20 Jun, 2023 16:54

Ukrainian counteroffensive to end in weeks – Russian MP

Moscow’s troops are likely to repel Kiev’s offensive in July and launch an attack of their own, Andrey Kartapolov has claimed

Kiev’s forces willexhaust their offensive capabilities in Julyif the current Ukrainian casualty rate persists, the head of Russia’s State Duma Defense Committee, Andrey Kartapolov, said on Tuesday.

Ukrainian troops havelost some 900 soldiers to deaths and injuries over the past 24 hoursalone, the colonel general explained. According to Kartapolov, they have alsolost nine tanks and dozens of armored vehiclesover the same period. “If it continuesat this pace, I believewe will finish repelling [this offensive] in three weeksandmove on to dynamic actionsourselves,” the MP predicted in an appearance on the ‘Solovyov Live’ show.

The lawmaker claimed that Ukrainehad already lost around 20,000 soldiersout of the 40,000 to 50,000 it had reportedly trained for the offensive. While he did not name his sources, he claimed the much-awaited Ukrainian operation had largely failed.

“Every tactic they have used has not worked as of now,” he said. Kiev’s troopsdid not advancefurther than the Russian forward defense area security zone and did not even reach the first defense line, the MP added.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, over 600 Ukrainian servicemen have been killed over the past 24 hours, as Kiev’s troops continued their attacks on Russian positions. The Ukrainian forces also lost dozens of armored vehicles, as well as a dozen artillery pieces, includingat least three US-made M777 howitzers, the ministry revealed in its daily briefing on Tuesday.

Kiev’s large-scale offensive began on June 4. Ukrainian troops have suffered heavy losses in the attacks, which have been repelled by Russian forces, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Last week, it said that 7,500 of Kiev’s frontline troops had either been killed or wounded. Russian President Vladimir Putin also said last week that Kiev had lost up to 30% of the heavy equipment supplied to it by the West.

https://www.rt.com/russia/578360-ukrainian-counteroffensive-end-weeks-mp/

20 Jun, 2023 16:04

Russian soldier collects $13,000 reward for destroying German tank

Andrey Kravtsov was awarded the bonus for eliminating a Leopard 2 in Ukraine

Andrey Kravtsov has become the first Russian soldier to receive a million-ruble reward, the equivalent of $13,000, for destroying a German-made Leopard tank on the battlefield in Ukraine. Themoney was provided by entrepreneursfrom Novosibirsk Region through the Care of Siberia fund.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday that Kravtsov had personally been handed the certificate by Novosibirsk senator andthree-time Olympic wrestling championAlexander Karelin.

“These are wonderful additional payments for those who cause significant damage to the enemy,” Karelin said, explaining that these payments are an additional reward and not a substitute for any state payouts.

Kravtsov is currently undergoing treatment for his wounds at the National Medical Research Center for High Medical Technologies in Moscow. Thesoldier says he did not even know that he had successfully destroyed a German tankduring the battle until he arrived at the hospital.

“Heavy artillery was firing upon us. The tank was also targeting us,” Kravtsov recalled in a video released by the Defense Ministry. “I took a grenade launcher and began to go around from the flank, to identify the armored vehicles that were firing on us.”

“I fired. There was smoke. Only after I came to the hospital did I find out that it was a German Leopard,” he said.

The soldier stressed thatmoney was not the motivationbehind his decision to take part in Russia’s military operation, and he simply wanted to defend his country. “I’m a patriot. I love my country,” Kravtsov said.

Ever since Kiev’s Western backers started delivering increasingly advanced weaponry to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a number of Russian regional authorities, as well as private entrepreneurs, have offered bounties for the destruction of foreign weaponry on the battlefield.

Last week, a group of Russian pop stars also offered one million rubles to any Russian servicemen who successfully destroy or capture Western-supplied military hardware in Ukraine.

Before that, similar bounties were issued by the governor of Zabaikalsky Region in eastern Russia and the chemical manufacturer Fores. In February, the Pavel Sudoplatov Battalion, an international volunteer unit created in the part of Zaporozhye Region held by Russia, offered to “pay 12 million rubles ($170,000) for each serviceable captured Leopard, Abrams, or Challenger tank.”

Commenting on such offers, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in February that they were proof of the “unity and the desire of all” to contribute to achieving the goals of Russia’s ongoing military campaign.

https://www.rt.com/russia/578357-russian-soldier-leopard-reward/

20 Jun, 2023 11:19

Nigerian president sacks security chiefs

Bola Tinubu has demanded the immediate retirement of all service chiefs, including the police inspector general

(Sounds like Obama took over, wasn’t he visiting there are that time?Yep it was ObamaIt looks Obama got his guy elected. See below)

Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu on Monday ordered the removal of the country’s security chiefs and the chief of police, less than a month after taking office, in a major reshuffle of the defense and security sector.

The president retired the defense chief, along with the heads of the army, navy and the air force, and named new officers as their replacements.

According to a statement issued on Monday, Tinubu has "approved the immediate retirement from service of all Service Chiefs and the Inspector-General of Police, Advisers, and Comptroller-General of Customs, as well as their replacements with immediate effect."

The head of state appointed Nuhu Ribadu, former head of the country's economic and financial crimes agency, as his national security adviser, while Major General Christopher Musa, who led the military's counter-insurgency efforts until last year, takes over as chief of defence staff, replacing Lucky Irabor.

The West African country has been grappling with a spike in criminal activity, including jihadist insurgencies, terrorism, and ransom kidnappings, sparking persistent calls on the government to tackle the situation.

President Tinubu assured Nigerians during his inaugural speech on May 29 that security would be his government's top priority, saying that neither prosperity nor justice can thrive in the presence of insecurity and violence.

Aside from the security sector reshuffle, the president has also dissolved the boards of federal government institutions, agencies, and state-owned enterprises. The boards of the judicial council, the electoral commission, and the police service are among those unaffected by the changes.

(https://www.rt.com/africa/578338-nigerian-security-sector-revamp/)

VIDEOVideo: Obama on NigeriaDecides 2023, ‘leaders, violent has no place in democratic elections’

Published 4 months ago

b. 21, 2023

As the 2023 general elections in Nigeria draw closer, former United States President, Barack Obama congratulated the country on fighting for political independence, fighting off a military incursion into civil government amidst other commendable fits.

He urged Nigerians to vote for credible leaders and asked political leadership to discourage electoral violence as according to him ” Violent has no place in democratic elections”

(https://africanewswatch.com/2023/02/video-obama-on-nigeriadecides-2023-leaders-violent-has-no-place-in-democratic-elections/)

20 Jun, 2023 20:38

Let NATO fight, Russia is prepared – Lavrov

The Western bloc has committed to fighting Russia in Ukraine, the foreign minister said

Russia is prepared for NATO to continue to fight in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday. Several days earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg rejected any moves to “freeze” the conflict, despite mounting Ukrainian losses.

In an interview with Germany’s Welt am Sonntag published on Sunday, Stoltenberg declared that “peace cannot mean freezing the conflict and accepting a deal that is dictated by Russia.” Stoltenberg added that “only Ukraine can define the conditions that are acceptable,”an explicit endorsement of Kiev’s vow to drive Russian forces back to pre-conflict borders and seize the Russian territory of Crimea.

“If NATO, through the mouth of Stoltenberg, once again declares that theyare against freezing, as they say, the conflict in Ukraine, then they want to fight,” Lavrov told a press conference. “Well, let them fight, we are ready for this,we have long understood the goals of NATO in the situation around Ukraine, which have been formed for many years.”

Officials in Moscow have long accused the US and itsNATO allies of arming Ukraine and using the country to instigate conflictwith Russia. Russian President Vladimr Putin has described the conflict as pitting his forces against “the entire Western military machine,”and Lavrov echoed this sentiment on Tuesday, stating that the West’s continued arms shipments to Kiev show that theWest is “a direct participant in the hybrid war declared against Russia, and indeed the hot war.”

While Lavrov claimed thatsome Western leaders are beginning to “sober up” about the nature of the conflict, Kiev has demanded that the weapons keep flowing. “Nothing will be enough, however much they send, because if there is no victory, that means it was not enough,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said in an interview on Monday.

With Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive faltering against a “well-prepared” Russian defense, Stoltenberg told reporters on Monday thatNATO states would soon send equipment to help Ukrainian troops clear Russian minefields. He did not say, however, what kind of equipment would be sent, or which members would provide it.

Last month, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the TASS news agency that Moscow was “in solidarity” with the West about the fact that the conflict cannot be “frozen.” He said theonly option that Moscow is currently considering is “completing the special military operation”or demilitarizing Ukraine and securing its neutrality by force.

https://www.rt.com/russia/578367-lavrov-fight-nato-ukraine/

>>19040077

Yes I know 77