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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
771 Azov Battalion troops surrendered to Russian-led forces in Mariupol
2022-05-22
[HODHODYEMENNEWS] The Russian Ministry of Defence has announced that a total of 771 members of the Nazi unit known as the Azov Battalion surrendered at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol during the past 24 hours.

In addition, hundreds of Ukrainian military targets, including command headquarters, have been destroyed.

"During the past 24 hours, 771 militants of the Nazi Azov battalion surrendered at the Azovstal plant, including 80 maimed, and all are receiving the necessary medical services," the ministry’s front man, Major-General Igor Konashenkov said in a press briefing today.

Thus, the total number of militants of the Azov Brigade who have surrendered since May 16th has reached up to 1,730.

Konashenkov added that "During the past 24 hours, using high-precision Russian air missiles, 7 headquarters and 11 depots of weapons were destroyed in several towns in [areas claimed by] the Donetsk People’s Republic, in addition to destroying 26 sites for mobilising manpower and combat equipment, a battery of the S-300 anti-air system in Nikolaev province and a battery of the Buk-M1 anti-aircraft system."

Konashenkov noted that operational and tactical aviation targeted two command headquarters and 58 sites for mobilising manpower and combat equipment, in addition to eliminating 340 Nazi Death Eaters and disabling 62 pieces of combat equipment.

Konashenkov said that the missile and artillery forces also destroyed six command headquarters, 295 manpower and combat equipment mobilisation sites, 43 artillery and mortar positions, and two radar stations, as well as 15 drones.

Love the graphic, Fred
Posted by:Fred

#43  Biden... got stuck with a bag of shit, and the wiser and more cynical elements in his party are preparing to ditch him

Couldn't happen to a nicer nastier guy
Posted by: Oye Como Va   2022-05-22 23:43  

#42  Makes you feel sorry for Biden. He's too far gone mentally to realize he got stuck with a bag of shit, and the wiser and more cynical elements in his party are preparing to ditch him.
Posted by: Patrocles   2022-05-22 23:36  

#41  Sucks for the Ukrainians.

Great for the MIC - they've got their loot. $15 billion of it, booked and billed. Regardless of when Biden cuts and runs.
Posted by: Billy Budd   2022-05-22 23:27  

#40  Ukraine's below the fold, again.

Wow. Two days in a row, right after the editorial, Ukraine elbowed out by Haitian history, Jared Kushner and tales from the 2020 election. That was really fast. Someone's got Dean Basquet's ear.

Sucks for the Ukrainians.
Posted by: Patrocles   2022-05-22 23:23  

#39   He's arguing for flexibility toward Russia. He's no friend of Ukraine ("blankets," LOL)

A palpable point, Oye Como Va. So very many reasons not to have voted for him, back in the day.
Posted by: trailing wife   2022-05-22 23:19  

#38  Stay on message: Trump + Racism

Exactly.
Look at tomorrow's (Monday's) lead stories in the NYTimes:

Trump: Kushner’s and Mnuchin’s Quick Pivots to Business With the Gulf

Racism: Haiti's Lost Billions

Ukraine's below the fold, again.
Posted by: Billy Budd   2022-05-22 23:14  

#37  trailingwife, Iran's allied with Russia. Obama told the Russians he'd "have more flexibility after the election." He's arguing for flexibility toward Russia. He's no friend of Ukraine ("blankets," LOL)
Posted by: Oye Como Va   2022-05-22 23:03  

#36  Looking at the top two stories in the Times today, the warning shot to Biden from the Times seems like, "Stay on message: Trump + Racism. Ukraine is distracting from the message. Wrap it up, bro"
Posted by: Oye Como Va   2022-05-22 22:44  

#35   Obama and his wife have more sympathy for Africa than for Europe.

Not really, no. Former President Obama only really cares about the Muslim world, and of them, the Muslim Brotherhooders, Iran (Shiite version of the Muslim Brotherhood), and the Palestinians (because they’re a knife at the throat of Jewish Israel).
Posted by: trailing wife   2022-05-22 22:37  

#34  Good points. Ben Rhodes is probably doing lots of whispering at the NYTimes HQ these days
Posted by: GAO Gaijin   2022-05-22 22:15  

#33  One more reason Obama's likely behind the anti-Biden anti-Ukraine NY Times Editorial piece: he and Ben Rhodes have always resented the influence of what Rhodes called the foreign-policy Blob: the Pentagon and the neo-cons. They're anti-interventionists. They resented being stuck with the Iraq and Afghanistan hot messes and they don't want Biden's successor, whoever she may be, to be stuck with the next hot mess.

The Democrats' progressive wing sees that the world is splitting into two camps, Western Europe vs the Global South (and China), and they want to make sure that the USA is not pitted against the Global South. They have a strong argument actually...Eisenhower and Kennedy would have agreed.
Posted by: Billy Budd   2022-05-22 22:10  

#32  Obama is more likely. The Clintons have more urgent issues to worry about now.
Posted by: Billy Budd   2022-05-22 21:24  

#31  My money's on Obama. There's huge resentment of Ukraine within the Black community for pushing the racism issue off the front burner. Look at all the stories whining about the Europeans' disparate treatment of Ukrainian and non-white refugees.
Posted by: Patrocles   2022-05-22 21:19  

#30  The talk in DC is that Obama was the one pushing the line behind the other day's NY Times editorial grilling Biden, questioning every aspect of his strategy and urging Ukraine to recognize reality and make "significant territorial concessions."

Some say it was Obama; others are pointing at the Clintons. It's clear that either way, the Democrats are preparing to stick Biden with the blame for this fiasco when the shit hits the fan.
Posted by: GAO Gaijin   2022-05-22 21:15  

#29  Troll bait to blame us for accepting it, CS
Posted by: Frank G   2022-05-22 20:54  

#28  /.\ No, no, Frank. He's providing entertainment for us all.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper   2022-05-22 20:14  

#27  Wordis that the Kalorama crowd is distancing itself (and fellow colored girl Harris) from Biden's fiasco.

You ain't from around here, are you? Begone
Posted by: Frank G   2022-05-22 19:01  

#26  it's America's Afghan War all over.

The talk in DC is that Obama was the one pushing the line behind the other day's NY Times editorial grilling Biden, questioning every aspect of his strategy and urging Ukraine to recognize reality and make "significant territorial concessions."

Word is that the Kalorama crowd is distancing itself (and fellow colored girl Harris) from Biden's fiasco.

That sounds right. Obama hated the Brits and doesn't give a damn about Ukraine ("blankets," anyone?) or Europe. Obama and his wife have more sympathy for Africa than for Europe. And we know whose side the Africans are on.

Veiled racist sentiments are not our style. Please refrain from using them.

Posted by: Billy Budd   2022-05-22 18:43  

#25  /\ ...and farces like the War Crimes Trial of Erich Hartmann, WW2 German fighter pilot.
*Not* that I think any side in this mess is pure as driven now...
Posted by: magpie   2022-05-22 18:29  

#24  #19 and #21 for Snark O' Dayâ„¢
The repeated calls for "We Kill (neo-)Nazis Lots!" has me expecting War Crimes.
Posted by: magpie   2022-05-22 18:25  

#23  The Ukraine adventure isn't Russia's Afghanistan; it's America's Afghan War all over. Bidens taking on all the obligations of the bankrupt Afghan er Ukrainian government. Another $2-3 trillion down the tubes.
Posted by: GAO Gaijin   2022-05-22 17:52  

#22  "What's that area behind the hotel? Smells like a burn pit"
Posted by: Frank G   2022-05-22 16:58  

#21  the Katyn Woods Motel.

You can check out anytime, but you can never leave.
Posted by: SteveS   2022-05-22 16:37  

#20  ^ Ouch
Posted by: Frank G   2022-05-22 16:03  

#19  The officers will be staying in the Katyn Woods Motel.
Posted by: Super Hose   2022-05-22 16:02  

#18  Thx NoMoreBS
Posted by: Frank G   2022-05-22 16:01  

#17  Much of the civilian aid to Ukraine is going to pay the Ukrainian civil servants' salaries. This recalls the civilian aid to Afghanistan (also to the Republic of South Vietnam in the 1960s).

Uncle Sam has taken over as the Ukrainians' paymaster, just like in Afghanistan. This is implicit recognition that the Ukrainian economy like the Afghan economy before it has collapsed.
Posted by: GAO Gaijin   2022-05-22 15:51  

#16  https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/scandal-lusty-lord-palmerston-who-14300168
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2022-05-22 15:46  

#15  Let me conspiracy guess: Billy Budd (1962 movie), Fred Astiare, and Palmerston (still trying to figure that one out): Hmmmm
Posted by: Frank G   2022-05-22 15:41  

#14  Russia now has complete military control of Luhansk, one of the two breakaway republics. Final push underway to cut off the 20,000 or so Ukrainian troops that are encircled and trapped now in Severodonetsk. They're shelling the sole remaining supply route.
Posted by: Palmerston   2022-05-22 15:29  

#13  The Russians just used Kalibr missiles to destroy a huge batch of NATO weaponry and materiel cached near the Malin railway station in the Zhytomyr region. No mention whatsoever of that breaking story either.

Biden's $15 billion in new materiel is not just too little too late. The Russians are showing they can locate the shipments and destroy them before they reach the battlefield. The MIC will collect their loot, however.
Posted by: Billy Budd   2022-05-22 15:11  

#12   So, up until now the Russians have been losing.

I think it is important to draw a distinction between the media battlespace where the Russians have been getting their asses kicked and the actual kinetic battlespace where they seem to be grinding on towards achieving their objectives. Don't take my word for it, look at a map.

The fall of Asovstal/Mariupol is not a sudden dramatic change. That was a foregone conclusion ever since the Russians took control of the region. It has prompted a noticeable shift in the media coverage of the war as noted upstream.
Posted by: SteveS   2022-05-22 15:04  

#11  Please feel entirely free to ignore me. I can deal with it.

Posted by: Matt   2022-05-22 14:43  

#10  So, up until now the Russians have been losing.

What a stupid comment. No one was winning, but now the balance appears to have shifted decisively on one direction.

You baited us the other day with nonstop repetition of the same question. Are you just trolling us? If so, I'll just ignore you.
Posted by: Astaire   2022-05-22 14:34  

#9  Yes, seeing the same phenom across the London press. Top stories are about cost-of-living increases, covid, monkeypox. Nothing at all in the Sunday Times' lead articles about Ukraine. Mail's only Ukraine story, far down from the top, is "Russian special forces' Belgian Malinous dog switches sides."

They're desperate to change the subject because Mariupol's unconditional surrender is a disastrous defeat that changes the course of the war.

An entire unit wiped out and its commanders killed or taken prisoner. The biggest haul of prisoners by any side in 8 years of fighting. Let's talk fuel prices, monkeypox, Johnny and Amber. Anything but Ukraine.
Posted by: Astaire   2022-05-22 14:28  

#8  The New York Times is definitely the place to go for propaganda and hysteria, Mr. Budd. Well spotted!
Posted by: trailing wife   2022-05-22 14:21  

#7  So, up until now the Russians have been losing. Duly noted.
Posted by: Matt   2022-05-22 14:12  

#6  Interesting that the US and British press are no longer featuring Ukrainian developments at the top of the news. Instead of leading with Ukraine, The New York Times screams "How Donald Trump's 2020 Election Lies Have Gripped State Legislatures" - that's an old leftover story. Why is it such big news now?

The second story beneath the warmed-over story from 2020 is a series of five articles (!) about historical crimes and conquest in Haiti. Yes, Haiti. Why Haitian history? Why now?

The mystery becomes clear when, below the gold, we see the top story from that forgotten conflict in what's-its-name... oh Ukraine. That one. The story is that Russia, fresh off its huge victory in Mariupol, has almost entirely cut off some 20,000 Ukrainian troops in the crucial supply and communications hub of Severodonetsk. There's just one supply road left I captured and the Russian forces, 3km away, are now pounding it with artillery barrages. So Russia's on the brink of another hugely important, decisive victory in the Donbas.

And no more news from Kharkiv. No mention either of the Ukrainian harvest that's down 50% from last year, or the destroyed transportation and fuel infrastructure that's needed to being what's left to market, or the blockade that prevents anything leaving Ikraine's remaining ports...

Now we know why the Times is suddenly talking Trump! and Haitian History. We know now why Austin's so desperate to talk to Shoigu, why the Europeans are rushing forward with peace plans and why suddenly we're seeing editorials and opinion pieces urging Biden to de-escalate and get the Ukrainians to settle: this turnaround is because the Russians are winning.
Posted by: Billy Budd   2022-05-22 13:54  

#5  Ooo, bad news. These Nazis were some of Ukraine's best fighters. Oh well, they have more.
Posted by: Bertie Lumumba1577   2022-05-22 08:30  

#4  And we believe that why?

Because, if they go back on that assurance, it leaves everyone else in the field with the understanding that for each of them it may be a fight to the death.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2022-05-22 08:06  

#3  And we believe that why, badanov?
Posted by: Mullah Richard   2022-05-22 07:51  

#2  What’s the over/under line for the percentage who are executed.

Russians have made it clear: no executions.
Posted by: badanov   2022-05-22 07:37  

#1  What’s the over/under line for the percentage who are executed.
Posted by: Greater the Anonymous5721   2022-05-22 02:23  

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