E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

Russian governors threaten missile attacks on Ukraine's 'big cities' in a 'desire to seek revenge' for the Crimea bridge explosion as top Putin propagandist calls for total war and return to brutal Stalinist-era operations
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Top Putin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov called for total war against Ukraine following Crimea bridge blast

  • He also demanded a return to Stalinist-era counterintelligence operations to root out internal opposition

  • Crimea's governor spoke of a 'healthy desire for revenge' while another official warned of rocket attacks

  • The deputy governor of Stavropol told Ukrainians 'leave your cities' as he threatened Sarmat missile strikes

  • Russia's deputy PM meanwhile deployed divers to inspect bridge foundations and search for more evidence

  • Some Western intelligence officials fear Putin will raise new hell in neighbouring country amid humiliation

  • Rocket attacks killed more than a dozen people in the territory of Zaporizhzhia late last night and early today

  • Putin previously said that any attack on the bridge connecting Crimea to Russia would prompt 'judgment day'
Saturday's explosion on the bridge prompted gleeful messages from Ukrainian officials but no claim of responsibility, though it is widely thought to have been of Ukrainian origin.

The bridge is a major artery for the Russian forces that control most of southern Ukraine's Kherson region and for the Russian naval port of Sevastopol.

But Aksyonov claimed the peninsula had a month's worth of fuel and more than two months' worth of food, while Russia's defence ministry said its forces in southern Ukraine could be 'fully supplied' through existing land and sea routes.

Rail traffic was restored to the bridge late last night, meaning it is unlikely the destruction will dramatically hinder Russian supply routes.
And now, the Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt:
A leading Ukrainian presidential aide claimed this morning the Kerch Strait crossing carnage may have been ordered by one of Vladimir Putin's warring commanders.

Mykhailo Podolyak alleged that Russia's FSB secret service and the defence ministry are at loggerheads in a bitter dogfight over the botched war and are trying to undermine one another's credibility.

'Isn't it obvious who made [the] explosion? Truck arrived from RF [Russian Federation],' he said.

Meanwhile, a Western diplomatic source said the bridge attack could have been commissioned from inside the Russian establishment to fatally weaken Putin and trigger his toppling.

'It might be the SBU [Ukrainian secret service] but it also could be the first major sign of a bid from within Russia to incapacitate the Kremlin tsar,' the source said.
Posted by: Skidmark 2022-10-09
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=646257