expect another case related to terrorism charges. Steve Rosenberg reports for BBC News. 

Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of ordered weapons have yet to be delivered to Ukraine. As of early this spring, hundreds of millions had been paid to defense contractors for arms that never materialized, one person involved in Ukraine’s arms purchasing said. Some of the much-publicized arms donated by Ukraine’s allies have been so damaged that they have only been used for spare parts. As much as 30 percent of Kyiv’s weapons stocks are under repair at any given time. Justin Scheck and Lara Jakes report for the New York Times."

lousubcap

Additional Russia-Ukraine info:

"One top defense official is warning Russia is working very hard to stop Ukraine from clawing back any land during the counteroffensive. "The enemy will not give up positions easily and we must prepare for the fact that it will be a tough duel," Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Tuesday, writing on Telegram. Because of this, she cautioned observers, "It is not necessary to measure the result of the work of the defense forces exclusively by settlements and kilometers traveled, because there are much more criteria for the effectiveness of military operations." 

Despite this, Maliar said, Ukrainian troops are advancing near the occupied cities of Melitopol and Berdyansk. This is notable, the BBC reports, because "Melitopol and Berdyansk lie on a coastal route from Russia to Crimea seen as critical to the Russian military because the bridge over the Kerch Strait from Russia to occupied Crimea is largely avoided by supply lorries."

The view from Berlin: "We should be prepared that the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine can still last for a long time," Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday during a press conference alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Still, he added, "Germany will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes."

New: Detailed analysis of Ukraine's Kakhovka Dam "suggests Russia blew it up from within," the New York Times reported over the weekend in a multimedia presentation featuring engineering diagrams overlaid with surveillance footage of the dam and its aftermath.

Bottom line: "The dam was built with an enormous concrete block at its base," and "A small passageway runs through it, reachable from the dam's machine room," the Times reported. "It was in this passageway, the evidence suggests, that an explosive charge detonated and destroyed the dam." 

Why Russia? In part "because the dam was built during Soviet times, Moscow had every page of the engineering drawings and knew where it was," according to the Times. But also because Russian authorities occupied the dam when it was damaged. (The Associated Press came to a similar conclusion, writing separately on Monday in its own special report entitled, "Russia had means, motive and opportunity to destroy Ukraine dam, drone photos and information show.")

We also have a new batch of before/after imagery to assess the situation around the dam,thanks to commercial satellite imagery provider Maxar, which released the seven images on Friday. Review that collection, here. "

lousubcap

And this just in from Tom Nichols of The Atlantic regarding Russia-Ukraine:

Worth a read-

"While we’re all distracted—understandably—by the spectacle of a former U.S. president under multiple criminal indictments, the war in Europe grinds on, consuming lives, burning cities, and threatening global peace. The Ukrainian counteroffensive is now clearly under way, and Kyiv’s forces are making incremental but concrete gains along the front. The Ukrainians are, for the moment, calm and confident; the Russians less so.

Ukrainian officials have been cautious in their evaluations of this early stage of the counteroffensive because they know it’s going to be a long summer. “Hot battles continue,” according to a statement from Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar, and the situation is “difficult.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged Russian counterattacks but said yesterday that no positions have been lost, while other areas have been “liberated.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, is talking tough—which itself is a tell, a sign of how he thinks this war is going.

Putin is trying to turn up the global temperature with some swagger about nuclear weapons. This past March, Putin said that he would base Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus, close to Ukraine. Moscow and Minsk have since signed a formal agreement, and Putin now claims that the first weapons have arrived in Belarus. This may or may not be true; Putin has previously said that storage facilities for Russian warheads wouldn’t be ready until July, and the Russian military is not exactly known for getting things done ahead of time, so it’s unclear how much of this is (at this point) mere bluster. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a few days ago that the United States does not “see any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon”—which isn’t quite the same thing as saying that the weapons haven’t moved—but also that America has “no reason to adjust our own nuclear posture.”

Putin, meanwhile, said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum last week that he had no interest in returning to any conversations with the West about arms control. “We have more of these weapons than NATO countries do,” he said in answer to an interviewer’s question. “They know that, and they keep telling us to start negotiations on reductions. Well, you know, **** ’em. As our people would say.”

CNN tried to render this Russian expression—хрен им—more gently, as “shove it,” but that’s not even close. Putin has often used this kind of gangsterish tone when he’s trying to project strength, especially to his own people in Russia. (He used similarly rough language, much to the Russian public’s delight, when speaking of what he would to do to Chechen terrorists, using a phrase that, in American Mob idiom, would basically translate as a vow “to whack them in their shithouses.”)

The leader of a nuclear-armed power sounding like Tony Soprano is alarming, but Putin is likely emphasizing Russia’s nuclear deterrent because his conventional forces have been repeatedly humiliated in combat. More to the point, although Russia still has a large military, Moscow has lost its best units and most highly trained officers and soldiers after a year of ghastly losses on the ground.

So what should we expect, and how should we think about this new phase in the war?

First, Americans especially should put aside what they know about recent U.S.-led wars such as the campaigns in Iraq: There will be no gathering on a “line of departure” followed by a massive air, armor, and infantry blitz. Nor is this like D-Day, with men storming the beaches and overwhelming enemy pillboxes. The counteroffensive had no real “beginning,” in that sense; the initial phase probably began with some tentative engagements against the Russians on the edges of Bakhmut shortly after Putin’s forces finally took what’s left of the town a few weeks ago.

Sadly, the Ukraine war is now more like World War I: Both sides have settled in along a large, static line. The Russian high command has been dreading this Ukrainian counteroffensive since last winter, and so the Russians have dug in, taking up defense positions inside fortifications and huddling in trenches that will have to be cleared out one by one. (The Ukrainians have already released footage of their soldiers fighting in Russian trenches.) The Ukrainians must now probe, feint, and strike where they can, while trying to attack and disrupt Russian supply and reinforcements waiting in the rear, farther back from the battlefield.

Second, there will be no official “end” to the counteroffensive, either. (Well, unless Russia sues for peace, I suppose, but Putin has no apparent interest in any of that.) War is an uncertain and contingent thing; as we teach students at our senior military colleges, the enemy gets a vote on your strategy. Luck always gets a say as well. Americans are used to conflicts in which the United States deploys a large force, seizes the initiative, and keeps it for as long as we wish. The Ukrainians have no such luxury.

Although we should keep an eye on those Russian nukes (and whether Putin is really moving them), the real news in the coming weeks will be whether the Ukrainians can break through points along those Russian lines. The Russians are already engaging in savage counterattacks in an effort to blunt Ukrainian operations, and although sudden collapses and dramatic wins and losses on either side are always possible, the more likely story is one of Ukrainian progress measured by the names of small villages and the coordinates of grid squares on a map—a slower and far bloodier business.

As for Putin’s threats, the Russian president seems to be venting and showing off, which is one way to know that we are not yet in a crisis. When national leaders stop appearing in public, and both Moscow and Washington go quiet, that’s a time to worry. Putin is indulging his usual vulgar sense of humor, and though Americans, like Russians, also have some colorful local expressions, it is better for the Americans and NATO to be the resolute adults in the room, as they have been since the beginning of this criminal Russian onslaught."

lousubcap

Wednesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Ukrainian air defense systems shot down 32 of 35 Iranian-made drones launched by Russia yesterday, the Ukrainian military’s general staff said. Kelsey Ables, Ellen Francis, David L. Stern, Miriam Berger, and Sammy Westfall report for the Washington Post. 

Russian air defense systems shot down three drones in the Moscow region today, the Defense Ministry said. Russia has blamed Ukraine for the attempted attack. Reuters reports. 

The Pentagon has revised upwards its previously overestimated value of the weapons it has sent to Ukraine to $6.2 billion. As a result, the department has additional money to use to support Ukraine. Based on previous estimates announced on Jun. 13, the U.S. had committed over $40 billion in security assistance to Ukraine. However, the new data shows that the U.S. has provided less than $34 billion in aid. The Guardian reports."

lousubcap

Thursday Russia-Ukraine update:

"The United States is set to give an additional $1.3 billion to help rebuild Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced yesterday at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London. Britain promised a financial package to unlock $3 billion worth of World Bank loans. The E.U. plans to provide $54.5 billion in aid between 2024 and 2027. John Hudson, Ellen Francis, Andrew Jeong, Robyn Dixon, and Eve Sampson report for the Washington Post. 

The U.K. would be “very supportive” if Ukraine were given a simplified and sped-up path to joining NATO, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London. Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, has previously said that Ukraine expects to receive an invitation to NATO with an “open date” during the July NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. Lyric Li reports for the Washington Post.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has admitted battlefield progress has been “slower than desired” weeks into Ukraine’s counter-offensive. Ukraine says its counter-offensive has reclaimed eight villages so far in the southern regions of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk. Yalda Hakim reports for BBC News. 

A Western coalition is considering Romania as a possible location to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets, according to three people with knowledge of the planning. This suggests the NATO bid to have F-16s flying for Ukraine is progressing. However, the discussion of which country will donate jets has yet to be settled. Lara Seligman and Lili Bayer report for POLITICO. "

lousubcap

More Russia-Ukraine update today:

Another bridge linking Ukraine to its Russian-occupied Crimean "peninsula was attacked Thursday in what one Ukrainian official described as "a blow to the military logistics of the occupiers." 

Location: Southern Kherson, bordering Crimea. Reuters reports Ukrainians know it as the Chonhar road bridge, and Russians call it the Chongar Bridge. "It is on a route used by the Russian military to move between Crimea and other parts of Ukraine under its control," the wire service reports. 

Russian occupation officials say British-provided Storm Shadow cruise missiles hit the bridge, and promised to repair the damage, which you can see here, "in the very near future." The Associated Press has a bit more, here. 

Counteroffensive latest: It's still a tough slog and will likely remain that way for some time. Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy seems to know this perhaps as well as anyone. This is partly why he spoke to the BBC Wednesday to encourage patience. "Some people believe this is a Hollywood movie and expect results now. It's not. What's at stake is people's lives," he said."

lousubcap

Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Ukraine’s counteroffensive is less successful, and Russian forces are more competent than Western assessments expected, two Western officials and a senior U.S. military official said. Jim Sciutto reports for CNN. 

Ukraine has attacked a bridge linking southern Ukraine to the Crimean peninsula with long-range British missiles, Russian officials said. The bridge is the shortest route from Crimea to the front line in the south. A Ukrainian military spokesperson said the army aimed to disrupt Russia’s supply routes. A military intelligence official, Andriy Yusov, said more attacks would follow. Paul Kirby reports for BBC News. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned yesterday that Russian forces were preparing a “terrorist act with the release of radiation” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Russia rejected Zelenskyy’s accusations. The warning comes as Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, would today meet the head of Russia’s state nuclear company in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. David L. Stern and Robyn Dixon report for the Washington Post. 

The decision to place Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus represents a further diminishment of Belarus’ sovereignty and is a significant step in Russia’s absorption of Belarus, a longtime goal of President Vladimir Putin. At a recent conference in Slovakia, President Emmanuel Macron of France called Belarus a Russian “vassal state” but said Europe bore some of the blame. Valerie Hopkins reports for the New York Times. "

lousubcap

More Russia-Ukraine insights today (Friday):

"Ukraine's NATO-trained brigades have finally entered the fight against Russian forces in occupied territory, the New York Times reported Friday, citing U.S. officials. That includes about 36,000 troops using U.S.-provided equipment like Bradley Fighting Vehicles as well as German tanks and more. 

"The bulk of the nine Ukrainian brigades has yet to be committed to the fight, but the vanguard of that main assault force is already making its mark," the Times's Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt write. 

U.S. Army chief Gen. James McConville says Ukraine's counteroffensive is going well.The outgoing Army chief told reporters he was repeating what Ukrainian officials told him during a media roundtable at an event called the 30th Conference of European Armies on Friday in Germany. He also said the U.S. plans to continue training Ukrainian troops as Kyiv's counteroffensive gets underway. Defense One's Sam Skove will have more on McConville's remarks later today.

By the way: Ukrainian forces are practicing removing and overcoming obstacles placed in their way across occupied territory in the south and the east, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliyar said Friday on Telegram, along with about half a dozen photos of troop inspections. "We still have the main events ahead of us," she said in a separate interview on Friday, according to Reuters. "And the main blow is still to come. Indeed, some of the reserves— these are staged things—will be activated later." 

And there are many, many obstacles of a wide variety that Russian forces have either dug or left behind in anticipation of Ukraine's counteroffensive. The British military highlighted a few of those on Wednesday, along with satellite imagery, featuring various approaches to Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. 

Why it matters: "These elaborate defences highlight the Russian command's assessment that Ukrainian forces are capable of directly assaulting Crimea," the British Ministry of Defense tweeted. "Russia continues to see maintaining control of the peninsula as a top political priority," they added.  

Also: Russia appears to have expanded port infrastructure in occupied Sevastopol, Ukraine, which is at the southern edge of Crimea, the Brits \said Friday. That includes "at least four layers of nets and booms across the harbour entrance," and an apparent "doubling of floating mammal pens…which highly likely contain bottle-nosed dolphins." The dolphins "are highly likely intended to counter enemy divers," the UK Ministry of Defense wrote on Twitter, with supporting satellite imagery. 

Trouble in Putin's upper ranks: Russia's convict-mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video Friday that Vladimir Putin's public reasons for invading Ukraine were based on lies all along—that Ukraine was never going to use NATO to attack Russia, that Putin's military "is deceiving the public and the president," and that the goal all along, going back to the initial 2014 invasion of Crimea, "was to divide material assets in Ukraine" among Russia's oligarchs."

HeavyG

Wondering what Prigozhin's life expectancy is lately.

HeavyG

https://twitter.com/petersuderman/status/1672381201221402627

It's looking like it's an interesting evening in Moscow right now.

HeavyG

https://twitter.com/BrynnTannehill/status/1672400365080264704

A lot of good questions. Too early to tell if this is anything more than a "sneeze". Regardless, it does seem that Prighozhin's life expectancy is likely a little shorter than it was even earlier today.

HeavyG

https://twitter.com/aldin_aba/status/1672426510861361157

https://twitter.com/AVindman/status/1672431426829164544

https://twitter.com/AricToler/status/1672435335060496385

HeavyG

https://twitter.com/NoahCRothman/status/1672446047107313665

And as the first commenter says - "And they're driving up I95 to D.C."

LOL

HeavyG

https://twitter.com/McFaul/status/1672440855448424450

HeavyG

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1672451295263768577