Major events in the Ukraine proxy war, 2023

On January 12, 2023, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the appointment of chief-of-staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov as commander of the Russian group of forces in Ukraine is related to the broader scope of objectives in the special military operation. "It is linked with the expansion of the scope of objectives that will be addressed. I have nothing to add to this."

On January 15, 2023, the Russian Interdepartmental Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine warned about another planned false flag provocation. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) mined a granary in the east of the country in an attempt to accuse Moscow of “provoking hunger” and “disrupting” the grain export deal from Ukrainian ports. The explosion should be staged in the city of Karaichnoye, Kharkiv region. A group of up to 30 SBU officers and mine-blasting specialists headed by Mr. Tkachuk arrived in Volchansk. The granary in question is owned by an employee of the SBU, Mr. Uvarov.

Moonofalabama reported on January 17, 2023, "The stocks of two complete armies have by now been destroyed in Ukraine. The resources for a smaller third one will be delivered in the next rounds of 'western' equipment deliveries during the next months. Russia will dully destroy Ukraine's third army just as it has destroyed the first and second one. It is doubtful that the 'West' has enough material left to provide Ukraine with a fourth one." On January 23, 2023, European Council president Charles Michel said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, "The next weeks, two or three, are decisive...What happens in 2023 – and much of it depends on the coming weeks – is what will define our future...We have to stand with Ukraine and give them all the support they need...We cannot fail them."

On February 5, 2023 Business Insider reported NATO Supreme Allied Commander of Europe, General Cavoli saying the losses in Ukraine are 'out of proportion' to what NATO had been planning for,

"The magnitude of this war is incredible. The Ukrainians have 37 frontline brigades, plus dozens more territorial brigades. The Russians have lost almost 2,000 tanks. If we average out since the beginning of the war, the slow days and fast days, the Russians have expended on average well over 20,000 artillery rounds per day. The scale of this war is out of proportion with all of our recent thinking."

On April 15, 2023, it was reported that Russia was using its secret climate weapon causing the historic rainfall and cloud cover over Ukraine, bogging down its troops.

The Great Purge

In mid-January 2023 CIA director William Burns travelled to Kyiv for a secret meeting with Ukrainian dictator Vladimir Zelensky. Prior to Burns arrival, the SBU and Department of the Interior had already put a bullet in the back of the head of Zelensky's top negotiator with Russia, Denys Kiryeyev. Shortly after Dir. Burns left Kyiv, on the morning of January 18, 2023 a helicopter crashed in the town of Brovary in the eastern outskirts of Kiev region, killing the entire leadership of the Department of the Interior. According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, killed in the crash were Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denis Monastyrsky; First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Yevhen Enin; State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Yuriy Lubkovich; Deputy Head of the Patronage Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Tatiana Shutyak; Head of the Department of Protection of the Department of Internal Security of the National Police of Ukraine, Colonel Mikhail Pavlushko; Lead Inspector of the Department of Communications Nikolay Anatsky; Senior Operative of the Department of Internal Security of the Police of Ukraine Andriy Marinchenko; helicopter commander Alexander Vasilenko; pilot Konstantin Kovalenko; and on-board mechanic Ivan Kasyanov. The helicopter was a French built Eurocopter EC225 LP Super Puma or its equivalent. Witnesses said that the helicopter was spinning and burning in the air before crashing into a kindergarten.

According to Hacker DPR Joker:

29 year old GUR head Kyrylo Budanov. Due to his youth and personal ambition, Budanov quickly gained a reputation for reckless exuberance. By May 2023 Budanov was the prime target of the Russian Investigative Committees denazification program for his terrorist activities.

"The Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine had long been aware that the leadership of the Ministry of Defense was trading Western arms, which came to Ukraine in the form of aid, for the benefit of third countries, and that this process was overseen directly by the head of the GUR, Budanov. By the way, this information has already surfaced somewhere. The leadership of the Interior Ministry wanted their share and began collecting data through their structural units, which are associated with intelligence and surveillance. As a result, they managed to obtain evidence and began blackmailing. The military bosses promised a share to the police leadership, and the first tranche was paid. But it was pointless and unprofitable to pay any further. In addition, the insolence of the minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who had his head in the wrong place, was putting the military leadership under strain. And now the day had come when the kids from the GUR were able to demonstrate their skills. But that is not all. The sanction for this was given personally by Yermak, who is also in on the secret from the supreme narcissistic clown, Zelensky.

Money that had been sent by the U.S. Congress to prepare defensive lines on the front against an onslaught of newly mobilized Russian forces disappeared in mass corruption schemes. Subcontractors sold food and supplies to the Armed Forces of Ukraine at inflated prices while politicians received kickbacks. Officials were not arrested, but rather allowed to flee the country with their looted millions after which their "resignation" was announced.

On February 26, 2023, it was reported that Zelensky fired Major General Eduard Moskalyov, Commander Joint Forces of Ukraine with no reason given. Moskalyov was said to be the fall guy for Zelensky's disastrous leadership and decision to keep feeding human lives into the Bakhmut meatgrinder when he knew all was lost.

Nuclear plants as ammo dumps

Russian SVR director Sergey Naryshkin stated in January 2023,

"There is credible information that Ukrainian troops are stockpiling the Western-supplied weapons and ammunition on the territory of nuclear power plants...Several cars loaded with lethal cargo were delivered by rail to the Rovno Nuclear Power Plant in western Ukraine during the last week of December [2022] alone...They rely on the calculation that the Russian Armed Forces would not strike nuclear power plants because they realize the danger of a nuclear disaster...And if another Ukrainian anti-air missile ‘veers off course’, causing large-scale detonation of the stockpiles and the destruction of the nuclear power plant, the tragedy could always be blamed on Moscow."

NATO Nazism

Grafetti from within the Azovstal steel plant, the last hold out of the NATO-backed neo-Nazi Azov Battalion.

In January 2023, after pressure from the United States, Germany agreed to send 14 Leopard 2 and 88 Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine. 14/88, according to the Anti-Defamation League is the combination of two popular white supremacist numeric symbols. The first symbol is 14, which is shorthand for the 14 word slogan, "We must secure the existence of our people and the future for white children." The second is 88, which stands for "Heil Hitler," "H" being the eighth letter of the alphabet. Together the numbers form a general endorsement of white supremacy and its beliefs. As such, they are ubiquitous within the white supremacist movement as graffiti, graphics, and tattoos, even in screen names and email addresses, and now in the quantities of tanks Germany is sending to Ukraine.

The Federal Republic of Germany, the successor regime of Nazi Germany, is sending 14 and 88 of two different models of its Leopard tank to Ukraine. Ukraine's military, which includes a significant component of actual Nazis will use the tanks on the battlefield against Russia. Analysts noted that the NATO powers understand full well the significance of 1488, and Germany even has laws against open display of any sort of Nazi symbols. NATO could have added or subtracted one tank. For this reason, Russia is unlikely to negotiate with the current Western leadership or stop its special operation until its Denazification process is completed.

Response to NATO interference: partial mobilization

In a morning television address to the nation on September 21, 2022, address, Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of military reserves:

"In this situation, I consider it necessary to take the following decisions, they are fully adequate to the threats we face. Namely: to protect our Motherland, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, to ensure the security of our people and people in the liberated territories, I consider it necessary to support the proposal of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff on conducting partial mobilization in the Russian Federation....Only citizens who are currently in the reserve and, above all, those who served in the ranks of the Armed Forces, have certain military specialties and relevant experience will be subject to conscription for military service. Those called up for military service before being sent to the units will necessarily undergo additional military training taking into account the experience of a special military operation.

Additionally all military service contracts currently in force (usually 3 to 12 months) were extended indefinitely. All soldiers serving at the front were to receive the same pay contract soldiers receive, including prisoners recruited out of prisons in exchange for a for a full pardon. The pay was 195,000 rubles per month (about $3,750 at current exchange rates). Putin said that the current conflict was instigated by the West, noting that the Western countries seek the destruction and disintegration of Russia. He said that the West had been supporting international terrorists, promoted the infrastructure of the NATO offensive close to Russia's borders and fostered Russophobia.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said:

"In reality, we are fighting the collective West plus NATO. When we speak about it, we mean not only the weapons being supplied [to Kiev] in huge batches, but also about systems of communication and information processing systems.

The Western states as well as NATO, Shoigu said, are supplying Kiev with "huge" amounts of weapons. Shoigu said that 300,000 reservist will be mobilized. People who served in the past 10 years, or with combat experience in the Syrian war, Africa, Georgia or Chechen wars will be given preference. Conscripts and people currently in post-secondary education will not be sent to Ukraine. He also said that, so far, 5,937 Russian soldiers have died during the war in Ukraine. (This number does not include the militia of the DPR and LPR, or the Wagner group, who have done most of the frontline work and thus have had higher losses.) Shoigu puts Ukrainian losses at some 62,000 killed and some 50,000 wounded. Russia's total military reserve, people who have previously gone through military training, is 25 million. It also has the equipment to arm those forces. Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev was put in full command of the special operation and his predecessor General Dmitry Bulgakov was moved to chief of staff of Logistics in charge of the supply of Russian troops stationed in Syria.

Chechnen head of the Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, claimed that the mobilization in the region already “exceeded by 254%”, even before the announcement of partial mobilization." Kadyrov added, there is a reserve of thousands of volunteers in Chechnya, “who, if necessary, will be able to join the ranks of defenders of Russia.”

Belarus also announced that it is in the process of getting ready for war. Belarus could, as it had threatened before, cut of the supply lines from Poland, NATO, and the West into the western part of Ukraine.

Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelensky told CBS News on Face the Nation, "I don't think Putin is bluffing."

U.S. analyst Scott Ritter observed:

"The U.S. and its allies in the “collective West” now have to decide if the continued pursuit of a decades-long policy of isolating and destroying Russia is a matter of existential importance to them, and if the continued support of a Ukrainian government that is little more than the modern-day manifestation of the hateful ideology of Stepan Bandera is worth the lives of their respective citizenry, and that of the rest of the world."

Winter campaign

Disposition of NATO/Ukraine artillery (in blue), December 2, 2022.

Approximately 202,000 Ukrainian men received draft notices in roughly the first 26 days of January 2023 in the Zelensky regime's ninth mobilization. Of 202,000 who received notices, 113,000 did not show up. Of the 89,000 who showed up, 7,000 still were rejected for various reasons. Thus, 82,000 were sent to training, or 40.6 percent of all who received draft notices.

On March 10, 2023, reports indicate two Kinzhal missiles hit NATO's Western Command Center near Lvov 80 meters underground, killing 40 high ranking foreign specialists. The bunker was a NATO strategic command point used to control anti-aircraft systems. Immediately following that, on March 12 the US sent an extremely provocative message by simulating a nuclear bombing run on St. Petersburg when they sent a B-52 bomber directly towards the city in an unprecedented maneuver. On March 23, 2023, S-400 were reported to have been deployed in Kaliningrad.

Surovikin sledgehammer

On November 28, 2022, Russian troops went back on the offensive in several directions. To the southwest of Lysychansk, the village of Spirne remains one of the heaviest areas of the Donbas front. The Ukrainian command did not abandon its attempts to break through the Russian defenses in order to block the crossing through the Seversky Donets River and surround the city of Severodonetsk from the south. Units of the People's Militia of the LPR broke through the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and entered the village of Spirne. A a group of Ukrainian saboteurs comprised of 17 servicemen was destroyed during the Russian assault in the village.

Ukrainian units launched a series of counterattacks on the villages along the Soledar-Lysychansk highway. Russian forces repelled enemy offensive attempts in the Yakovlevka and Berestovoye areas. Russian units continued to storm Soledar. The offensive of the Wagner Group continued in Bakhmut and on its outskirts, where the Ukrainian group risks being surrounded. A section of the railway line was cut.

Ukrainian units again attempted a counteroffensive in the area of Opytnoe on the southern outskirts of Bakhmut. The Wagner fighters repelled the attack, forcing the enemy to retreat with losses. Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut, which are a mixture of various units, including groups of foreign mercenaries, suffered heavy losses. According to Ukrainian and Western sources, the Ukrainian Army is losing hundreds of fighters killed and wounded every day. Troops from other units are arriving to plug the holes in the defense lines.

In Mariinka, Russian infantry continued to storm the city with the active support of tactical aviation.

In the Kupyansk region, Ukrainian forces continued their attempts to break through towards Svatovo but failed and retreated, suffering heavy losses.

The AFU lost 100 soldiers and 13 armored vehicles in artillery strikes near Nikopol as it was attempting to redeploy from the Kherson front.

On December 18, 2022, Mariinka to the southwest of the city of Donetsk fell to the Russians. Marriinka lies on front line between Ugledar to the south and Avdiivka to the northwest of the city of Donetsk, and has been an AFU stronghold since 2014 which the Kyiv regime has used for artillery shelling the civilians of Donetsk. Russia's new main battle tank, the T-90, started seeing action on the Donbas front.

By February 16, 2023, reports appeared that the Russian Federation had prepared 1,800 tanks, 3,950 armored vehicles, 2,700 artillery systems, 810 Soviet-era self-propelled guns, such as Grad and Smerch, 400 fighter jets, and 300 helicopters for the upcoming massive attack on Ukraine.

On March 1, 2023, the Russian MOD reported that the Ukrainians lost 80 soldiers.

NATO/Ukraine nukes itself

On March 20, 2023, it was announced the UK was supplying nuclear weapons to Ukraine.

On January 25, 2023, Konstantin Gavrilov, the head of the Russian delegation to the Vienna Negotiations on Military Security and Arms Control, warned:

“We know that Leopard 2 tanks, as well as Bradley and Marder armored fighting vehicles, can use depleted uranium shells, which can contaminate terrain, just like it happened in Yugoslavia and Iraq...If Kiev were to be supplied with such munitions for the use in western heavy military hardware, we would regard it as the use of ‘dirty nuclear bombs’ against Russia, with all the consequences that entails.”

Depleted uranium is a very dense metal, ideal to be used on projectiles because of its mass, and also because it ignites at around 600 degrees Celsius; it can penetrate an armoured vehicle and incinerate the crew once it enters the cabin. As a block or a projectile, the material can be handled with no health consequences, but when it ignites or explodes, it's turned into dust, then, it can be inhaled or ingested by live creatures and it wreaks havoc in the internal organs, creating a very large number of cancerous lesions and genetic malformations. That is why it is considered a very dangerous polluting material, same as a dirty bomb.

The use of depleted uranium shells was developed by the United States in the 1980s. The Russian military made the decision at that time not to follow suit and compete by developing depleted uranium as a battlefield weapon because of its long lasting environmental and health effects. Existing tactical nuclear weapons were considered a sufficient deterrent to what is essentially a nuclear dirty bomb used by NATO and the United States.

On March 20, 2023, Annabel Goldie, the British Minister of State for Defence, declared that her country would provide depleted uranium munitions to the Kyiv regime. In response, President Vladimir Putin reported on March 25 that the decision had been made to deploy a tactical nuclear weapon on the territory of Belarus by July 1, 2023, to reduce flight time against NATO aggressors. Reduced flight time, if even by a few seconds, is an important consideration in the age of modern missile defense.

Prevailing winds after the release of gamma radiation from British depleted uranium shells in NATO occupied Ukraine.

On May 2, 2023, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., tied for the lead in the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination, warned:

"In another reckless escalation, Britain has confirmed delivery of depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine. DU munitions should be banned. They partially vaporize on impact, poisoning the environment with uranium dust that causes cancer and horrific birth defects."

On May 13, 2023, a series of explosions at the Khmelnytsky ammunition storage depot in western Ukraine led to a significant increase in gamma radiation levels, suggesting the release of depleted uranium dust into the air posing severe risk to public health. The resultant fire was remotely extinguished by robots. Depleted uranium munitions, while typically emitting minimal gamma radiation, are known to pose risks when a large stockpile is destroyed, as in the Khmelnytsky incident.

The effects of gamma radiation can be particularly detrimental to cellular structures and DNA/RNA molecules, with an extended range of damage in fluids such as gas or liquid. The British Department of Defense (DoD) confirmed that it provided depleted-uranium tank rounds to the Ukrainian armed forces. Reports indicate that the detonated warehouse in Khmelnytsky contained a substantial quantity of depleted uranium shells, causing alarm among locals and prompting residents to evacuate nearby areas. Yuri Kot, a political scientist, has stated that his sources confirm the presence of a large stockpile of depleted uranium shells in the destroyed Khmelnytsky warehouse.

Following the explosions, gamma radiation levels in Khmelnytsky have rose steadily. This surge is particularly concerning as depleted uranium typically emits only a low dose of gamma radiation, suggesting the destruction of a significant quantity of munitions and the release of uranium dust into the surrounding environment.

Dosimetric patrols in the city conducted radiation background measurements in uncharacteristic locations. Previous measurements were concentrated around the Khmelnytsky Nuclear Power Plant but were expanded to cover the regional center, western regions of the area, and Ternopil. The prevailing wind direction, blowing northwest at the time of the explosions, raised concerns about the spread of radioactive particles to Warsaw, Berlin, and Prague.

Residents were in a panic and began gathering their belongings and leaving the affected areas, including Khmelnytsky, Lviv, and Ternopil.

Destruction of the Patriot Missile system

UK media reports destruction of the US Patriot Missile system.

On May 17, 2023 Rybar reported that the Russian Armed Forces destroyed at least one launcher of the US Patriot anti-aircraft missile system in Kyiv. Rybar's team managed to establish the exact location of the anti-aircraft battery. In total, there were three launchers in the positional area at the Zhuliany airport, where the Kinzal hit. Coordinates: 50.404161, 30.443186.

Another place where the work of the Ukrainian air defense was noticed was the vicinity of the Kyiv zoo, where the fragments of the fired missiles fell. The complex itself worked in close proximity to the Kyiv Polytechnic University named after Sikorsky. Coordinates: 50.452699, 30.459805.

As for the Zhulyany airfield, footage from the surveillance camera got into the Network. In the video, you can clearly see the launches of 32 missiles (a total of 16 for each launcher), as well as the work of barreled anti-aircraft artillery - apparently, the Patriots were covered by the a German built Gepard. The cost of each Patriot missile was reported as $5,275,000.

After the ammunition load was used up, an explosion was heard: the Russian Kinzal managed to hit the positional area, despite Patriots and one Gepard.

One was destroyed, the second was seriously damaged, but survived. The third launcher escaped damage.

Two installations stood side by side, and the third - behind the building. The Russian Kinzal flew between the installations, but closer to the first: there was a detonation of the fuel.

Pieces of the first installation and pieces of soil / asphalt riddled the second.

2023 Spring-Summer counteroffensive

See also: 2023 Ukraine summer counteroffensive

Ukraine's 2023 battle plan to split the Russian forces in half modelled after Gen. Sherman's March to the Sea in the American Civil War.

Destroyed German Leopard 2 tanks and American Bradley Fighting Vehicles on what the Russians called Bradley Square.

The much touted Kyiv regime 'Spring Counteroffensive' didn't begin until June 4, 2023 - less than 2 and a half weeks before the arrival of summer. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed Russian assessments of Ukrainian losses of men and material, including killed in action, come from radio intercept reports from the Ukrainian frontline. Ukraine lost 20,000 killed and 2,500 vehicles of all types in the first month of the counteroffensive. NATO/Ukrainian forces never even approached Russian first line of fortifications. Former chief propagandist (until he was fired for telling the truth about a Ukraine air defense missile hitting an apartment complex, killing civilians) Alexei Arestovich, who is also a former Lt. Col. in military intelligence, said the Russian defense fortifications needed to be breached in the first 10 days. In the first month NATO/Ukraine hadn't approached within 30 km of Russian front line fortifiactions. All the fighting occurred in the grey zone, also known as "crumple zones" or "No-Man's Land". Any claim that Ukraine "took back" territory was fake news as all the fighting was in crumple zones. All Polish and Portuguese Leopard tanks were destroyed. Russian air defense intercepted 158 HIMARS missiles, 25 Storm Shadows cruise missiles, and 386 drones (UAV). A vaunted UK Storm Shadow Wunderwaffen was captured intact.

After 3 weeks of failed classical attacks that only led to mass loss of equipment, demoralization and retreats, Ukrainian commanders switched to small tactical groups of infantry, knowing that Russians are much more averse to manpower losses. When close combat becomes imminent, Russians retreat and let artillery work on Ukrainian infantry sitting on the abandoned positions, which usually ends with Ukrainians suffering losses and fleeing. These tactics led to massive infantry looses, but it was something Ukraine was willing to do - and it looked better in advance of the 2023 NATO Vilnius summit to take losses for small advances than for no success at all as happened at the start of the offensive.

Into the second month, as the Vilnius summit approached, Russian maintained a 4:1 kill ratio, with Ukraine losing up to 1,000 troops daily. Some Ukraine brigades refused to fight, claiming on social media that the Kyiv regime was sending them on suicide missions to be slaughtered. by July 11, 2023 an article in the Berliner Zeitung cited Alexander Sosnowski, using data from pro-Ukraine media channels determined that 41 Leopard-2s, 49 T72 tanks, 31 Bradleys, 7 German Marders, 23 howitzers, and 40 MRAP infantry fighting vehicles have already been turned to scrap by the Russians.

Zaporozhe front

The Washington Post announced on June 8, 2023 Kyiv's much anticipated counteroffensive had commenced. The counteroffensive actually began four days earlier, on June 4, 2023 - the four-day waiting period being typical of Western mainstream media censorship. However in this case it was nearly impossible to hide or lie about the wall of resistance and disastrous consequences of NATO/Ukraine's ill-conceived military planning and poorly executed operations.

The operation had no basic strategy, other than a massive PR stunt in advance of NATO's July 11, 2023 Summit in Vilnius where allegedly the future of NATO operations in Ukraine supposedly is to be decided. The Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) reported,

Ukraine's prized German-built IRIS-T surface-to-air missile system, at a cost of $200 million, was destroyed the first day of the counteroffensive.

"During the three days of combat operations in all directions Ukraine lost up to 3,715 men, 52 tanks and 207 armored combat vehicles, 134 trucks, 48 field artillery guns, as well as five aircraft, two helicopters and 53 drones...Russia’s losses were immeasurably smaller: Altogether 71 servicemen of the combined group of forces were killed and 210 others wounded while repulsing the enemy offensive...Fifteen tanks, nine infantry fighting vehicles, two trucks and nine guns were also taken out.

On June 8 the MOD reported:

"The enemy was detected by reconnaissance forces in a timely manner, with preventive strikes launched by artillery, aviation and anti-tank weapons...Ukrainian forces have been stopped in their tracks in all four directions and retreated with heavy losses...During a two-hour battle, the enemy lost 30 tanks, 11 armored personnel carriers and up to 350 troops, with total Ukrainian personnel losses in the last 24 hours reaching almost 1,000 people."

Videos emerged showing bodies of discarded Ukrainian soldiers scattered on the battlefield. A Russian kamikaze drone destroyed a $200 million German built IRIS-T SLM surface-to-air missile system.

Forbes magazine reported that Russia knocked out 90% of NATO/Ukraine's drones in the first few weeks of engagement.

According to multiple credible sources, Russian electronic warfare capabilities southwest of Orekhovo involved one or more new systems not fielded previously, which took NATO/Ukraine side by surprise. There was also a credible report that Russian electronic warfare went so far as to severely disturb Ukrainian access to GPS data. One Ukrainian soldier told the Financial Times, "What radio-electronic warfare? . . . We had none. I don’t even want to recall those days in the trenches. Our boys were falling like flies." Jack Watling of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) told the Financial Times, "The problem is that the Russians are able to field electronic warfare systems across most of the front, down to platoon level in some cases when you’re talking about things like Pole-21."

The Asia Times quoted American and European observers in Ukraine describing the Ukraine Army’s efforts as a “suicide mission” that violated the basic rules of military tactics. “We tried to tell them to stop this piecemeal and suicidal tactic, identify the main attack with proper infantry support, and then do what they can,” a senior European officer said. In his opinion, the fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine run in five different directions. Also, the tanks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine went to the minefields, not letting the demining vehicles forward. This resulted in the loss of 38 tanks on the night of 8 June. One of the experts added that the Ukrainian military was trained in this in the UK. “ The Ukrainians were trying to play Guderian,” one of the military experts said , “only Guderian had 3,000 tanks, and these idiots just lost the 30 they had.”

Russian soldiers on the frontline renamed the battlefield where the burnt-out husks of dozens of German Leopard 2 tanks and American Bradley Fighting Vehicles littered the countryside as "Bradley Square". In the first 10 days of the counteroffensive, Ukraine has lost over 160 tanks and over 360 armored vehicles.

UAV operators of the Russian 27th brigade filmed how the punitive blocking detachment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the BTR-4 "Bucephalus" destroyed their own fighters, who were doing an unauthorized retreat from their positions. The video showed the retreating soldiers were battered after heavy fighting, carrying wounded with them, but it didn't not stop the Nazi punishers from destroying the living and wounded of their fellow citizens.

The crews of two Ukrainian BMP-1 infantry combat vehicles surrendered to Russian troops near Avdiivka. A member of a platoon in Ukraine’s 110th separate mechanized bridge radioed Russian troops, requesting medical assistance for their wounded soldiers after NATO commanders had declined to evacuate the unit. The Ukrainian officer asked for safe passage and said that the remainder of his units would surrender with all of their weapons, including two BMP-1s. The soldiers were taken into custody, including some with serious injuries. The captured service members were receiving medical aid and were vetted for complicity in war crimes.

By June 18, 2023, Day 14 of the AFU counteroffensive, NATO/Ukraine has suffered in excess of 14,000 soldiers killed with, again as like in Bakhmut, virtually nothing to show for the effort.

Kharkov front

Supreme Commander Valery Zaluzhny back from the grave wearing a Baby Yoda patch begging for more weapons.

In the Kharkov region it was reported in early June 2023 that NATO/Ukraine was preparing a large provocation by dressing the troops in Russian uniforms to create utmost chaos and panic. The reports indicated the NATO/Ukraine produced 1,200 sets of Russian-style military uniforms for the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces. The symbols, stripes, insignia, patterns, as well as the material were completely identical to their Russian counterparts. The kits were planned to be transferred to the following destinations: Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporozhe. Among the kits were the uniform of the FSB, Rosgvardiya kits with the insignia of the Akhmat regiment, and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

In the Kharkiv direction, there was a concentration of equipment previously captured in the battles with the Russian Federation. Wheeled trucks: "KAMAZ", "URAL", as well as a certain number of BTR-80. NATO/Ukraine was preparing to conduct sabotage operations. Another report stated that there were militants stationed in Kupyansk (up to 300 people), as well as up to two hundred people in the Pechenegs of the Kharkiv region. "All this gang will operate under the cover of the flag of Vyrusya from the RDK, the Ichkerian militants want to use the uniform of Rosgvradiya and Akhmat units. Moreover, the Russian uniform was made by order of the special services of Ukraine at the factories "Brevi" and "Ekotets-3" in the Poltava region." This report claimed that the infamous Sheikh Mansour “evil Chechens” battalion will be used while dressed in the uniforms of Russian Chechen Rosgvardia and Akhmat.

By Day 23 of the counteroffensive, NATO/Ukraine had lost 259 tanks and 780 armored vehicles accross all fronts.

On June 27, 2023 a video surfaced of soldiers of the 59th Motorized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine blowing up their own soldiers who fled their positions and refused to return.

On July 2, 2023 it was reported that the Russian armed services had amassed 180,000 troops along the Kremennaya front opposite Kharkov.

Wagner mutiny

Under Russian law, neither the Wagner group nor any other private military company (PMC) can operate on the territory of Russia. After the annexation of the four new republics to the Russian Federation by referendum in the fall of 2022 - Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye, and Kherson - the Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) ordered that the Wagner group be incorporated into the regular Russian armed forces when the Wagner group's current contract with the Ministry of Defense ran out in June 2023. The new arrangement stipulated that all members become contract soldiers directly to the Ministry of Defense. Faced with losing control over the group, Wagner CEO Evgeny Prigozhin opposed implementing the new rules.

The Washington Post claimed to have obtained previously unreported documents from the Pentagon leaks alleging that Prigozhin was secretly in cahoots with Kiev. It was published the day after WaPo asked Zelensky about it on May 14, 2023. Zelensky reacted angrily to their summary of the so-called 'Discord Leaks' contents. Zelensky then asked WaPo who passed the information along, and accused whoever it may have been of committing treason.

On June 20, 2023 the Pentagon alleged that a $6.2 accounting "error" allowed for the transfer of more wealth from the United States to Ukraine.

The Wagner group's contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense expired on May 21, 2023, and the group was to be disbanded on June 23. The day prior on June 22, Rybar reported,

"FSO and FSB together with the Interior Ministry are conducting an operation to search for Ukrainian sleeper cells and sabotage and reconnaissance groups (Once Again: not the Wagners, but Ukrainian GUR [military intelligence] groups). According to our information, in the course of operational activities the FSB officers managed to find two agents of the Ukrainian GUR, who surrendered the entire chain of underground cells in the capital and the #Moscow region. They are now looking for a couple of dozen people who form the basis of the clandestine GUR network. The fact that terrorist attacks were being prepared and attacks on government facilities was confirmed by facts of undercover reconnaissance: employees of diplomatic missions in diplomatic vans drove around #Moscow, recorded security guards and the order of duty and then passed this information to the GUR. A complex operation was being prepared."

Hours before the mutiny commenced on the morning of June 23, 2023, Newsweek published a story entitled, Putin is Underestimating Prigozhin's Rise in Popularity.

The objects of Prigozhin's wrath, Gerasimov and Shoigu.

In a rather long and erratic interview, Prigozhin made the shocking claim that Russia’s pretext for the war in Ukraine was an outright lie and that the war had been fraught with corruption and the murder of civilians. Things then got even crazier when Wagner claimed that the Russian army had struck their camp with a missile. The video which was released purporting to show the aftermath of this “missile strike” did not show an impact crater, debris, or any wounded or killed Wagner personnel. The “damage” from the missile consisted of two campfires burning in a trench.

The video obviously did not show the aftermath of a missile attack, but Prigozhin’s rhetoric escalated after this. It seemed to center on personal grudges against Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

That same morning of the 23rd Prigozhin and some 5,000 of his forces left the Special De-Nazification Operation zone of conflict and took control over Rostov-on-Don, a city with a population of over 1 million in the Southern Federal District of Russia, and is the headquarters of the Southern Military District, which has overall command of the special military operation in Ukraine.

Prigozhin sent Dmitry Utkin to lead the column of forces north toward Moscow on what he called a "March for Justice" against the Russian Ministry of Defense. Globalist billionaire oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky living in London, who is wanted in Russia for the contract killing of Nefteyugansk mayor Vladimir Petukhov, issued a tweet urging citizens to give the mutineers gasoline and for their opponents not to fight against the mutiny. An arrest warrant was issued for Prigozhin for treason.

A few videos came from the Russian authorities, including one featuring General Surovikin holding a pistol, apparently pleading with Wagner to “stop the movement of their columns” and return to their posts.

The Ukrainian propaganda machine kicked into overdrive, with characters like Anton Gerashchenko and Igor Sushko absolutely bombarding social media with fake stories about Russian army units mutinying and regional governors “defecting” to Prigozhin - in effect positing that this was not just an uprising by Wagner against the state, but a wholesale revolt of the Russian system against Putin’s government. In fact there were no defections in any regular Russian military units or regional governments, no civil unrest, and no denunciations of Putin. The mutiny was confined to the Wagner Group, and even so not all of Wagner participated. Many who arrived in Rostov with Prigozhin didn't even know what they were there for.

The government of Belarus announced that a settlement had been negotiated with Prigozhin and Putin. Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko’s office claimed “they came to agreements on the inadmissibility of unleashing a bloody massacre on the territory of Russia.” The column turned aside from the road to Moscow and returned to Wagner’s field camps around Ukraine, and the Wagner forces left in Rostov packed up and left. The terms of the settlement were anticlimactic: the treason case against Prigozhin was dropped and he was exhiled to Belarus; Wagner fighters who participated in the uprising would not be charged and would return to operations in Ukraine; Wagner fighters that did not participate in the uprising would sign contracts with the Russian military (essentially exiting Wagner and become regular contract troops); a vague reference to “security guarantees” for Wagner fighters.

As required by law, the Gang of 8 in the U.S. Congress had been briefed on the Prigozhin Putsch by the Biden regime beforehand. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic publicly remarked that foreign intelligence agencies played a role in the Wagner PMC's action.

Attack on Pskov airport

The attack on Pskov Airport on August 30, 2023 was prepared for several months. Foreign advisors, in particular British MI6 intelligence, took part in the development of the operation, according to sources near Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelensky's office. The drone swarm strike on the airfield was prepared by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine under the control of the British MI6. The proposal to strike Pskov was received months earlier after approval. The preparation of the operation itself was carried out, which took quite a long time.

Allegedly Pskov airport was chosen as a target for several reasons, the main reason of which is its location being a long distance from Ukraine. It was assumed that the Russians would not expect the arrival of Ukrainian drones in Pskov, which was confirmed according to the source. The launch of the drones was not carried out from the territory of Ukraine, since from the extreme point of the Ukrainian territory Pskov in a straight line about 700 kilometers, and even through Belarus. Therefore, the attack was carried out from neutral waters and from the territory of third countries. About two dozen drones were in the swarm attack.

See also

• Major events in the Ukraine proxy war, 2022‎‎
• Major events in the Ukraine proxy war, 2024‎‎
• Major events in the Ukraine proxy war, 2025