The Annexed territories (They are mostly ruins) are rapidity shrinking back to the Ukraine…
Rapid advances bring surprise and smiles for the Ukraine military…
But?
Question?
This also generates risk and some worry….
As his army retreats and licks its wounds?
Where will Putin order the retreating defeated Russian’s to stand and do the last fight?
Where will those called up join the Russian fight?
Key developments
- Putin formalized annexation claims to the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson on Wednesday. The Russian leader also signed a decree authorizing Moscow to take over operations at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which Ukrainian staffers have continued to operate under occupation, even as fighting nearby raised international concerns about nuclear safety.
- The International Atomic Energy Agency said that its chief, Rafael Mariano Grossi, would consult with authorities regarding the new decree. Grossi is set to arrive in Kyiv, and later Russia, the agency tweeted Wednesday. The need for a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the Zaporizhzhia plant is “now more urgent than ever,” Grossi said.
- Documents on Russian plans for the regions say Ukrainian offensives to regain territory would be seen as attacks on Russia itself. The documents also say pro-Moscow separatist militias in Luhansk and Donetsk will be incorporated into Russia’s military and residents will become Russian citizens upon taking an oath of loyalty.
Battleground updates
- Russian troops have started to withdraw from the southern city of Snihurivka, which was annexed along with the Kherson region, the Associated Press reported Wednesday, quoting the governor of the neighboring Mykolaiv area. The city is a key railway hub that was seized by Russian forces in March.
- Six Iranian-made kamikaze-style drones hit the city of Bila Tserkva, about 50 miles south of Kyiv, injuring one person overnight Wednesday, regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said on Telegram. Shahed-136 drones have largely been used in the south of Ukraine, according to the Associated Press, with this attack the closest to the capital.
- Ukrainian troops are approaching Luhansk, the eastern region that Russia claims to have annexed and that remains largely occupied by Russian and pro-Kremlin forces, the British Defense Ministry said Wednesday. “Politically, Russian leaders will highly likely be concerned” by the move, the ministry said.
- Ukraine also continues to push ahead from the recently liberated city of Lyman, refuting Russia’s illegal annexation of the four Ukrainian regions, the Institute for the Study of War think tank said Tuesday. Lyman is a strategic supply hub in the eastern Donetsk region.
- In some occupied regions, Russian forces have struggled to treat and evacuate their wounded, Ukraine’s military leadership said Wednesday. In Kherson, Russia is trying to evacuate up to 150 injured soldiers and 50 units of damaged military equipment. In Luhansk, the number of wounded Russian troops have overwhelmed the region’s medical facilities, forcing Moscow to convert a local school into a military hospital….
Question’s are beginning to come from inside Russia itself about an ‘Paper Tiger’ army from a ‘world power’ that is getting its ass kicked ….
This could be trouble brewing for Putin, who onlky seems to have the threat of nukes stopping the West from jumping in to help the Ukraine making Rusian look as bad as it already is militarily …
Discontent among supporters of Russia’s faltering invasion of Ukraine has produced an extraordinary barrage of criticism directed at the leadership of the Russian military, creating a new challenge to President Vladimir V. Putin, who, after cracking down on Russia’s liberal opposition, now faces growing dissent in his own camp.
The latest salvo came on Thursday when a Russian-installed occupation official in Ukraine upbraided the Russian defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, a close associate of Mr. Putin. The official, Kirill Stremousov, said Mr. Shoigu should consider killing himself because of the Russian army’s failures in Ukraine.
“Many people are saying that as an officer, the defense minister could simply shoot himself for being the one who let things get to this state,” said Mr. Stremousov, the deputy governor of the Kherson region of southern Ukraine.
Last month, it was largely pro-Russian bloggers who were voicing anger over the failings of military planning that led to the Russian army’s being routed in northeastern Ukraine. But after Russian forces were forced to retreat in two other sections of the front line in the last week, prominent officials have increasingly joined the chorus.
Andrei Kartapolov, the head of the defense committee in Russia’s lower house of Parliament, excoriated the Defense Ministry on Wednesday for covering up the bad news from the front.
“They need to stop lying,” he said. “Our people aren’t stupid, far from it, and they see that they are not being taken seriously. It’s not being considered necessary to tell them even part of the truth, let alone all of it.”….
Update…
There are reports that Russia wants take ownership of the Ukraine nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia….
One wonders if such talk will result in a strong effort by the Ukraine military to retake the plant which would be a VERY DANGEROUS situation….
The plant — the first of its kind to be in an active war zone — has been damaged repeatedly by shelling, raising the risk of a radiation leak or even a nuclear meltdown. There have been reports of Russian abuse of people in the town where the plant workers live, and Russian forces recently detained the head of the plant for a few days, for reasons that remain unclear. Russian officials have said they will cut the Zaporizhzhia plant off from the Ukrainian power grid, which nuclear experts say could introduce dangerous instability.
Speaking a day after the Kremlin said it would take ownership of the plant, Mr. Grossi, whose agency has safety experts stationed at the plant, said, “Of course, the position of the I.A.E.A. is that this facility is a Ukrainian facility.”
“This is a matter that has to do with international law,” he said…