Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] In some areas of Moscow, the first snow fell on Monday afternoon, October 14. This was reported by Mikhail Leus, a leading specialist at the Phobos weather center.
"The first snow in Moscow. It's not official yet — to include this day in the climate data as the day with the first snow in the current autumn period, it must be present at the metropolis's base weather station, VDNKh," he wrote on his Telegram channel.
According to the weather forecaster, the precipitation has not yet been registered at the Moscow base weather station, but it has already been observed at the capital's weather stations in Balgchug and New Moscow.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, earlier on October 14, forecaster Tatyana Pozdnyakova warned Moscow residents about difficult weather in the metropolis. According to her, gusts of wind up to 12-14 m/s and rain with wet snow are expected on Monday.
On the evening of October 13, leading specialist of the Phobos weather center Evgeny Tishkovets warned Moscow residents about rain with wet snow and gusty winds on Monday. The forecaster specified that such precipitation could be observed in the capital until the end of the day, due to which a snow cover of two to six mm thick would form in the city for some time.
Issued: 4:09 AM Oct. 15, 2024 – National Weather Service
...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY MORNING THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING...
* WHAT...Heavy snow possible. For the Wasatch Mountains South of I-80, total snow accumulations of 10 to 18 inches with locally higher accumulations in excess of 24 inches possible for the upper Cottonwoods. For the Western Uinta Mountains, total snow accumulations of 12 to 24 inches possible.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
10/15/2024 15:21 Comments ||
Top||
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 23:21 Russia is using rare D-74 cannons on the front in Ukraine, which the USSR gave to Vietnam and China, writes Business Insider. The use of D-74 by the Russians may indicate the import of these systems or at least ammunition for them from North Korea, the publication notes.
22:13 On Thursday, October 17, a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council will take place. According to the program, the meeting will be held in the format of a "working dinner", as part of a meeting of the Alliance member states at the level of defense ministers.
21:25 Putin submitted to the State Duma a bill on ratification of the agreement on a "comprehensive strategic partnership" between the Russian Federation and the DPRK.
21:19 Head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell said that EU countries have not yet agreed on unblocking 6.6 billion euros to finance arms supplies to Ukraine, but are "closer to a solution." He also said that the EU mission to train Ukrainian troops will be extended for another two years.
21:12 Zelensky reported that he held a meeting with a multi-party delegation of the Canadian Parliament headed by Speaker Greg Fergus: "The main focus is Ukraine's path to NATO and the invitation to join the Alliance. We discussed support for our energy system before winter, defense assistance, continued sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation, and Canada's leadership in the liberation of Ukrainians."
19:16 Zelensky spoke about the "de facto inclusion of North Korea in the war." He also emphasized that "some other countries" with which Russia has relations "are investing in prolonging the war." "Whoever helps Russia, we will respond as harshly as necessary to protect Ukraine. We will also work accordingly with our partners so that Russian intentions do not work," the president assured.
In addition, Zelensky said that this week Ukraine will present to all partners in Europe its "strategy for forcing Russia to a fair end to this war." The head of state also confirmed that his "victory plan" will be presented publicly, "along with the first response that we received from our partners."
The President also said that as of today, 1 million drones have already been purchased with state funds and delivered to the front. "And this is only what the state is doing. There are also supplies from volunteers, from all those who support," Zelensky added.
18:38 Pope's representative Matteo Zuppi arrived in Moscow to discuss the return of Ukrainian children and prisoners, said the director of the Holy See's press service Matteo Bruni. His second visit to Moscow is "within the framework of the mission entrusted to him by Pope Francis to facilitate the reunification of Ukrainian children with their families and the exchange of prisoners, implying the achievement of the long-awaited peace," Bruni specified.
17:55 Zelensky will present a "victory plan" during his speech in the Verkhovna Rada on October 16, said adviser to the head of the President's Office Serhiy Leshchenko.
17:09 For the fifth day, Russians have been trying to break through the Ukrainian Armed Forces' defenses in the Kursk region, "the guys are holding on and counterattacking," Zelensky said following a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Headquarters and a report by Commander-in-Chief Alexander Syrsky. According to the president, active operations are currently underway along the entire length of the front, but the most brutal battles are in the Pokrovsk and Kurakhovsky directions.
The meeting also included reports from the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense and the Foreign Intelligence Service on who is helping Russia wage war against Ukraine and what steps should be taken to weaken these alliances. In addition, there was a report from the Ministry of Defense "on contracting for the current and subsequent periods, including using partner assistance," as well as on partner investments in the Ukrainian defense industry.
16:13 Pope's envoy Matteo Zuppi arrived in Moscow and met with Lavrov, discussing the war in Ukraine and "interaction in the humanitarian sphere," the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.
14:36 The EU has officially announced sanctions against Iran for transferring missiles to Russia. The list includes Iranian officials, including the Iranian deputy defense minister and the military attaché of the embassy in Russia. Sanctions were also imposed on seven Iranian companies, including three Iranian airlines - Iran Air, Saha Airlines, Mahan Air.
14:20 Russians attacked a civilian car from a drone near Gavrilovka in the Kherson region - two people were killed, one was wounded, reported the head of the OVA Oleksandr Prokudin. In Novovorontsovka, the enemy also hit a car from a UAV, two people were injured.
13:57 Russian troops attacked the Odessa port infrastructure with a ballistic missile - one person was killed, eight were wounded, reported the head of the OVA Oleg Kiper. All the wounded and the dead are workers of the port infrastructure, citizens of Ukraine. As a result of the attack, civilian ships NS Moon under the flag of Belize and the bulk carrier OPTIMA under the flag of Palau, which was already damaged by an enemy strike exactly a week ago, were damaged. In addition, the port infrastructure was damaged, including a grain warehouse.
13:08 Russian troops control the eastern and southeastern districts of Toretsk, said Anastasia Bobovnikova, spokesperson for the Lugansk group of troops: "The situation in Toretsk is really difficult. It is dynamic and constantly changing. The fight is literally for every entrance, for every street. We see that the eastern and southeastern districts of the city - the enemy is there now, but active battles are being waged for other parts of the city. We are holding back the enemy there." According to her, fortifications have been created near Toretsk in case the Defense Forces leave the city.
12:34 The EU foreign ministers have agreed on new sanctions against Iran over the supply of ballistic missiles to Russia, the DPA agency reports, citing European diplomats. The restrictive measures will apply to companies, institutions and individuals involved in the production and supply of these weapons. The EU diplomats did not provide any other details.
11:59 Zelensky showed one of the production facilities of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex:
11:26 Politico writes that Orban refuses to approve an extension of sanctions against Russia, which will complicate the allocation of loans to Ukraine at the expense of frozen Russian assets to help Trump. In this way, the Hungarian Prime Minister wants to give Trump a "big political gift", since the Republican presidential candidate will be able to tell his voters that if he wins, he "will not give Ukraine a cent". If the EU and the US jointly participate in a loan of 35 billion euros, which is part of a 50 billion loan from the G7, Trump will be obliged to service it if he is re-elected president.
10:48 The oil terminal in Feodosia, which Ukraine struck on the night of October 7, has been almost completely destroyed, the Crimean Wind Telegram channel writes, citing satellite images. The fire continued until Saturday, October 12. In total, the fire affected 12 tanks, eight of which were destroyed. Buildings on the site also burned down, and the storage infrastructure was severely damaged.
09:56 Ukrainian monitoring channels write that tonight, for the first time in 48 days, Russia did not launch attack drones at Ukraine - the last time this happened was on August 29.
09:29 In the Kharkiv region over the past day, one person was injured - in Kupyansk as a result of a UAV strike, reported the head of the OVA Oleg Sinegubov.
09:17 Russian troops attacked Kherson at night - post offices were damaged, fires broke out. There were no reports of casualties, OVA reported. Over the previous day, one person was killed and four were injured as a result of Russian shelling in the region.
08:43 A Tu-134 aircraft belonging to the 117th military transport aviation regiment of the Russian Armed Forces burned down at the Russian military airfield Orenburg-2 on the night of October 13, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense reported. Such Soviet aircraft are used, in particular, to transport the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
08:38 Four people were killed in Donetsk Oblast as a result of Russian shelling on October 13: two in Chasovy Yar, one each in Zvanovka and Vishneve. Three more people in the region were injured in the past 24 hours, said OVA head Vadim Filashkin.
07:54 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of October 14:
personnel - about 670,190 (+1260) people,
tanks - 8975 (+4),
combat armored vehicles - 17,895 (+19),
artillery systems - 19,421 (+11),
MLRS - 1231 (+0),
air defense systems - 978 (+0),
aircraft - 369 (+0),
helicopters - 329 (+0),
Operational-tactical level UAVs - 17,009 (+17),
cruise missiles - 2619 (+0),
ships/boats - 28 (+0),
submarines - 1 (+0),
automotive equipment and tank trucks - 26,622 (+38),
special equipment - 3437 (+2).
05:11 The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) believes that the successes of the Russian army on the border of the Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions do not indicate a large-scale offensive. This is how analysts commented on reports of a Russian offensive in the Levadnoye area southwest of Velyka Novosilka and a breakthrough of the Ukrainian defense. ISW notes that Russian forces have achieved tactical successes in this area, but so far this does not appear to be part of a large-scale operational offensive effort.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
Units of the Sever Group of Forces in Liptsy and Volchansk directions hit formations of AFU 57th Motorised Infantry Brigade and 129th Territorial Defence Brigade near Volchansk and Liptsy (Kharkov region).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 45 troops, one armoured fighting vehicle, and two motor vehicles.
One field ammunition depot was destroyed.
The Zapad Group of Forces' units took more advantageous lines and positions, inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of AFU 3rd Tank Brigade, 14th, 114th, 115th Mechanised brigades, 112th Territorial Defence Brigade, 1st and 27th National Guard Brigades near Novoosinovo, Petropavlovka, Glushkovka, Kupyansk-Uzlovoy, Dvurechnoye, Pershotravnevoye, and Kruglyakovka (Kharkov region).
Two counter-attacks launched by units of AFU 67th Mechanised Brigade and 3rd Air Assault Brigade were repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 490 troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, including one U.S.-made M-113 armoured personnel carrier, three pickup trucks, one U.S.-made 155mm M-198 howitzer, and one 152mm D-20 howitzer.
Three ammunition depots were also destroyed.
The Yug Group of Forces' units continue to advance to the depth of the enemy's defence, defeat formations of AFU 28th, 56th Mechanised brigades, 79th Air Assault Brigade, 116th Territorial Defence Brigade near Levanevskoye, Shevchenko, Kramatorsk, Zaliznyanskoye, and Kurakhovo (Donetsk People's Republic).
Three counterattacks launched by units of AFU 28th, 46th Mechanised brigades, and 81st Airmobile Brigade were repelled.
The enemy losses were up to 620 troops, one infantry fighting vehicle, four motor vehicles, one U.S.-made 155mm M-777 howitzer, one 122mm D-30 howitzer, and one U.S.-made 105mm M-119 howitzer.
Three ammunition depots were wiped out.
The Tsentr Group of Forces' units improved the situation along the front line, hit manpower and hardware of AFU 5th Tank Brigade, 28th, 67th, 100th Mechanised brigades, 25th Airborne Brigade, 119th Territorial Defence Brigade, and 14th National Guard Brigade near Rodinskoye, Kurakhovka, Selidovo, Dimitrov, Tsukurino, Novoselidovka, Dzerzhinsk, and Mirolyubovka (Donetsk People's Republic).
Nine counterattacks launched by formations of AFU 53rd, 100th, 110th, 157th Mechanised brigades, 49th and 425th Assault battalions, and 38th Naval Infantry Brigade were repelled.
The enemy lost up to 465 troops, one Turkish-made Kirpi armoured fighting vehicle, four motor vehicles, one 122mm D-30 howitzer, and one 100mm Rapira anti-tank gun.
The Vostok Group of Forces' units liberated Levadnoye (Zaporozhye region) and took more advantageous lines.
They also hit manpower and hardware of AFU 72nd Mechanised Brigade, 58th Motorised Infantry Brigade, and 110th Territorial Defence Brigade close to Dobrovolye (Donetsk People's Republic) and Temirovka (Zaporozhye region).
The enemy losses were up to 120 troops, one armoured personnel carrier, four motor vehicles, one 155mm Bogdana self-propelled artillery system, and one French-made Caesar self-propelled artillery system.
The Dnepr Group of Forces' units hit formations of AFU 141st Infantry Brigade, 35th Naval Infantry Brigade, and 124th Territorial Defence Brigade near Stepnoye (Zaporozhye region), Dneprovskoye and Antonovka (Kherson region).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 25 troops and four motor vehicles. One ammunition depot was wiped out.
Operational-Tactical Aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, and Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces engaged AFU manpower and hardware clusters in 119 areas during the day.
Air defence systems shot down one U.S.-made HIMARS projectile, as well as 25 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 646 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 33,605 unmanned aerial vehicles, 582 anti-aircraft missile systems, 18,625 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,472 MLRS combat vehicles, 16,146 field artillery guns and mortars, and 27,251 units of support military vehicles have been neutralised.
Units of the Sever Group of Forces continued their offensive actions, in the course of which the formations of AFU 22nd, 41st, 47th, and 115th Mechanised brigades, 17th Tank Brigade, 82nd, and 95th Air Assault brigades, 1st National Guard Brigade as well as 103rd and 129th Territorial Defence brigades have been hit near Lyubimovka, Malaya Loknya, Novy Put, Tolsty Lug, and Plekhovo.
In addition, over the past 24 hours, the Group's units repelled five enemy counterattacks in the direction of Lyubimovka, Olgovka, and Tolsty Lug.
As a result, the AFU losses amounted to up to 40 troops killed and wounded, one armoured fighting vehicle, and two motor vehicles. One serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine surrendered.
Army aviation and artillery inflicted losses on clusters of manpower and hardware of AFU 22nd, 41st, and 61st Mechanised brigades, 17th Tank Brigade, 36th Naval Infantry Brigade, 80th, 82nd, and 95th Air Assault brigades, 1st and 17th National Guard brigades as well as 112th and 129th Territorial Defence brigades near Daryino, Kruglenkoye, Kolmakov, Leonidovo, Lyubimovka, Lebedevka, Malaya Loknya, Martynovka, Makhnovka, Novy Put, Nikolayevo-Daryino, Novoivanovka, Plekhovo, Russkoye Porechnoye, Sverdlikovo, Staraya Sorochina, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye, and Yuzhny.
Operational-Tactical Aviation and Missile Troops have inflicted fire damage in Sumy region on concentration areas and reserves of AFU 21st, 41st, and 115th Mechanised brigades, 95th Air Assault Brigade, 1st National Guard Brigade as well as 101st, 103rd, 107th, 117th, and 129th Territorial Defence brigades near Belovody, Belaya Beryoza, Vodolagi, Glukhov, Zhuravka, Dibrova, Katerinovka, Malushino, Melyachikha, Makeyevka, Miropolye, Sosnovka, Svarkovo, and Utskovo.
The AFU losses were more than 300 people, eight armoured fighting vehicles, as well as three artillery guns, two mortars, and 11 motor vehicles. One serviceman surrendered.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk region, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have lost more than 22,950 servicemen, 157 tanks, 72 infantry fighting vehicles, 98 armoured personnel carriers, 917 armoured fighting vehicles, 630 motor vehicles, 189 artillery guns, 36 multiple rocket launchers, including nine HIMARS and six U.S.-made MLRSs, nine anti-aircraft missile launchers, five transport and loading vehicles, 48 EW stations, nine counter-battery warfare radars, three air defence systems, 22 pieces of engineering and other equipment, including 13 engineering barriers, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, and three armoured recovery vehicles.
The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 19:20 Calculations of the 12mm BM-21 MLRS "Grad" of the "Yuzhnaya" group of forces support advancing infantry groups in the Kurakhovsky direction.
19:18 Obzornaya station near Dzerzhinsk (Toretsk) came under the control of the Russian Army.
In addition to increasing control in the city itself, Russian troops are moving to encircle from the east, reported military correspondent Timofey Ermakov.
18:45 An Iskander "flew" into the Odessa port today. Preliminary, the ships "NS Moon" and "Optima" were hit. In addition, the explosion affected a number of buildings related to the functioning of the port.
Several sources report that a boat of the Marine Guard of the Border Service of Ukraine was also hit. There were six KIAs on the enemy side, war correspondent Kotenok reported.
18:39 Combat work lead T-72B3M crews of the West group of forces
The priority targets are enemy fortifications and military equipment, including foreign-made ones.
18:35 About half of the territory that was taken by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region has been liberated, said the commander of the Akhmat special forces, Alaudinov
According to him, a large amount of Western enemy equipment was destroyed in the Kursk direction.
18:30 Artillery of the Vostok group of forces “drives into the ground” enemy positions near Bogoyavlenka/Dobrovolye –video.
18:07 Explosions have occurred again in the Kyiv-controlled city of Kherson. This was reported by the Ukrainian publication "Obshchestvennoye".
18:05 The Divanny General Staff reports on the liberation of Cherkasskaya Konopelka, Novoivanovka, Leonidovo and Olgovka in the Kursk region.
17:29 Situation north of Priyutny.
Today, the assault groups of the 5th Army advanced in the Levandnoye area.
16:44 Footage from the Khar'kov direction: Russian Armed Forces fighters destroyed a reconnaissance group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces consisting of eight people, which included a scout with a chevron with the US flag.
16:32 Russian naval infantry and aAirborne units are driving the enemy out of the settlement of Malaya Loknya using FPV drones and attack drones.
16:06 Footage strike of a high-precision munition "Krasnopol" on a combat armored vehicle of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
16:00 Explosions have thundered again in the city of Kherson, controlled by Kyiv, the Ukrainian publication “Public. News” reported.
15:34 After the liberation of Levadnoye, the Russian Armed Forces began to probe the enemy's defenses in the direction of Novodarovka and Rivnepil, which the Ukrainian Armed Forces also captured in the summer of 2023 during the offensive on the Vrem'yevsk salient. Particularly heavy fighting then took place for Novodarovka.
15:04 Operator of the Kornet ATGM of the 14th Guards Special Forces Brigade sends a missile right into the side of a bus that had arrived at a Ukrainian Armed Forces position for personnel rotation.
14:50 Destruction of temporary deployment point of the Ukrainian Armed Forces using the Inokhodets unmanned strike system in the border area of the Kursk region.
14:27 Footage of assault by airborne troops on the eastern part of the village of Lyubimovka in the Kursk region.
14:00 Special forces of the 29th Army are “hunting” for the remnants of enemy manpower in the forest belts north of Ugledar –video.
13:19 Data is coming in from objective monitoring of the breakthrough of the special forces "Akhmat" beyond the SD-D canal near Chasov Yar in the direction of Stupochki. Our troops have taken the junction of the N-34 highway.
13:00 Paratroopers of the 98th Airborne Division destroyed Flight test of Ukrainian Armed Forces UAV operators in the Kursk direction.
During aerial reconnaissance, a UAV operator discovered a temporary deployment point for Ukrainian Armed Forces FPV drone operators in a house in the border area of Kursk Oblast. Russian "drone operators" raised kamikaze drones to carry out fire damage. As a result, the FPV was destroyed along with the militants.
12:46 Missile “arrival” in Odessa.
12:40 Summary of the Russian Ministry of Defense on the progress of the special military operation (as of October 14, 2024):
Units of the North group of forces in the Liptsov and Volchansk directions inflicted defeat on formations of the 57th Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the 129th Territorial Defense Brigade in the areas of the settlements of Volchansk and Liptsy in the Khar'kov region.
The fighters of the "West" group of forces occupied more advantageous lines and positions, inflicted losses on the manpower and equipment of the 3rd tank, 14th, 114th, 115th Mechanized brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the 112th Territorial Defense Brigade, the 1st and 27th brigades of the National Guard in the areas of the settlements of Novoosinovo, Petrovpavlovka, Glushkovka, Kupyansk-Uzlovaya, Dvurechnoye, Pershotravnevoye and Kruglyakovka in the Khar'kov region.
Two counterattacks by assault groups of the 67th Mechanized and 3rd Airborne Assault Brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were repelled.
The servicemen of the "Southern" group of troops continued to advance into the depths of the enemy's defense, inflicting defeat on the formations of the 28th, 56th Mechanized, 79th Airborne Assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the 116th Territorial Defense brigade in the areas of the settlements of Levanevskoye, Shevchenko, Kramatorsk, Zaliznyanskoye and Kurakhovo of the Donetsk People's Republic.
We repelled three counterattacks by units of the 28th, 46th Mechanized and 81st Airmobile brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Units of the Center group of forces improved the position along the forward edge, inflicted losses on the manpower and equipment of the 5th Tank, 28th, 67th, 100th Mechanized, 25th Airborne brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the 119th Territorial Defense Brigade and the 14th National Guard Brigade in the areas of the settlements of Rodinske, Kurakhovka, Selidovo, Dimitrov, Tsukurino, Novoselidovka, Dzerzhinsk and Mirolyubovka of the Donetsk People's Republic.
They repelled nine counterattacks by units of the 53rd, 100th, 110th, 157th Mechanized brigades, 49th and 425th Assault Battalions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the 38th Naval Infantry Brigade.
The "East" group of forces liberated the settlement of Levadnoye in the Zaporizhia region and occupied more advantageous positions. It inflicted losses on the manpower and equipment of the 72nd Mechanized, 58th Motorized infantry brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the 110th territorial defense brigade in the areas of the settlements of Dobrovolye in the Donetsk People's Republic and Temirovka in the Zaporizhia region.
Units of the Dnepr group of forces inflicted losses on formations of the 141st Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the 35th Naval Infantry Brigade and the 124th Territorial Defense Brigade in the areas of the settlements of Stepnoye in the Zaporizhia region, Dneprovskoye and Antonovka in the Kherson region.
Operational-tactical aviation, strike unmanned aerial vehicles, missile forces and artillery of the Russian Armed Forces groups inflicted damage on concentrations of enemy manpower and military equipment in 119 areas.
Air defense systems shot down a US-made HIMARS rocket and 25 aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles.
12:19 Units of the "East" military group have liberated the settlement of Levadnoye in the Zaporizhia region, the Russian Defense Ministry reported
11:56 Servicemen of the 5th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the "Southern" group of troops told on the liberation of the settlement of Ostrovskoe in the Donetsk People's Republic.
Under pressure from our assault groups, the Ukrainian Armed Forces units were forced to hastily retreat to the neighboring village of Kurakhovo, leaving the wounded in their positions.
11:40 UAV operators of the 18th Army destroyed two vehicles of Ukrainian Armed Forces militants on the right bank of the Kherson region.
11:19 122mm BM-21 Grad MLRS crews of the Airborne Forces artillery unit destroyed a concentration of Ukrainian infantry in the border area of ??the Kursk region –video.
10:31 According to preliminary data, as of the morning of October 14, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been completely driven out of the village of Novy Put (Kursk region).
The Russian Armed Forces have cleared most of the enemy from the bridgehead captured by the Ukrainian Armed Forces south of Vesyoloye, reported military correspondent Yuriy Kotenok.
10:24 Ka-52M "smashed" personnel and armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the border area of the Kursk region. The strikes were carried out with missiles on reconnoitered enemy targets.
10:10 According to operational information, the route to Novodmitrovka from Selidovo has been completely cut off by Russian troops, plus the Russian Armed Forces have come close to the village of Vishnevoye, implementing the concept of encircling Selidovo.
10:07 Servicemen of the 122mm BM-21 Grad MLRS crew of the Center group of forces struck an area of concentration of enemy manpower and equipment in the Avdeevka direction.
09:55 Strikes are being carried out on enemy targets in the Sumy and Khar'kov regions.
09:41 Over the past week, Russian forces have repelled 45 attempts by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to penetrate the region's territory on the LPR borders, killing over 7,000 soldiers and foreign mercenaries. This was reported by military expert Andrey Marochko.
09:24 Footage objective control of the destruction of two Ukrainian Armed Forces tanks
In Sumy Oblast, servicemen of the North military group used Lancet loitering munitions to destroy two Ukrainian Armed Forces tanks.
08:19 As a result of a battle in the border area of the Kursk region, naval infantry captured Western-made weapons, flags and personal belongings of Ukrainian Armed Forces militants.
During the assault, the enemy attempted to resist, but to no avail. The Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters were destroyed, and the survivors surrendered.
08:14 Fighters of the "Southern" grouptoldthat during the storming of the settlement of Ostrovskoye in the DPR, “they did not give the enemy the opportunity to dig in and fortify themselves.”
08:09 120mm mortar crew of the Guards airborne assault unit of the North Group of Forcestore offrotation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in one of the border regions of the Kursk region.
08:09 Foreign mercenaries in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are the firstare leavingpositions on the front line as Russian attack aircraft approached them, said a senior instructor of the Leningrad regiment with the call sign "Concrete".
08:04 UAV crews of the Dnepr group of troops of the Russian Armed Forces in one of the most difficult areas of the Orekhov direction in the Zaporizhia regiondestroyedUkrainian Armed Forces firing points in the forest belt.
08:01 The Russian Armed Forces have advanced in Donbass and Kursk region.
Russian fighters advanced near Kalinovka, Chasovy Yar, Grigoryevka, Ugledar, Olgovka, Kremnevoye, Tsukurino and Zolotoy Niva.
08:00 First frames The Ministry of Defense from Ostrovsky, liberated by the Russian Armed Forces, to the DPR. The fighters raised the Russian flag.
[BBC] Viktoriia Roshchyna disappeared in August 2023 in a part of Ukraine now occupied by Russian forces.
It took nine months for Russian authorities to confirm the journalist had been detained. They gave no reason.
This week, her father got a terse letter from the defence ministry in Moscow informing him that Viktoriia was dead, aged 27.
The document said the journalist’s body would be returned in one of the swaps organised by Russia and Ukraine for soldiers killed on the battlefield. The death date was given as 19 September.
Again, there was no explanation.
VIGIL FOR VIKTORIIA
This weekend, friends gathered to remember Viktoriia on the Maidan in central Kyiv. They shuffled into position on the steps holding her photograph, young face smiling out at the small crowd.
“She had huge courage,” one woman began the tributes.
“We will miss her enormously,” said another, turning away as her eyes filled with tears.
Viktoriia’s stories were snapshots of life that Ukrainians were not getting from anywhere else.
Reporting from occupied areas of Ukraine was extremely dangerous, but her colleagues remember how she was desperate to go there, even after she was detained and held in custody the first time, for ten days.
“Her parents used to call and tell us to stop deploying her, but we never did deploy her!” one of her former bosses recalled.
“All her editors tried to stop her. But it was impossible.”
The young reporter eventually went freelance in order to deploy herself and when she got back newspapers would buy her reports.
Most strikingly, she never used a pseudonym even though she wrote openly of "occupied" territory and referred to those who collaborated with the Russians as "traitors".
“She wanted to provide information about how those cities live under siege by the Russian army,” Sevgil Musaieva, editor-in-chief at Ukrayinska Pravda, told the BBC.
“She was absolutely amazing.”
DETENTION
Viktoriia's father has previously described how she set out via Poland and Russia last July, heading for occupied Ukraine.
It was a week before she called to say she’d been interrogated at the border for several days.
All we know for sure after that, is that by May she was in Detention Centre No. 2 in Taganrog, southern Russia – a facility so notorious for the brutal treatment of many Ukrainians that some dub it the "Russian Guantanamo".
According to the Media Initiative for Human Rights, another Ukrainian citizen who was released from Taganrog last month has told Viktoriia’s family she saw the journalist on 8 or 9 September.
Then, there was cause for hope.
“I was 100% sure she’d be back on 13 September this year. My sources gave me 100% guarantees,” Musaieva, from Ukrayinska Pravda, says.
She had been told Viktoriia would be included in one of the periodic prisoner-of-war swaps that Ukraine and Russia carry out, planned for the middle of last month.
“So what happened with her in prison? Why didn’t she come home?”
Viktoriia was moved, with another Ukrainian woman, but neither were included in the prisoner exchange.
“That means she was taken somewhere else," says Media Initiative director Tetyana Katrychenko. "They say to Lefortovo. Why there? We don’t know."
She says it’s not normal practice ahead of a swap.
Lefortovo prison in Moscow is run by the FSB security service and used for those accused of espionage and serious crimes against the state.
“Maybe they took her there to start some kind of court proceeding or investigation. That’s happened to other civilians taken from Kherson and Melitopol,” Tetyana says.
The BBC understands that Viktoriia’s father had spoken to her in prison on 30 August.
At some point, she had called a hunger strike, but that day her father urged her to start eating again and she agreed.
“That needs investigating. It also means we’d be blaming her, partially, and not the Russian Federation, as we should,” Tetyana cautions.
Ukraine’s intelligence service has confirmed Viktoriia’s death and the General Prosecutor’s office has changed its criminal case from illegal detention to murder.
In Russia, Viktoriia was never charged with any crime and the circumstances of her detention are not known.
“A civilian journalist … captured by Russia. Then Russia sends a letter that she died?” Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn told the BBC in Kyiv.
“It's killing. Just the killing of hostages. I don't know other word.”
Russia hasn't commented.
Read the rest at the link. Adds politico.eu
“Viktoria died as she was about to be exchanged during one of the upcoming prisoner exchanges,” Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov told POLITICO on Friday. “Russia did not inform of the cause of her death.”
“Her return was agreed, and the last information we know, she was being transferred to Lefortovo prison[in Moscow] to prepare for her return home,” Petro Yatsenko, representative of Ukraine’s prisoner exchange coordination staff, said on a Ukrainian national fundraising telethon late on Thursday.
Roshchyna, 27, went missing in August 2023 in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, where she was reporting about illegal elections held by the Kremlin, the destruction of Kakhovka dam in the Kherson region and the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
“Only in May 2024 in Russia it was confirmed that she was detained and is on the territory of the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said in a statement on Thursday. “Why a young woman died while in Russian captivity is unknown,” the ombudsman added.
Roshchyna’s colleagues mourned her death, remembering her dedication to the profession and her willingness to take risks for a story.
“Nothing could stop Vika if an idea was born in her head. Nothing was more important to her than journalism,” Yevheniia Motorevska, one of Roshchyna’s former editors, wrote on Facebook on Friday. ” Vika has always been where the most important events for the country took place.”
More than 30 Ukrainian journalists are still illegally held in Russia as prisoners, according to Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, who is head of the freedom of speech committee in Ukraine’s parliament.
Overall, thousands of Ukrainian civilians are being held in Russian prisons.
[MSN] In his daily video message on Sunday, the Ukrainian president said: "We see an increasing alliance between Russia and regimes like North Korea. It is no longer just about transferring weapons. It is actually about transferring people from North Korea to the occupying military forces."..
A source in Ukrainian intelligence, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, told CNN last week that a small number of North Koreans have been working with the Russian military, mostly to help with engineering and to exchange information on the use of North Korean ammunition. Some of them were recently killed in eastern Ukraine, the source said.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
10/15/2024 00:00 ||
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We don’t want the things, they do. And honest-ish money is made every step of the way. Win-win.
[BBC] The small South Caucasus nation of Georgia has become a multi-billion dollar hub for the international used car market. The vehicles are mostly sourced from the US, and many appear to be ending up in Russia.
On the dusty outskirts of Rustavi, an industrial town 20km (12 miles) southeast of Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, is a vast area of open-air carparks.
Equivalent in size to more than 40 football pitches, it hosts thousands of vehicles up for sale.
You can find pretty much any automobile your heart desires - Mercedes, Porsches, Jaguars, Toyotas and, more recently, Teslas. They are all here.
One of the largest carparks is owned by Caucasus Auto Import (CAI), a company that buys used cars from auctions in the US. The vehicles have often been so badly damaged in accidents that they have been written-off by American insurance firms.
CAI says that its “team of experts” in the States will pick up the cars in person, and then arrange their export by container ship, 10,000km (6,000 miles) to a port on Georgia’s Black Sea coastline. The damaged cars will then be fixed by Georgianmechanics.
“Our company has contributed a lot to the renewal of the Georgian fleet of cars,” says David Gulashvili, CAI’s deputy chief executive. “When we started our business in 2004, Georgian automotive infrastructure was totally Soviet Union produced, like [Soviet brands] Lada and Vaz.”
He says that his company has responded to “a lot of demand for Western-produced vehicles”. Today the firm has 600 employees.
Last year, Georgia imported $3.1bn (£2.4bn) worth of cars, according to official figures. It then exported vehicles to a value of $2.1bn, mainly to former Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Cars are in fact Georgia’s second-largest export by value, after copper ore.
Across the huge car market in Rustavi, curious customers are on the lookout for a deal. Each car has a card on the inside of its windscreen indicating price, engine size, and date of manufacture.
Alisher Tezikbayev has travelled here from Kazakhstan. He and a group of his friends are exploring the Toyota section.
“We've been re-exporting cars from Georgia for about 3.5 years. We send cars to Kazakhstan and organise auto tours, when clients come to Georgia to pick their own car,” says Mr Tezikbayev, who is posting videos to his 100k followers on Tik Tok.
Georgia used to export second-hand US and European cars to its northern neighbour Russia, with whom it shares a border. But that has officially stopped as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In September 2023, the Georgian Revenue Service announced that, in line with the then latest Western sanctions against Russia, it was restricting the re-export and transit of automobiles imported from the US or Europe to Russia and Belarus.
And Georgian officials have long denied that the country has been complicit in aiding Russia’s evasion of the trade embargoes.
Yet a recent investigation by Georgian media publication Ifacti showed numerous loopholes exploited by an army of car dealers on both sides of the Russian-Georgian border.
David Gulashvili says that his company no longer has any trade with Russia. “From day one of the war we have restricted any kind of transactions from Russia, any kind of exports to Russia. You will not see a single car exported by Caucasus Auto Import to Russia.”
However, he adds that there is no existing mechanism to monitor the final destination for re-exported cars going to other countries.
And since Russia's invasion of Ukraine there has been a steep rise in exports of used cars to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia – all of which are members of the Russia-led customs union.
It means that a vehicle registered in any of those countries can be driven to Russia with minimal tariffs.
Figures from Georgia’s national statistics agency suggest that cars are indeed going on to Russia. It says that in 2022 Georgia exported 7,352 used cars to Kazakhstan, while in 2023 the number was 39,896, a more than five-fold increase. So much for Russian sanctions.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Victor Lavrinenko
[REGNUM] On October 13, the first round of parliamentary elections took place in Lithuania, the outcome of which already allows us to assess the picture of the changes awaiting the political system of this country.
It would seem that there are no particular surprises: the systemic parties are simply forming a new configuration of the ruling coalition.
But these elections brought one surprise - the unexpected rise of the absolutely marginal Nazi party, whose leader became infamous for his denial of Lithuanians' guilt for the Holocaust. This success became a clear proof of the process of "grassroots" fascisation of the country, which previously they preferred not to talk about much. The political system of Lithuania will undergo serious changes.
FAILED "AGRARIANS"
The most powerful of the local parties is the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (HO-LD, also known as the Conservatives).
These are the ideological heirs of the "father of Lithuanian independence" Vytautas Landsbergis - he retired from active affairs due to age, but remains an extremely influential figure. His grandson Gabrielius is the head of the LC-LDC, who received the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2020.
The Conservatives differ from other major Lithuanian parties in their heightened level of Russophobia and special devotion to Washington, which they consider their unconditional overlord.
Domestically, they pursue a distinctly neoliberal policy. In 2008–2012, the Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius, who represented the LC-LD, became the most hated person in the country because he “defeated” the economic crisis by ruthlessly cutting down the country’s social system.
Kubilius's activities led to the conservatives going into opposition following the 2012 elections. At that time, a coalition led by the local Social Democratic Party came to power in Lithuania. It lasted for four years, and in 2016, it was replaced by a new coalition led by the Union of Farmers and Greens (UFG).
The regular change of ruling coalitions in Lithuania is explained by the fact that the problems of this state are systemic in nature, which means that they cannot be resolved within the current order of things. The voter quickly becomes disappointed with the next political favorites, and he runs to the next ones, forgetting that he once voted for them. Therefore, there is a cycle of parties, changing places in the ruling coalition and opposition every four to eight years.
Just by 2016, the country had a demand for new meanings, for the creation of a qualitatively new political system. The people entrusted the Union of Peasants and Greens with satisfying it, but it failed in this task.
Firstly, the SKZ received a strong opposition in the form of conservatives. Secondly, the Lithuanian "peasants and greens" did not even try to carry out some kind of "revolution from above". In foreign policy, the SKZ continued the course of its predecessors - confrontation with Russia, attempts to "democratize" Belarus, strategic cooperation with Washington.
At the same time, the Lithuanian "agrarians" were so carried away by geopolitical games that they never found any incentives for the development of their country's economy. As a result, in the fall of 2020, the voters asked them to "leave".
WAR WITH CHINA AND THE COVID "CONCENTRATION CAMP"
However, under the Conservatives’ return to power, Lithuania’s foreign policy games have reached a truly global scale. Immediately after winning the 2020 elections, the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats promised to “defend democratic values, oppose human rights violations, and protect freedom fighters around the world – from Belarus to Taiwan.”
The main focus of the Conservatives' foreign policy activities in the first year was Belarus. They fiercely supported the Belarusian opposition, introduced new sanctions against Minsk and called on the entire EU to do the same. They did this regardless of the economic losses. The ban on the transit of Belaruskali products through Klaipeda at the end of 2021 alone brought billions of dollars in losses to the Lithuanian economy and led to a wave of layoffs in the transport sector.
Another area of activity that Lithuanian conservatives have declared is the fight against the Belarusian NPP. Through their efforts, Lithuania not only refused to purchase electricity produced at the Belarusian NPP, but also persuaded Latvia and Estonia to join this “energy boycott.”
But the main result of the conservatives' four years in power was Lithuania's quarrel with China, which again resulted in significant economic losses for the Lithuanians. At first, Vilnius showered Beijing with insults, accusing it of "suppressing democracy" and of the Chinese allegedly engaging in "total espionage" and "influence-grabbing" in the EU countries.
But then Lithuania committed a much more serious act: it opened an official representative office of Taiwan, thus directly violating the “one China” principle, which Vilnius supposedly recognizes in words.
An enraged Beijing reduced its diplomatic representation in Lithuania to a minimum and imposed sanctions against the Baltic republic, which, again, caused it enormous damage.
The authorities promised that it was not a problem, that grateful Taiwan would compensate and even cover all losses with its investments, but nothing of the sort happened. And now opposition Lithuanian politicians are increasingly openly saying that the quarrel with Beijing, which was started literally out of nowhere, was an outright stupidity.
Russian-Lithuanian relations suffered even more damage during the conservatives' rule. Long before the start of the SVO, Vilnius was inventing insults against Moscow and constantly inventing all sorts of reasons to prick its neighbor.
When the Western campaign to strangle Russia with sanctions began in the spring of 2022, Lithuania, like the other Baltic countries, constantly tried to get ahead of the game and proactively introduced sanctions that Brussels did not even demand of them, such as a ban on issuing visas to all Russian citizens.
Lithuanian leaders, including Landsbergis Jr., are telling the population that “it is necessary to prepare for Russian aggression,” because “ if Moscow senses weakness, it will certainly attack.” This creates an atmosphere of extreme nervousness and uncertainty in the country.
The conservatives' policy had already become so annoying to the Lithuanian people from the very beginning that within a month of their return to power, more than half of the population had expressed no confidence in the new government. Mass complaints and lamentations began to be heard: why did we vote for these crooks?
Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė cynically advised all those dissatisfied to wait for new elections in 2024. The conservatives especially turned people against themselves by tightening the screws to the limit during the Covid pandemic. Unlike Russia, where "self-isolation" lasted only for a few months in 2020, and then the state began to gradually ease restrictions, the Baltic countries existed in the strictest quarantine regime for two years.
The population of Lithuania then felt as if they were in a collective prison: residents were even forbidden to leave their municipalities. Ordinary Lithuanians repeatedly asked for these restrictions to be relaxed, and when the authorities refused, mass unrest began in Vilnius. Then the protesters blocked the parliament building, and the police used tear gas to disperse them.
Taking into account all of the above, it becomes clear why many people are sick and tired of the SO-KhDL government.
ELECTION RESULTS
The Seimas of Lithuania is elected by universal secret ballot under a mixed system: 71 deputies in single-member constituencies under the majoritarian system, 70 in a multi-member constituency under party lists. This time, fifteen teams competed for seats in parliament - 14 party candidates and one coalition list; 699 candidates competed in single-member constituencies.
And now the results of the first round of voting, which took place on October 13, have become known. In multi-mandate districts, the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDPL) received the maximum result - 20.46% of the votes and 19 mandates.
The Conservatives were only in second place - 16.44% support and 15 mandates. In third place was the nationalist party "Nemunas's Dawn" led by former Seimas deputy Remigijus Žemaitaitis.
Also in the first round, the three party leaders who ran in single-mandate constituencies were the most successful. Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė from the SO-KhDL received 53.55% in her constituency. The Speaker of the Seimas from the Liberal Movement (this party is the junior partner of the Conservatives in the ruling coalition) Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen received 44.9%, and the chairwoman of Nemunas Day Žemaitaitis received 46.44%.
They celebrated victory in single-mandate constituencies already in the first round of elections. Others were content with more modest results: five party chairmen made it to the second round, and three lost the single-mandate elections.
What does this result indicate? Fatigue with the current ruling coalition – yes, of course. But the result of the coalition parties cannot be called a rout, and in the case of Šimonytė and Čmilytė-Nilson personally, it is more than successful.
This is explained by the fact that both the SO-KhDL and the Liberal Movement have managed to become parties of the Lithuanian bureaucracy, who associate their personal well-being with their success. The class of officials in Lithuania is quite large, and not only they themselves vote for “their” party, but also their entire numerous relatives.
Moreover, it must be admitted that in Lithuania many people have been fooled by anti-Russian propaganda; they are impressed by the energetic activities of Šimonytė and her party in “ building a defense against aggressive Russia ”: purchasing weapons, strengthening the army, inviting a permanent Bundeswehr brigade to Lithuania, etc.
However, officials, their relatives and victims of Russophobic propaganda were not enough to overcome the negative legacy of the conservatives’ rule.
But the success of the Social Democrats is built on the votes of those who are mortally fed up with the government.
Their candidate for prime minister is the party chairperson Vilija Blinkevičiūtė. She has one serious advantage: she is not an out-and-out Russophobic and, being a left-wing person, is more interested in the country's internal affairs than in geopolitical confrontation.
One plus for Blinkevičiūtė is that she does not share the opinion about the need to liquidate Russian schools in Lithuania. She once disputed the expediency of opening a Taiwan representative office in Vilnius.
In 2021, the Social Democrats objected to the crude interference in Georgia's affairs, where conservative representatives began to visit frequently to teach Georgians how to "properly confront Russia."
Of course, if the Social Democrats head the new Lithuanian government, one should not expect the state's foreign policy to change in any serious way - the country will remain in the American "train". But the anti-Russian policy will be carried out by Vilnius without the previous enthusiasm and without any completely crude insults to Moscow.
"DAWN" OF NEO-NAZISM
But what came as a surprise was the huge success of Zarya Nemunas.
Its founder, Remigijus Žemaitaitis, was kicked out of the respectable Freedom and Justice party in 2023 after he published a series of anti-Semitic posts on social media. In particular, he tried to absolve Lithuanians of responsibility for aiding the Nazis during the Holocaust (during the Nazi occupation, 200,000 Jews were killed in Lithuania with the active participation of local collaborators). Žemaitaitis accused Jews of attacking Lithuanians during the war (indeed, Jewish partisan units operated on the territory of the republic) and demanded an “apology” from them.
The scandal was huge, especially since the US embassy also paid attention to these statements. Zemaitaitis had to say goodbye to both his party at the time and his seat in the Seimas.
However, he did not lose his head and quickly organized a new political force, the success of which no one believed in, given the scandalous past of its founder. And suddenly - triumph, incredible success, when unknown marginal nationalists take third place in the elections.
This success is the result of thirty years of nationalist propaganda hammered into the heads of the population, when Soviet soldiers were declared “occupiers” and the “forest brothers” (many of whom directly participated in the extermination of those same Jews) were proclaimed “heroes.”
It turned out that over the years, a fairly large layer of people has been raised in the country who are ready to repeat the bloody "feats" of their predecessors. The malice of Lithuanian neo-Nazis is directed at the minorities living in Lithuania - Jews, Poles and Russians.
And they are much more outspoken and radical than the same conservatives, whose ranks also include a ton of nationalists who are forced to restrain themselves for reasons of respectability.
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.
