Thursday, June 9
Russia takes heavy losses taking Severdonetsk…which is a strategically insignificant city
🇺🇦 (Picture): This is Tetyana Chubar, a gunner of the self-propelled artillery unit. 24-year-old Chubar joined the nation’s army to fight the Russian invaders. While her first dream was to have a career in the confectionary industry, she now commands a Ukrainian artillery platoon, with a 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer at its disposal.
🇺🇦 Russian forces continued assaults against UA positions in Severodonetsk. This area is largely under Russian control.
🇺🇦 Russian control comes at a stiff loss to Russia. Russia appears to be losing soldiers at a rate of one every five minutes…or around 250-300 per day. I’ll provide more solid numbers if I can get them.
🇺🇦 Remember: Severdonetsk is a strategically insignificant city. Taking this city is meant for moral and domestic propaganda *only*.
🇺🇦 According to Severdonetsk’s mayor, block by block, street fighting rages on.
🇺🇦 Russian forces are attempting to flank UA positions to avoid the necessity of making an opposed crossing of the Siversky Donets river.
🇺🇦 Russian forces are continuing operations around Sviatohirsk and west of Lyman to link up with operations southeast of Izyum and drive on Slovyansk.
🇺🇦 Russian forces are intensifying their operations in northwestern Kherson Oblast in response to recent Ukrainian counterattacks.
🇺🇦 Russian-backed occupation authorities are attempting to set conditions for the political integration of occupied areas into the Russian Federation but are likely acting independently and in an incoherent manner due to the lack of a unifying occupation authority. Because anything Russia does has to be half assed, and in a way that makes everyone make fun of them.
🇺🇦 Russian forces intensified the use of psychological and information operations to damage the morale of Ukrainian soldiers.
🇺🇦 Russian forces are sending threatening messages to the personal devices of Ukrainian servicemen, saying that Severodonetsk will be the next Mariupol
🇺🇦 Russian military commanders continue to face force generation challenges.
🇺🇦 Russian military enlistment offices in Crimea are falsifying the results of mandatory medical exams administered during the summer conscription period to maximize the number of recruits. Also, these military enlistment officers are being f1re b0mbed
🇺🇦 Russia is getting what it wants from EU when it comes to selling energy via a currency-switch scheme. Russia has the upper hand because they’re providing the energy. Oil and natural gas is funding Russia’s war against Ukraine.
🇺🇦 There are 2,000+ Azovstal defenders being kept in a detention center in Russian-occupied territories of UA. They will likely go to trial.
🇺🇦 More M777 howitzers are going to UA. However, US is not providing electronic guidance systems. This is because…
🇺🇦 The US has very advanced guidance systems which are classified, so the US isn’t giving it to a foreign battlefield where they might be abandoned.
🇺🇦 However, the US helped UA develop a UA guidance system based on the UA platform. You can tell that the US cares about you when when they get the nerds involved.
🇺🇦 Poland has sent $2 billion worth of weapons to Ukraine.
🇺🇦 Radiation detectors in Chernobyl are back online for the first time since Feb 24 and levels are……………..determined to be normal
🇺🇦 There is a catastrophic lack of medicine in Mariupol. Russians are trying to convince 80+ year olds to go back to work at the hospital.
🇺🇦 Cholera is breaking out due to sanitation problems in the city. Like…there’s no running water or sewage and on and on. Congrats, Russia.
🇺🇦 These problems exist because Russia brought a destruction force, and not an occupying force, and not a rebuilding force.
🇺🇦 “Ukraine Fatigue” seems to be Putin’s last hope. Putin has turned this into a war of wills, by throwing lives at the problem and not caring about the deaths. If he can outlast the west, then he’ll win. And it might be working. The international community is getting tired of Russia's war against Ukraine. Social Media sites are starting to deprioritize UA pundit discussions, based purely on engagement. Unless Russia is defeated, a return to peace will be temporary.
🇺🇦 Russia's "iron firewall" is porous -- Russians can see more of the Ukraine war after 3 months than we saw during the entire Vietnam war.
🇺🇦 Russia has sentenced three foreign POWs to death. They are British and Moroccan
🇺🇦 This didn’t make bigger news yesterday, but the Russian army fighting in eastern Ukraine is a completely new army. Its general died right away.
🇺🇦 I didn’t have any dank Ukrainian memes so you get the feel good woman-pastry-maker-turned-gunner-killing-orcs-picture instead
📢 Countries apply to be in NATO. NATO doesn’t seek to expand. Saying NATO is encroaching on Russia is Kremlin messaging. Russia has three primary propaganda efforts directed at the West, and that’s the first.
📢 Yes, Ukraine has a nazi problem, but it’s a very small percentage of the country, and not representative of the whole. Using a small group to smear the entire group is called “guilt by association.” Russia has three primary propaganda efforts directed at the West, and that’s the second.
📢 If you ever hear anyone say “What about America…” in an effort to redirect attention away from Ukraine and onto the west, that is called “Competitive victimhood” and the associated meme is *always* created by Russian-backed media. Russia has three primary propaganda efforts directed at the West, and that’s the third.
⚠️ Sorry about the typos or awkward sentences!!!! This is the inevitable result of putting out a finalized research product once every 24 hours, with no staff. If anyone feels like giving me staff, we can polish this b right up!
⚠️ I got lazy with my citations and I apologize. My top sources are: Current and former military planners, singularly-focused pundits, and all manner of vetted open-source intelligence. Top cited open source pundits and sources include: CP Scott, Institute for the Study of War, Kyiv Independent, Aaron Parnas, John Aravosis, Malcontent News, and mainstream news with high levels of journalistic integrity and track records. Sadly I can’t source private individuals, of course.
⚠️ Speaking of sources, thanks to all of you who have forwarded me tips or given me data from the front line. You’re the private individuals I wish I could source publicly
⚠️ Though my awesome employer taught me everything I know about OSINT, these posts are not affiliated with my employer, nor done during my employer’s time. Every item I report is from my own research, my own opinion, and written during my own time.
⚠️ Note: War happens fast and even high fidelity news needs a ton of corrections after the dust settles. Also, I’ve been spoiled by social media’s format where I can update the final product every time I find a typo. That poses a problem because…
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