Reed Mideke
Prigozhin shows up at Putin's Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg. Not sure "recently conducted a failed coup attempt in home country" is a selling point for a mercenary organization, by YMMV
https://www.ft.com/content/0a69c5e8-803d-4bd6-b5f8-8f36073372fc
https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1684796259977109505
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/UKRAINE-CRISIS/LANDMINES/myvmgnqbavr/index.html
OK, it was only a matter of time before North Korean munitions showed up in #Ukraine, but I kinda expected the Russians to be firing them.
Key quotes "Most were manufactured in the 1980s and 1990s, according to their markings … Ukrainian soldiers said the rockets had been “seized” from a ship by a “friendly” country" while a Ukrainian official implied they might be captured from Russians
(ft link probably unpaywalled if you click from twitter)
https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1685126870159802373
https://twitter.com/serhiyprytula/status/1685596517850021888
CNN also recently got a close look at one of #Ukraine's USVs. Operators claim that Russian's ships defenses have great difficulty countering them seems a bit optimistic though. There have been a lot more attacks than confirmed successful hits
https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/30/europe/ukraine-drones-black-sea-intl/index.html
https://twitter.com/trbrtc/status/1686174248694431744
Kyiv Independent has a wild story about the Ukrainian POWs sent to Hungary. "While the POWs allegedly do have Hungarian-sounding surnames, only one speaks Hungarian and is a Hungarian citizen … it was the thinly-veiled image of saving Hungarians that mattered: who these people were in reality did not"
Exclusive: New insights point to Hungary’s collaboration with Moscow on transfer of Ukrainian POWs
In early June, a bizarre and mysterious joint operation was carried out between two of Ukraine’s neighbors, one to the east and one to the west. Eleven Ukrainian soldiers, after having been held in Russian captivity for an unknown amount of time, were moved from Russia to Hungary. Although
"The narrative of this manipulation, as confirmed by the diplomatic sources, was to convince the POWs that they would immediately be returned to the front line or tried as deserters if they returned to Ukraine, with one source claiming that they were even pressured to take Hungarian citizenship."
https://www.bbc.com/russian/articles/cxrxlwr2q4ro
Как российский МИД потерял влияние на Путина и не остановил войну - BBC News Русская служба
Дипломатии не удалось остановить российское вторжение в Украину и предотвратить обвал в отношениях Запада и России. Дипломаты из МИД РФ потеряли авторитет внутри системы власти, пытаясь угодить Кремлю, и превратились в пропагандистов, не способных влиять на позицию Путина. Можно ли восстановить разрушенные войной связи России с западным миром?
Reports of a Russian project 775 Ropucha class landing ship listing heavily after USV attack on Novorossiysk https://twitter.com/yarotrof/status/1687353796622491650
https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1687358900079587329
"This concerns a special military operation, here questions should be addressed to the Ministry of Defense and guided by the information provided by the Ministry of Defense," he said." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ https://ria.ru/20230804/korabl-1888167869.html
Propaganda value of claiming no damage while you tow a heavily listing >2000 ton warship past a city of a quarter million seems questionable to me, but then again, I am no master strategist!
(Andrey appears to have it figured out)
Good example of what that earlier BBC piece on the Russian diplomatic corps described: Russian U.K. ambassador Andrey Kelin, responding to a question from Christiane Amanpour about the Prigozhin mutiny, claims that no one was killed
We saw multiple aircraft shot down and saw obituaries of their crews
Exclusive: Far-right German parliamentary aide tasked by Russia with stopping Leopard tanks to Ukraine
Leaked communications between Vladimir Sergienko, a naturalized German citizen, and “Alexei,” a suspected FSB operative, show the extent of Russia’s infiltration of the Alternative for Germany party. Their “active measures” included a plan to stop or slow delivery of German main battle tanks to Ukraine using frivolous litigation against the German government. It would only cost $93,000.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66412842
Olenegorsky Gornyak, sitting in dry dock, with a substantial hole. Presumably nothing to do with the USVs which, as the Russian MOD assured us, were all defeated
Mark Krutov on Twitter
“And now, ladies and gentlemen, meet the 'Olenegorsky Gornyak' hole. Two things stand out to me: 1) The Russian ship has been holed below the waterline. 2) The ship's interior also appears to have been significantly damaged by the explosion from the Ukrainian naval drone.”
#Ukraine released a compilation of USV videos. Seems like hit rate against warships that notice them is pretty low, wonder if they're working on variants armed with conventional torpedoes or missiles
Yesterday, it was widely reported Russia boarded #Ukraine bound Palau-flagged / Turkish owned cargo ship Sukru Okan, but not clearly reported where in the Black Sea it happened (nyt #GiftArticle )
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:334865/mmsi:511100865/imo:8311560/vessel:SUKRU_OKAN
Ship SUKRU OKAN (General Cargo) Registered in Palau - Vessel details, Current position and Voyage information - IMO 8311560, MMSI 511100865, Call Sign T8A4116
Vessel SUKRU OKAN is a General Cargo, Registered in Palau. Discover the vessel's particulars, including capacity, machinery, photos and ownership. Get the details of the current Voyage of SUKRU OKAN including Position, Port Calls, Destination, ETA and Distance travelled - IMO 8311560, MMSI 511100865, Call Sign T8A4116
WaPo obtained detailed planning docs for Russia's #Shahed136 #Drone production from "an individual involved in the work … who opposes Putin’s invasion of Ukraine"
“This was the only thing I could do to at least stop and maybe create some obstacles to the implementation of this project,” the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of safety concerns. “It has gone too far.”
Props to The Insider for including a couple part numbers in this article about Russia sanctions evasion: One is AD7450BRZ, an ADC that sells for $15 (single unit), the other is ADF4351BCPZ-RL7 which is $20 frequency synthesizer… illustrates the extreme difficulty of actually cutting them off. Setting up a shell company in a third country to order modest quantities seems like a low bar for a nation state
Short circuit. How Europe turns a blind eye to Russia smuggling dual-use microchips
In spite of sanctions, microchips from U.S. companies Texas Instruments and Analog Devices continue to be imported into Russia, where they have military applications. These violations are hiding in plain sight, in registered customs data.
Man, not convinced senior defense officials armchair quarterbacking #Ukraine anonymously in the pages of NYT and WaPo are helping, even if they're right. Kind feels like a bit of CYA so they can say "We gave them everything they need, it would have worked if they did it OUR way" or scoring points in internal policy debates
#GiftArticle
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/22/us/politics/ukraine-counteroffensive-russia-war.html?unlocked_article_code=rMH7AwpkWVivldDNxvP5CFIGObw_mC7qGgp4zZceP-99O3m-A_t5YIGcauT9gIo2nGUgz6yFm_-spESK97p68IIdeXSRq59-0TB9pDuREeC1tYiF8PDV23Skp7J5J1p1BP01i1ttn0DZBB4A0qK-Av3eLeDR9ew7Gw-0NnNh3gq72G67MxpO_xaHY_1NzDw1h9eA_eoHSxhu3lJN3s-WI3-jnc1n5q4yvio1sp5stqF601SWz8HeIamBGPn9Z6E7OM5yn1uZrJihlxU6P8mU-R7Uh2eWyW1a3Bi5e2RK-elZcmUOLq6kl9BsQtWBt_LZlQ5xzPDwN32xCrISHEL9n_-gt2nWgE0to7AMj2mE84XA&smid=url-share
Ben Brockert