🇺🇦 Russian forces have adopted a better operational pattern in eastern Ukraine. Along the Northern line from Izyum to Rubizhne, Russian troops are pushing down multiple roughly parallel roads within supporting distance of one another, allowing them to bring more combat power to bear than their previous operations. Russian troops on this line are making better progress than any other Russian advances in this phase of the war. (Institute for the Study of War)
🇺🇦 Ukraine has prepared to protect the Donbas since 2014, and Russia is having an impossible time penetrating that southern area of Eastern Ukraine. However, the northern area, Izyum, is not as well protected, and Russia is making more progress there.
🇺🇦 Russian troops continue to attack the Aztroval factory in Mariupol
🇺🇦 Russia is continuing their destabilization campaign in Moldova. If there’s one thing Russia does really well, it’s destabilize adversarial nations. They do anything they can to turn citizens against each other.
🇺🇦 Many Russian forces are refusing to advance on the Kharkiv axis due to suffering enormous losses, according to intercepted conversations. "I can't express how unnerving this all is... Well, our number is up, to say the least... At first, they just threw our lot forward. From another company. They were brought back dead. They just jumped into the armored car and went to ‘mop up’ a village. And there are always Ukrainians there waiting and firing at them. Today, people began to refuse. The Russians refused, ours refused, but some Luhansk people did set off.”
🇺🇦 Russian regions close to Ukraine's border reported a number of explosions overnight amid speculation that the war is spilling over the border. A Ukraine drone was allegedly spotted 140 miles into Russia's territory. (Newsweek)
Non-Operations
🇺🇦 As we saw yesterday, supplying equipment to Ukraine is starting to affect other country’s readiness. For example…
🇺🇦 Raytheon is having a hard time building Stinger missile systems, because some components are obsolete, since the US hasn’t bought any in 18 years. They will have to redesign the electronics in the seeker head.
🇺🇦 Russia is cutting off natural gas supply to Poland and Bulgaria after the countries refused to pay in Rubles.
🇺🇦 A Gallop poll showed that Americans have a 78% approval for allowing refugees into America. This is the highest support for refugee admittance since 1939.
🇺🇦 Sec of State Blinken said America would support Ukraine pushing Russia out of Eastern Ukraine if that’s what President Zelensky wants to do.
🇺🇦 US Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department would support legislation that allowed seized Russian oligarch assets to go towards paying for Ukrainian support and aid in rebuilding the country.
🇺🇦 US arms are now moving faster than ever into Ukraine. Where it once took weeks, it now takes 72 hours
🇺🇦 Germany said they could be free of Russian oil in a matter of days
🇺🇦 Moldova says that the explosions in Transnistria was the work of internal destabilizing elements, which is a clear departure from the Russian narrative. It’s pretty certain that Russia is b0mbed Moldova in an attempt to get them to go to war with Ukraine
🇺🇦 Russia remains unsophisticated when it comes to battlefield communications. They’re using stole Ukranian phones to communicate, and this is leading to a LOT of intelligence, as Ukrainian Intelligence is listening to these unsecured cell phones.
🇺🇦 Germany has yielded to internal and international pressure and is now supporting Ukraine.
🇺🇦 As mentioned earlier, ,ore facilities in Russia were set on fire, most recently, an ammunition depot near the Ukraine border
📢 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.
⚠️ Note: 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, Philip DeFranco, 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.
⚠️ 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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