🇺🇦 Ukraine public servants smuggled nearly $5 million in cash. Ukraine is opening investigations into illegal enrichment and money laundering. Good. The more Ukraine does this, the more likely they will get EU status and become a thriving country.
🇺🇦 3 Russian Kh-59 missiles were shot down near Odesa over the Black Sea.
🇺🇦 44 children who were kidnapped by Russia have been returned. Great, but that’s a small fraction of the children, and I hope more stories like this pop up in my feed.
🇺🇦 The Russian State Duma (e.g., congress), said that the US needs to remember that Alaska was once part of Russia
🇺🇦 (Russia sold Alaska to America in 1959)
🇺🇦 Heavy weapons donated from the west are now working at full capacity.
🇺🇦 The Ukrainian army systematically is demolishing Russian ammunition supplies with HIMARS systems.
🇺🇦 HIMARS systems are causing a disproportionate amount of damage.
🇺🇦 HIMARS systems in UA travel at night. Russia can’t fight nor target at night
🇺🇦 Russians are claiming they destroyed two HIMARS systems. UA is refuting this.
🇺🇦 Nearly a million Ukrainians are gaining combat experience. Many (most) aren’t professional soldiers
🇺🇦 There were no claimed or assessed Russian territorial gains in Ukraine for the first time in 133 days
🇺🇦 Russian forces are conducing offensive operations in the following places: northwest and east of Slovyansk, westward from the Luhansk-Donetsk, south of Bakhmut, north of Kharkiv City, northwestern Kherson Oblast.
🇺🇦 UA seems to be setting conditions for a counter offensive toward Kherson City (snipers be sniping)
🇺🇦 The days of updates once every 48 hours is coming, so just be prepared!
📢 Countries apply to be in NATO. NATO is a defense alliance that has never, and does not, consider offensive operations. 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 this thing America did…” or “what about Palestine?” 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, 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.
🇺🇦 Sorry to my Substack readers who get this weird “ua” symbol instead of a flag emoji!
Correction: Russia sold Alaska to the U.S. in 1867. Alaska became a state in 1959.