Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Three tornadoes passed over Lake Ladoga at once. They were captured on video by eyewitnesses, reports the Telegram channel "112".
The published footage shows three vortexes moving over the water surface. The sky against their background is covered with black clouds, and on the lake itself one can see strong waves caused by powerful gusts of wind.
The region is currently experiencing severe weather: thunderstorms and showers. According to available information, no one was hurt as a result of the tornadoes.
At the same time, experts previously spoke of record warming on Lake Ladoga. Scientists have noticed that over the past 30 years, the duration of the warm period of the year in the area of the reservoir has increased, and winters have become much milder.
Climatologist, biophysicist and senior researcher at the Institute of Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexey Karnaukhov said that global warming in different regions can lead to the emergence of dangerous natural phenomena. These include floods, forest fires, severe droughts, hurricanes and tornadoes. The expert added that their intensity increases over time.
At the end of June, residents and visitors of Sochi were warned about the threat of tornadoes. In the middle of the same month, such natural phenomena were filmed on video over the Black Sea in Tuapse. One of the whirlwinds leaned heavily toward the ground.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[LB] The defense forces struck 6 areas of concentration of personnel and equipment, a UAV control point, and 2 artillery pieces of the Russian invaders.
by Tetyana Boyarchuk
The 1266th day of the Russian Federation's large-scale armed aggression against Ukraine has begun. In total, 168 combat clashes were recorded over the past day.
The General Staff reported this.
Yesterday, the enemy carried out 74 airstrikes on the positions of Ukrainian units and settlements, including 138 guided bombs. In addition, it carried out 5,299 attacks, 105 of which were from multiple rocket launcher systems, and used 4,980 kamikaze drones to destroy them.
The aggressor carried out airstrikes, in particular, on the areas of the settlements of Kaliivka in the Sumy region; Novoandriyevka, Stepnohirsk, Hryhorivka in the Zaporizhia region; and Prydniprovske, Antonivka in the Kherson region.
Over the past 24 hours, the Defense Forces' aviation, missile troops, and artillery have struck six areas of concentration of personnel and equipment, one drone control point, and two artillery pieces of the Russian invaders.
In the North Slobozhansky and Kursk directions, 13 clashes took place over the past day. The enemy carried out 11 air strikes, dropped a total of 23 guided aerial bombs and carried out 298 artillery attacks, including 26 from multiple rocket launcher systems.
In the South Slobozhansk direction, six clashes occurred in the areas of Vovchansk, Kolodyazny, and Dvorichansky.
Nine attacks by the invaders took place in the Kupyansk direction over the past day. Defense forces repelled enemy assault actions near the settlements of Stepova Novoselivka, Kindrashivka, Kupyansk, Zagryzove, and Boguslavka.
In the Lymansky direction, the enemy attacked 20 times. He tried to advance near the settlements of Ridkodub, Karpivka, Kolodyazi, Myrne, Serebryanka and in the direction of Druzhelyubyvka, Srednye, Shandryholovy, Yampol.
In the Siversk direction, over the past 24 hours, the enemy has launched eight attacks on the positions of our units in the areas of Hryhorivka, Viyimka, and in the direction of Siversk.
In the Kramatorsk direction, five combat clashes were recorded in the areas of Stupochok, Stepanivka, and Rusyny Yar. In the Toretsk direction, the enemy carried out eight attacks in the areas of the settlements of Toretsk, Bila Hora, and Shcherbynivka.
In the Pokrovsky direction, our defenders stopped 48 offensive actions of the aggressor in the areas of the settlements of Poltavka, Popiv Yar, Mayak, Dorozhne, Nykanorivka, Kucheriv Yar, Nove Shakhove, Volodymyrivka, Novoekonomichne, Sukhetske, Rodynske, Promin, Udachne, Lysivka, Zvirovo, Horikhove, Dachne.
In the Novopavlivka direction, the Defense Forces repelled 24 attacks on the positions of our troops near the settlements of Vilne Pole, Maliivka, Zeleny Hai, Voskresenka, Myrne and in the direction of Ivanivka and Novoivanivka.
In the Hulyaipil direction, the Defense Forces repelled an enemy attack near Malynivka.
In the Orikhiv direction, the enemy carried out two assaults in the Kamyanske area and in the direction of Novodanylivka.
Over the past day, in the Dnieper direction, the enemy tried to advance towards the fortifications of our defenders seven times without success.
No signs of the formation of enemy offensive groups were detected in the Volyn and Polissya directions.
Our soldiers inflict significant losses in manpower and equipment on the occupation forces and actively undermine the enemy's offensive potential in the rear.
In total, the losses of the Russian invaders over the past day amounted to 980 people. Ukrainian soldiers also neutralized five tanks, five armored combat vehicles, 26 artillery systems, two multiple launch rocket systems, one air defense system, 107 unmanned aerial vehicles of the operational-tactical level, 106 units of automobiles and one unit of special equipment of the invaders.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] The enemy managed to bypass the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and tried to advance in the direction of the settlement of Zolotoy Kolodets. The saboteurs also secretly penetrated the settlements of Vesyoloye, Volnoye, Rubezhnoye and Kucherov Yar.
The Ukrainian military is taking effective measures to stop the advance of the Russians in the Dobropillya and Pokrovsky directions. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Tuesday, August 12.
It is indicated that the Russian invaders are acting boldly in order to penetrate into the depths of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ defense.
"Despite the losses, they are trying to infiltrate our defensive lines with sabotage and small infantry groups. In particular, several small enemy groups, having bypassed the positions of the Ukrainian defenders, attempted to advance in the direction of the settlement of Zolotoy Kolodets. In addition, taking advantage of the local landscape, saboteurs secretly penetrated the settlements of Vesyoloye, Volnoye, Rubezhnoye, Kucherov Yar. Some of the groups have already been destroyed, the rest are in the process of being destroyed," the report says.
The General Staff acknowledged that the situation in these areas is difficult and dynamic, since the Ukrainian Armed Forces are conducting defensive battles against superior enemy forces. In particular, in the Pokrovsky direction, the occupiers have concentrated a group of more than 110 thousand personnel. However, the Defense Forces are taking all necessary measures to identify and destroy enemy groups.
"By decision of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, additional forces and resources have been allocated to strengthen the defense. Measures have been planned to block enemy groups in a certain area. Reserve units have already detected the enemy and have had their first successes: the occupiers are being destroyed and captured. The defenders of Ukraine are focused on fulfilling their assigned tasks, holding their lines and need the support of the entire society to repel new attempts at enemy attacks," the statement emphasizes.
Let us recall that the situation in Donetsk Oblast has become significantly more complicated in recent days. At the same time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces claim that there is no talk of a "breakthrough" by Russians in the area of the city of Dobropolye.
It also became known today that the Azov Corps has taken up defensive positions in the Pokrovsk area. The results of the battles will be reported later
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 21:59 Published footage of the destruction of a Ukrainian UAV control center in the Khar'kov region. 20:36 Posted video of Russian artillery “working” on Ukrainian positions in Pokrovsk.
20:19 Anti-UAV units of the 11th Army Corps were forcibly planted wo Baba Yaga type drones using a network.
20:02 Crews of modernized T-72B3M tanks of the "Center" group of forces are improving skills in the rear area of the SVO zone.
Gunners and commanders of combat vehicles fire the 125mm cannon from a stationary position and on the move, using the fire control systems of the Sosna-U sighting system.
19:33 The defensive midfielders at Predtechino are under the control of the Russian Federation –MAP
18:41 UAV operators of the Rubicon Center destroy equipment, personnel, elements of communication systems and unmanned aerial vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Servicemen of the "East" military grouping used FPV drones to destroy an enemy tank and armored fighting vehicle in the DPR.
UAV crews of the Nevsky volunteer brigade of the Southern group of troops are eliminating Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel in dugouts in the Kramatorsk-Druzhkovsky direction.
17:40 Calculation of the Tor-M2 complex of the Vostok groupdestroyedA Ukrainian Armed Forces jet drone in the South Donetsk direction.
The target was detected in a timely manner by the complex’s radar systems, tracked and hit by a surface-to-air missile.
16:17 Artillerymen of the "West" group of forces destroyed enemy UAV control point in the Krasnolimansk direction.
The enemy UAV takeoff point was completely destroyed along with the personnel and ammunition located there, which led to a significant reduction in enemy drone activity in this section of the front. The enemy lost the ability to conduct aerial reconnaissance and strike using UAVs.
15:51 Most of Pankovka is under Russian control –MAP
15:10 Our drone operators together with mortar men inflicted a precise strike on Ukrainian naval infantry in the Mykhailivka area.
14:14 Russian army occupied Zolotoy Kolodez –MAP
13:36 RF Armed Forces came in in Rodinskoye.
13:34 Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk)
Breakthrough of our assault units in the Dobropolye area and in the flank of Rodinsky, is more than 20 km.
The route to Dnepropetrovsk is under our control. The enemy does not understand what to do. To defend Pokrovsk or to fight off Dobropolye and Rodinskoye.
13:16 The Russian army is advancing towards the settlements of Shakhovo and Sofievka in the DPR –MAP
12:52 Russian Armed Forces entered Rodinskoye from the east –MAP
12:48 From 09.20 to 10.15 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed Nine Ukrainian aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles over the territory of the Republic of Tatarstan.
12:14 Summary of Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of the special military operation as of August 12, 2025
👮♂️Units of the North group of forces inflicted losses on the manpower and equipment of the mechanized, ranger, airborne assault brigades, assault regiment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and territorial defense brigade in the areas of the settlements of Varachino, Stepnoye, Yunakovka, Pershe Travnya and Andreyevka in Sumy Oblast.💥
In the Khar'kov direction, units of the mechanized brigade, the assault regiment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the territorial defense brigade were defeated in the areas of the settlements of Volchansk, Melovoe and Sinelnikovo in the Khar'kov region.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost over 175 servicemen, an armored combat vehicle, five cars, three field artillery pieces and three ammunition depots.📍
Units of the "West" group of forces occupied more advantageous lines and positions, and defeated formations of two mechanized and assault brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of the settlements of Osinovo, Kupyansk, Petrovpavlovka, Peschanoye, Borovskaya Andreyevka in the Khar'kov region, Karpovka, Kolodezi and Srednee in the Donetsk People's Republic.
The enemy's losses amounted to 215 servicemen, a tank, two British-made Snatch armored combat vehicles, 13 cars, three artillery pieces, including two made by NATO countries. Six electronic warfare stations and two ammunition depots were destroyed.
Units of the "Southern" group of troops improved the position along the front line, inflicted losses on the manpower and equipment of two mechanized, mountain assault, airmobile brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the territorial defense brigade, the special forces brigade "Azov*" and the assault brigade "Lyut" of the National Police of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Serebryanka, Mayskoye, Seversk, Kleban-Byk, Katerynivka, Shcherbinovka, Konstantinovka and Belaya Gora of the Donetsk People's Republic.
The enemy lost more than 265 servicemen, an armored combat vehicle, six cars, a field artillery gun, an electronic warfare station, as well as an ammunition depot and a supply depot.
Units of the "Center" group of forces improved their position along the front line. They defeated formations of two mechanized, infantry, assault, airborne assault brigades, an assault regiment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a naval infantry brigade, a territorial defense brigade and two national guard brigades in the areas of the settlements of Krasny Liman, Dimitrov, Muravka, Dachnoye, Suvorovo, Rodinskoye, Udachnoye, Krasnoarmeysk of the Donetsk People's Republic and Filiya of the Dnipropetrovsk region.
The losses of the Ukrainian armed forces amounted to over 365 servicemen, six vehicles, four field artillery pieces and two electronic warfare stations.↗️
Units of the "East" group of forces continued to advance into the depths of the enemy's defense, inflicting losses on the manpower and equipment of the mechanized, mountain assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a naval infantry brigade and a territorial defense brigade in the areas of the settlements of Iskra, Kamyshevakha, Aleksandrograd of the Donetsk People's Republic, Ivanovka of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Levadnoye, Zeleny Gai and Temirovka of the Zaporizhia region.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 270 servicemen, an armored combat vehicle, 10 vehicles, and six artillery pieces, including two produced by NATO countries. An electronic warfare station and two ammunition depots were destroyed.
Units of the Dnepr group of forces defeated formations of a mechanized brigade, a coastal defense brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and two territorial defense brigades in the areas of the settlements of Novoandreevka, Lukyanovskoye in the Zaporizhia region, Antonovka, Tokarevka, and Nikolskoye in the Kherson region.
More than 125 Ukrainian servicemen, an armored combat vehicle, 21 vehicles, three field artillery pieces, including two US-made 155mm M-777 howitzers, eight electronic warfare stations, as well as two ammunition depots, two supply depots, and a fuel and lubricants depot were destroyed.
11:21 Crews of the 152mm Msta-B guns of the Ulyanovsk paratroopers with high-precision munitions "Krasnopol" destroyed UAV control points and Ukrainian Armed Forces manpower in the Kherson region.
In a matter of minutes, the artillerymen deployed their guns, calculated the coordinates for firing, and hit all targets with precise shots, destroying all five UAV control points and two places where Ukrainian infantry was concentrated in the basements of half-destroyed buildings.
10:46 Approximate configuration of the breakthrough towards Zolotoy Kolodez. Fighting has also begun on the northern outskirts of Rodinskoye –MAP
10:19 Servicemen of a motorized rifle unit of the "Center" group of forcestolddetails of the liberation of the village of Yablonovka in the DPR.
09:31 Footage released destruction of PU UAV 15th Nefense NGU using FAB-3000 with UMPK in the village of Dimitrov/Mirnograd.
Destruction of PVD 100 Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine using FAB-3000 with UMPC in the village. Konstantinovka.
07:32 Changes to map over the past 24 hours:
Advance in the Yunakovka area
Expansion of the control zone in the area of the settlement of Kolodezi➡️
Liberated from the village of Zeleny Gai
07:20 During the past night from 23:50 Moscow time on August 11 to 03:40 Moscow time on August 12, air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed 25 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles of the aircraft type:
22 over the territory of the Rostov region and
Three over the territory of the Stavropol region.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Sergey Adamov
[REGNUM] Events are unfolding in the DPR that could radically change the balance of power at the front. On August 12, the adviser to the head of the republic, Igor Kimakovsky, reported that our military had cut off the T0514 highway, which connects the cities of Dobropolye and Krasnoarmeysk, occupied by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The Russian Armed Forces units advanced to the village of Novoaleksandrovka and the settlement of Shevchenko, bypassing the city of Rodinskoye, within whose borders fighting is already underway. In this city, Russian troops occupied the administrative buildings of the Krasnolimanskaya mine and blocked the enemy in the area of the waste heap. The Ukrainian Armed Forces group in Rodinskoye found itself under our fire pressure from three sides.
Earlier, on August 11, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that the enemy had been driven out of the village of Lunacharskoye.
At the same time, statements began to be heard from the other side of the front line: Russian military managed to break through the front line north of Krasnoarmeysk (in Ukrainian sources the city is called Pokrovsk) and advance 10-12 kilometers into the defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. A publication by the Kyiv portal Deep State claims: Russian Armed Forces are advancing in the area of the villages of Kucherov Yar and Zolotoy Kolodez in the Krasnoarmeysky district. These settlements are located north of the city of Krasnoarmeysk.
There are also reports that from Kucherov Yar and Zolotoy Kolodets our military is developing an offensive to the north - in the direction of the T0514 highway. It connects the city of Dobropillya with Kramatorsk. This highway is critically important for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, since it supplies the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk group from the territories of the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
German military observer Julian Röpke makes a gloomy forecast for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. According to his assessment, Russian troops have made a significant breakthrough north of Krasnoarmeysk, advancing about 18 kilometers into Ukrainian defenses.
Röpke claims that this breakthrough was carried out using light equipment, including motorcycles, and allowed Russian forces to bypass Dobropillya and reach the strategically important highway connecting Dnepropetrovsk with Slavyansk and Kramatorsk.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces have only a small window of opportunity to counterattack before Russian troops consolidate their positions and block an important logistical route, Röpke believes. He warns that if the breach is not eliminated, it could have serious consequences. If the breakthrough continues at the same pace, the Russian Armed Forces could bypass the enemy's main defensive nodes in the northern part of the DPR (like the city of Dobropolye) and enter the territory of the Kharkiv region, cutting off the Ukrainian Armed Forces' supply routes.
Thus, a threat to the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk group could also arise from the northwest, the German journalist believes.
Western and Kyiv analysts are claiming a breakthrough of twenty kilometers, we note once again. At the same time, the enemy's official structures - the StratCom of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the command of the Dnepr group of forces - call the statements about the "collapse of the front" exaggerated.
Statements about the advancement of the Russian Armed Forces correlate with data from our side - about the activity of Russian military in the areas of Dobropolye, Krasnoarmeysk and Rodinsky.
"Our assault units have indeed developed tactics for breaking through the enemy's front, bypassing individual pockets of defense using light vehicles. This is no secret. Alternatively, the enemy could have taken the actions of the sabotage and reconnaissance group for a breakthrough and scattered. But overall, the possibility of some kind of breakthrough is not excluded," says a source for IA Regnum.
"THINGS ARE SO-SO"
Even if the enemy, for some of its own reasons, exaggerates the scale of the breakthrough near Krasnoarameisk, the situation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the city itself is objectively deteriorating sharply with each passing day. Drastic changes can occur in a matter of days and even hours.
According to our sources, this is supported by the transfer of the 1st Corps of the Azov National Guard*, formed in April 2025 on the basis of a well-known neo-Nazi regiment, to the Krasnoarmeysk direction.
This information is confirmed by both Ukrainian and Russian sources, including the official resources of the unit itself. The decision underlines how seriously the threat is perceived on this section of the front, sources of the Regnum news agency note.
"We all remember well what the appearance of "Azov"* on the front means. That things are going so-so," emphasizes the interlocutor of IA Regnum. " They, in fact, are not visible on the front line, they are kept in reserve as a "fire brigade."
This is what happened in Avdiivka, for example — the Azov soldiers* were transferred there only when the situation became critical for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. "The nationalists organized a retreat and covered the bypass routes, and then retreated themselves. We'll see if this happens again in Krasnoarmeysk, but let's say it's not out of the question," the publication's source said.
The Azov* corps includes five brigades: the 1st presidential operational brigade and four more brigades from the former " offensive guard " - motivated and trained units that can strengthen the city's defense. According to sources of the Regnum news agency, fighting is currently taking place on the southern outskirts of Krasnoarmeysk. In other words, the city is surrounded from the north, east and south.
The road to Dnepropetrovsk, where all the group's supplies hang, remains under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Whether the "Azovites"* will attempt to go on the offensive with the aim of pushing back our troops or will organize a retreat will become clear in the near future.
A BLATANT LIE
So far, it is obvious that, given the failures in Donbass, the enemy has decided to turn on the information “anti-crisis”.
Official resources published photographs of the visit of the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ukrainian General Staff Kirill Budanov ** to the active army. However, the visit was as far from the front as possible - Budanov* met with fighters of the "Timur Special Forces" on Zmeiny Island and gas production platforms in the Black Sea.
Ukrainian sources criticized Budanov* for his “ridiculous PR attempts” amid alarming news from Donbass. It was said that instead of leading troops from the GUR headquarters, he essentially took a vacation on the Black Sea.
And the reports about the successes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Sumy region turned out to be completely ridiculous. According to Ukrainian statements, the Ukrainian Armed Forces “liberated” the border village of Bessalovka. However, it soon became clear that not only were there no Russian troops in Bessalovka, our military did not even take control of this village.
Verkhovna Rada deputy Maryana Bezugla pointed out the manipulation in order to once again troll the Ukrainian Armed Forces command: “It has long been pointless to read the General Staff reports on the operational situation, because they have become propaganda, not information.”
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Igor Ivanenko
[REGNUM] On August 12, 1925, the funeral of the legendary Grigory Kotovsky took place with great honors in Birzula, located near Odessa. In Odessa, the state flags were lowered on this occasion, and a mass farewell ceremony was organized. A special funeral train delivered the embalmed body to the resting place, where a mausoleum was subsequently erected.
The burial site itself was clearly chosen for political reasons. It was located on the territory of the Moldavian Autonomous SSR (MASSR), formed in 1924, allocated within Ukraine within the Odessa and Baltsky districts.
Three years after Kotovsky's death, the administrative center of the autonomy moved to Birzula, and in 1935 the town was renamed in honor of the Red commander. It is noteworthy that when a wave of "decommunization" swept across modern Ukraine, Birzula did not return its historical name, so the former Kotovsk is now called Podolsk.
The establishment of the MASSR became Kotovsky’s main political project; it was an important episode in the confrontation in the Soviet leadership between supporters of the development of the USSR along the path of confederation and centralized federation.
The MASSR initiated by Kotovsky essentially decentralized Ukraine, slowed down the policy of Ukrainization in Transnistria, and provided the Union center with an additional lever of influence on political processes in Kharkov and Kyiv. After all, the autonomy had its own representation in the all-Ukrainian party and Soviet bodies.
This weakened the position of the Ukrainian party elite, which set the tone among the supporters of preserving the broadest possible powers for the union republics. The "Ukrainian" draft of the Basic Law of the USSR, presented in 1923, provided for the right of the union republics to conclude international treaties and independently resolve all economic and internal governance issues.
It proposed the formation of an upper chamber of the union “parliament” – the Council of Nationalities of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee – through equal representation from the RSFSR, Ukraine, Belarus and the Transcaucasian Federation.
Joseph Stalin, who sought greater centralization of the USSR, did not reject the latter principle, but supplemented it with representation in the Soviet "senate" of the autonomous regions as well. Thanks to this, the "confederalists" did not receive a blocking package of votes in the Council of Nationalities, since the leaders of the autonomous regions were heavily dependent on Moscow and were interested in reducing the powers of the union republics.
The White émigré historian Roman Gul claimed that the MASSR initially represented an unofficial "Kotoviya Republic." It was allegedly ruled by the commander of the cavalry corps stationed in Transnistria, Kotovsky.
And this is not far from the truth, since the military-consumer society really did control the main economic assets of the region, and the officers delegated by the command organized the work of the administrative apparatus of the autonomy.
This course of events on the southwestern border of the Ukrainian SSR was unlikely to suit the republican leadership. Especially since Kotovsky's previous military-revolutionary actions were clearly not perceived with much piety by nationally oriented circles in the Communist Party of Ukraine.
"HE WAS HEADING FOR ODESSA, BUT ENDED UP IN KHERSON"
Famous for his robberies under the "old regime", this native of Bessarabia found himself in the service of the Soviet government in January 1918, when Romania began to occupy his small homeland. As part of the Red Army detachments, he participated in the defense of Chisinau and Bender.
After the Soviets were driven out of Bessarabia, Kotovsky settled in Tiraspol, where he headed the cavalry reconnaissance detachment of the troops of the Odessa Soviet Republic (OSR). The same one that considered itself part of the RSFSR and did not recognize the inclusion of the Kherson province in the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR).
The forces of the OSR successfully resisted the troops of the Central Rada, and the expulsion of the Soviets from Odessa was ensured only by the Austro-German intervention.
In early 1919, after the evacuation of the occupiers, the power of the Reds over Odessa and Transnistria was restored. Kotovsky was appointed military commissar of Ovidiopol, a town on the left bank of the Dniester estuary. In anticipation of the revolutionary march to the West that was being prepared, he was instructed to form combat units from among his fellow countrymen – refugees from Bessarabia, as well as residents of Transnistria.
However, the expedition to help Soviet Hungary did not happen, and under the pressure of Anton Denikin’s advancing army, the Reds from Transnistria had to retreat north to join up with the main forces of the Red Army in Volyn.
In June 1919, Kotovsky was appointed commander of a rifle brigade that ensured the breakthrough of the Southern Group of Soviet troops through areas controlled by the UPR.
During this 400-kilometer march, an amusing incident occurred when the brigade commander's comrade, a native of Bessarabia, Mikhail Neagu (the prototype of Petri Bessarabets from "The Wedding in Malinovka" brilliantly performed by Nikolai Slichenko ) led 60 horses from his native Soroca County across the Dniester. This action gave life to Kotovsky's favorite brainchild - the Bessarabian Cavalry Regiment. Many participants in the Khotyn Uprising of 1919, defeated by the Romanians, served in it.
ON THE POLISH FRONT
Shortly before the Polish invasion of Ukraine in 1920, Kotovsky's unit was reformed into a Separate Cavalry Brigade.
During the Soviet-Polish war, Kotovsky's cavalry brigade was one of the most motivated units of the Red Army, since many of its fighters perceived the new Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as an ally of the hated Romania. Bucharest did indeed provide military supplies to Warsaw at that time.
During the Soviet offensive, the Kotovtsy's combat route ran from Belaya Tserkov through Volyn to Galicia. The brigade covered the left flank of the First Cavalry Army. During the Polish counteroffensive, it fought heavy rearguard battles and ended the war in the northwest of the Podolsk province, not far from Transnistria, where it was created.
The war with Poland formally ended with the signing of the Riga Peace Treaty in 1921. But in reality, it took the form of a "hybrid conflict" waged against the USSR by the partisan-insurgent headquarters of the UPR, operating under the Polish General Staff and formally led by Symon Petliura.
The headquarters made a significant contribution to the growth of the "atamanshchina" - a movement of anti-Bolshevik partisan detachments in many rural regions of the Ukrainian SSR. The main task was to provoke a mass uprising against the Soviets, which could be used by the remnants of the UPR army hiding in Poland and Romania.
Meanwhile, the Red Army was going through a painful process of radical reduction. The loyalty of a number of military units stationed in Ukraine to the Soviets was questionable, since their fighters and commanders had themselves been through rebel detachments and service in the UPR troops. The case of Leonid Kryuchkovsky, commander of the 60th Rifle Brigade, who was found to have ties to the Petliura underground, caused a great stir in those conditions.
Józef Pilsudski and Symon Petliura in the same carriage, 1920
In anticipation of the invasion of the "rebel army" of the UPR in the autumn of 1921, the stake was placed on proven Bessarabian personnel. Kotovsky headed the 9th Crimean Cavalry Division, which included the "Bessarabian" cavalry brigade.
The latter played a key role in the defeat of the Volyn (main) group of Petliurites in November 1921 near the town of Bazar north of Zhitomir. Of the 900 people, only one hundred managed to return to Poland. In 1926, the All-Ukrainian Photo and Cinema Administration shot a feature film about those events, “Pilsudski bought Petliura.”
After the defeat of Petliura's regime, Kotovsky's career took off. His separate cavalry brigade was expanded into a division, which was officially named "Bessarabian". The Red commander himself began to command the newly created Second Cavalry Corps.
The corps commander joined the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee and became a candidate from the Ukrainian SSR for the All-Union Central Executive Committee. His political status was very useful to Kotovsky when lobbying for the creation of the Moldavian ASSR, as was the support of the main "Moldavian" in the Soviet leadership, Mikhail Frunze. Shortly before his death, Kotovsky became his deputy in the leadership of the Revolutionary Military Council.
The mysterious murder of the military leader actually took place during his summer vacation near Odessa, on the eve of his already planned departure to Moscow.
POLITICS SINCE THE TSARIST TIMES
It may seem that the Soviet policy of involving Bessarabian personnel in "Ukrainian" affairs is something innovative. In fact, the Bolshevik government followed the path of reproducing the experience of the Russian Empire. After all, Peter I initially saw the Moldavian ruler Dmitry Kantemir, whom he had saved, as the head of Sloboda Ukraine.
The military-settlement province of New Serbia (on the territory of today's Kirovograd region), created later under Elizabeth Petrovna, was predominantly Moldavian in ethnic terms. After the annexation of the Ochakov regio, Catherine II ordered the active distribution of lands to settlers from the Moldavian Principality, and the appointment of Moldavian boyars to administrative positions.
Emperor Alexander I continued this policy by developing the Bug Cossack army, formed by people from Moldova and the Balkans.
The small peoples of the Lower Danube and the Balkans, who sought protection from Russia, were objectively interested in the strong power of the imperial center, and therefore were objective allies in the fight against Ukrainian “independence.”
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The remains of 132 people killed and tortured by the Nazis during the occupation of Kursk during the Great Patriotic War were discovered in the city's Znamenskaya grove in Kursk.
The chairman of the Poisk center, Igor Tsukanov, said that during the past Memory Watch, the remains of 132 people were found, including five pregnant women and 46 small children.
In a conversation with RIA Novosti, the searcher explained that in total, over the years of searching, the remains of more than 3,000 people were found in Znamenskaya Grove. It was established that the Nazi invaders massively brought and buried civilians on the territory of the modern grove - some were even buried alive.
The next stage of the “Memory Watch” campaign, entitled “No Statute of Limitations,” ended in Kursk on August 11.
During the war, Kursk was occupied by the Germans from November 3, 1941 to February 8, 1943. Most of the city was destroyed, and the population was subjected to repression.
In the first half of 2024, during search operations in the Blagoveshchensk rural district of the Krasnodar region, the Chernomor search squad discovered the remains of nine soldiers who died defending the Fatherland. They were buried with honors in a mass grave.
In May, the remains of 49 Red Army soldiers who died in 1943 during the assault on the German fortified line "Wotan" were ceremoniously buried in the Zaporizhzhya region.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin.
This latest operation has all the earmarks of a major breakthrough if the graphics map shown at the link are true. This puts the critical city of Slavyansk in play.
[ColonelCassad] The enemy has had a fierce tantrum since yesterday evening in the style of "Everything is gone! The plaster is being removed! The client is leaving." The initial reports 5 days ago about Russian DRGs in the area of Golden Kolodezei "with whom they are dealing" were replaced by panicked cries about a breakthrough to the west of Shakhovo and to the north of Rodinsky, where there was a large infiltration of Russian infantry behind the defensive positions of the Armed Forces, which led to the loss of the integrity of the front.
In Dobropole, they say that the Russian DRG have already reached the outskirts of the city and are already declaring with all their might that evacuation is necessary. There are also talks about a mass evacuation from the districts north of Shahovo, which were previously considered the deep rear. Separate DRGs are now reaching the Dobropole-Kramatorsk highway, which until recently was considered a rather distant matter.
The threat of an operational encirclement hangs over the Krasnoarmeysk grouping of the Armed Forces, as the pressure on the road through Grishina from the side of Russian drones is increasing, and the DRGs after the breakthrough threaten to infiltrate north and northeast of Grishina. In the current realities, the exit of the Russian infantry to Grishin from the north can lead to a boiler. Hence the calls to urgently remove Syrskyi and appoint "someone intelligent" who can save the situation.
More from Boris Rozhin: Breakthrough in Dobropole
The enemy actually confirms the breakthrough of the front north of Krasnoarmeysk. Russian attack aircraft and DRG continue to actively spread to the north, creating a threat of covering the enemy group from the west in the Shakhovo area, as well as approaching Dobropol.
It is very likely that we are witnessing a kind of remake of the Ocheretinsky breakthrough, where the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation managed to find a slack in the enemy's stretched front.
In order to stabilize the situation, the enemy may require the operational transfer of several brigades from other divisions in order to build a new front line in the Dobropol region.
More from regnum.ru Syrsky ordered reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to Krasnoarmeysk
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Oleksandr Syrsky ordered additional forces to Krasnoarmeysk (Ukrainian name — Pokrovsk). This was reported on August 12 by the press service of the AFU command.
"The situation is difficult and dynamic, but the defense forces are taking all necessary measures. Including the decision of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to allocate additional forces and resources to strengthen the defense," the statement said.
Earlier, the adviser to the head of the DPR, Igor Kimakovsky, reported that Russian troops had cut off the highway connecting Dobropolye and Krasnoarmeysk. He noted that the Ukrainian Armed Forces group located there found itself in a fire pocket with no way to get out of it.
Soon, the Ukrainian analytical resource Deep State reported that the Russian Armed Forces had broken through the Ukrainian Armed Forces' defensive line in the Pokrovsk direction in the DPR.
According to it, Russian forces had discovered weak spots in the defense and had penetrated into the Ukrainian army's combat formations between Konstantinovka and Dobropolye by more than 10 km.
Commenting on the successes of the Russian Armed Forces in this direction, the observer of the German newspaper Bild Julian Repke stated that in the coming hours the fate of that part of the DPR that is still under the control of Kiev will be decided.
According to him, after the capture of the city of Dobropolye, the Russian troops will have access to a strategic route, the advance along which will be extremely difficult to prevent.
In addition, he believes that the advance of the Russian Armed Forces will lead to the fact that the remaining large cities of the region under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (Kramatorsk and Slavyansk) will be cut off from the Great Dnieper, and their supply will be possible only through Kharkov.
RIA Novosti says the meeting will taker place at Elmendorf AFB
[Regnum] The meeting of Russian and US Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will take place in Anchorage, Alaska. This was reported on August 12 by the US President's press secretary Caroline Levitt.
The summit will take place on August 15.
"On Friday morning, President Trump will travel across the country to Anchorage, Alaska, for a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin," Levitt said at a White House briefing.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov previously reported that the leaders of the Russian Federation and the United States would focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful resolution to the crisis in Ukraine during the talks.
The Kremlin expects that the next meeting between Putin and Trump after Alaska will take place in Russia. The US President has already been invited.
Putin has repeatedly stressed Russia's readiness to negotiate on Ukraine. He has also indicated that the goal of the dialogue should be long-term peace, not a truce.
On August 12, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a telephone conversation. They discussed preparations for the Putin-Trump meeting. The Foreign Ministry noted that both sides confirmed their commitment to a successful summit.
Journalist Petr Akopov noted earlier in his article for the Regnum news agency : the meeting between Putin and Trump in Alaska will not end with the establishment of a ceasefire in Ukraine, but there is a good chance that preliminary frameworks for a peaceful settlement will be agreed upon during the negotiations.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The operational-tactical aviation fleet of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) has been replenished with new Su-34 fighter-bombers. This was reported on August 12 by the Rostec state corporation.
The Russian Defense Ministry received a batch of aircraft manufactured under the state defense order from the United Aircraft Corporation. The new fighters have undergone a full cycle of factory tests. They have been tested in operating modes. At the moment, they have flown to their home airfield.
Rostec CEO Oleg Yevtushenko noted that the Su-34 frontline bomber has long established itself as the best in its class. He emphasized that the aircraft's capabilities allow pilots to successfully operate in theaters of military operations and use unguided and guided air weapons.
“The aircraft is in demand in modern combat conditions; our aircraft factories have increased the rate of production and are ensuring the rhythmic supply of equipment to the troops,” Yevtushenko added.
The Su-34 fighter-bomber is designed to destroy ground, sea and air targets, infrastructure facilities covered by air defense systems and located at significant distances from the base airfield. It can also be used to perform aerial reconnaissance missions.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
