Mainstream news/discussion: Russia's invasion of Ukraine

[ism22]

This invasion's getting interesting as we're reaching a point where Vlad's leadership may now be under thread (not necessarily by the 'good guys' as many of his opponents are more barbaric than he is). Will kickstart this discussion with some analysis from a far-left media outlet, The Guardian.

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Is Russia about to experience a period of dramatic political change? If so, can exiled democratic forces unite into a coherent bloc, and is there any way for them to force themselves on to the political scene?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20..._b-aplnews_d-3

[ism22]

Today's news...

Australia cancels lease for new Russian embassy citing national security

SYDNEY, June 15 (Reuters) - Australia said on Thursday it would introduce legislation to parliament to cancel Russia's lease to build a new embassy in the national capital of Canberra, citing national security.

The move follows the conclusion of a long-running litigation regarding the leased site after the federal court ruled last month that an eviction order made by the National Capital Authority - a government body tasked with the planning of the national capital - was invalid.

"The government has received very clear security advice as to the risk presented by a new Russian presence so close to parliament house," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters.

"To be clear, today's decision is one taken in the national security interests of Australia."

Albanese said his government acted quickly to ensure the leased site did not become an official diplomatic presence.

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https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...ty-2023-06-15/

[ism22]

Ukraine, Russia suffering heavy casualties during Kyiv's counteroffensive, UK assessment says

Russia and Ukraine are suffering high numbers of military casualties as Kyiv fights to dislodge the Kremlin's forces from occupied areas in the early stages of its counteroffensive, according to British officials.

Russian losses are probably at their highest level since the peak of the battle for Bakhmut in March, UK military officials said in their regular assessment on Sunday.

According to British intelligence, the most intense fighting has centred on the south-eastern Zaporizhzhia province, around Bakhmut and further west in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk province.

While the update reported that Ukraine was on the offensive in these areas and had "made small advances", it said Russian forces were conducting "relatively effective defensive operations" in Ukraine's south.

...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-...-dam/102494574

[ism22]

The traitor

A senior officer in the counterespionage unit of Australia’s premier spy agency ASIO has been exposed as a secret KGB mole, who stole and sold highly classified intelligence to the Russians for at least five years.

Four Corners has forensically threaded together decades of investigations to reveal the man’s identity. The breathtaking betrayal jeopardised Australia’s security relationship with the United States and Britain, key partners in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.

The mole’s identity has been kept from the Australian public for nearly 30 years.

The man “was a critical [KGB] asset” according to international intelligence expert Neil Fergus.

For at least two years in the late 1970s, the ASIO mole was the feared Russian spy agency’s only back door to American and British intelligence secrets.

“This was gold for them,” Fergus said.

The mole’s ASIO colleagues suspected nothing.

His name was Ian George Peacock.

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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-...ners/102469652

[ism22]

Vladimir Putin's former 'chef' was an ally of the Russian leader. Now he and the Wagner boss are locked in a potentially dangerous feud

Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be drifting closer and closer towards a potentially explosive feud with his former confidant, friend and mercenary warlord.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the boss of the Wagner paramilitary group, was once so close to the Kremlin strongman that he had the nickname "Putin's chef".

But these days, the pair spend most of their time throwing shade at each other.

In September last year, the Russian military was in disarray after a stunning counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces left Putin humiliated.

Prigozhin came to the rescue by flooding Ukraine with thousands of Wagner mercenaries — many of them recruited out of prisons.

This shadow army stands accused of some of the most deplorable war crimes committed during the 16-month-long conflict.

Experts say Wagner soldiers are often used as cannon fodder, forced in relentless waves towards Ukrainian bullets as they capture territory one bloodstained inch at a time.

But the so-called "meatgrinder" strategy has been enough to keep Russia from full-blown defeat, and made Prigozhin a war hero in his own country.

"They should have just called me 'Putin's butcher' instead," he said earlier this year.

But as Wagner was increasingly celebrated for its successes, Prigozhin started to lash out, slamming the Russian military and demanding more recognition for his contribution to the war effort.

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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-...utin/102496564

[Rooster1908]

Fu&k Vad and Fu&k Russia

[Andrew Walker]

Fu&k Vad and Fu&k Russia

Would you care to elaborate a little deeper into such a valued and insightful contribution

[mightyrooster]

Fu&k Vad and Fu&k Russia

Okaaaay….

[Rooster1908]

Would you care to elaborate a little deeper into such a valued and insightful contribution

And here I was thinking I got my view across superbly

[ism22]

Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin says Moscow's war in Ukraine is based on lies

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin says on Friday that the official Kremlin-backed version of why Moscow invaded Ukraine was based on lies concocted by his perennial adversary — the army's top brass.

Mr Prigozhin has for months been accusing Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russia's top general, Valery Gerasimov, of rank incompetence, but on Friday he for the first time rejected Russia's core justifications for invading Ukraine on February 24 last year in what it calls a "special military operation".

"The Defence Ministry is trying to deceive society and the president and tell us a story about how there was crazy aggression from Ukraine and that they were planning to attack us with the whole of NATO," Mr Prigozhin said in a video clip released on Telegram by his press service, calling the official version "a beautiful story".

"The special operation was started for different reasons," he said.

"The war was needed ... so that Shoigu could become a marshal ... so that he could get a second 'Hero' (of Russia) medal. The war wasn't needed to demilitarise or denazify Ukraine."

Sitting on a chair with a giant black Wagner flag behind him, Mr Prigozhin said the war had also been needed to enrich the ruling elite who, he said, were not satisfied with the commercial potential of part of Ukraine's Donbas region that Moscow seized control of in 2014 via a proxy separatist force.

"The task was to divide material assets (in Ukraine)," he said.

"There was massive theft in the Donbas, but they wanted more."

Mr Prigozhin portrays his Wagner private militia, which spearheaded the capture of the city of Bakhmut last month, as Russia's most effective fighting force, and has enjoyed unusual freedom to publicly criticise Moscow, albeit not President Vladimir Putin, on whose support he ultimately depends.

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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-...lies/102519130

[ism22]

Live updates: Wagner mercenaries allegedly march into Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, as leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is accused of calling for mutiny

The boss of Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claims his troops have marched into Russia from Ukraine after being accused of calling for an armed mutiny.

Follow live as we bring you the latest.

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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-...tiny/102519712

Hot take from John Menadue: 'This is all just lies from the MSM... the CIA really controls Wagner group and is weaponising it to bring down Vlad just as he's about to capture Ukraine, which is rightfully his'

LOL... old mate looks so ridiculous now that all this is happening!

[ism22]

Yevgeny Prigozhin says Russia's defence minister "cannot properly manage military formations".

[ism22]

Prigozhin claims all military sites in Russia's Rostov-on-Don are under Wagner Group's control

Rebellious Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has demanded in a video that Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russia's top general Valery Gerasimov come to meet him in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an emergency address the mutiny was "treason", adding anyone who took up arms against the Russian military would be punished.

Mr Prigozhin said in one video posted on social media by his own press service that he was now at the headquarters of the Southern Military District, which is in Rostov-on-Don.

In another video, posted by the pro-Wagner Telegram channel "Razgruzka Wagnera" ("Wagner's combat vest"), he was seen sitting between two senior generals, one of them Army Lieutenant-General Vladimir Alekseyev, who had earlier issued a video urging Mr Prigozhin to reconsider his declared drive to oust the top brass.

"We have arrived here, we want to receive the chief of the general staff and Shoigu," Mr Prigozhin said on the video.

"Unless they come, we'll be here, we'll blockade the city of Rostov and head for Moscow."

Earlier Mr Prigozhin appeared to suggest he had sent an armed convoy on a 1,200-kilometre charge towards Moscow in an unlikely attempt to topple the country's military leadership.

...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-...trol/102520100

[ism22]

Prigozhin on the invasion

"Why was the war needed? The war was needed so that a handful of scumbags could have a blast and get PR attention showing how strong the army is, so that [Russian Defence Minister Sergei] Shoigu could become a Marshal"

"The war was needed not in order to return the Russian citizens to our bosom. And not in order to "demilitarise and denazify Ukraine."

"It was needed for one star with additional embroidery so that one mentally sick man could look good on a coffin pillow."

[Random Rooster]

Hot take from John Menadue: 'This is all just lies from the MSM... the CIA really controls Wagner group and is weaponising it to bring down Vlad just as he's about to capture Ukraine, which is rightfully his'

Gave me a good laugh!

Yes Putin has already blamed the west. Interesting times we live in