The fight for Bakhmut continues…..
Putin could want the conflict to last for a LONG Time to wear the Ukraine down….The Russian President has millions of his countries males at his disposal….
Russia unleases rockets against the Ukraine after a lull in widespread attacks…
Is Russia going move to a hold-in-place strategy to try hold on to their gains knowing the Ukraine NEEDS to take back their territory…
There are anti-Putin groups making attacks against Russia….
American military leaders will NOT help prosocute Russian ‘war crimes’….They are worried the effort could come back to haunt American troops in combat….State and Justice Dept. people, who do NOT actually get involved in cconflicts want to support war crime efforts against the Russians….
The country of Gerogia has had increasing anti- Ukraine war protests against Russia…..
A look at US munitions production…..
Officials in the southern port city of Odesa warned of a potential second wave of Russian missiles after air raid sirens went off throughout the country. Here is what we’re covering:
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‘Massive missile attack’ reported as air raid sirens sound across Ukraine.
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Lacking the firepower for territorial gains, Russia may shift to defense, the U.S. intelligence chief says.
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Intelligence officials warn of risks to the U.S. posed by China and Russia’s strengthening ties.
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‘Enormous challenges remain’ in the global energy market because of the war, the U.S. energy secretary says.
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Kevin McCarthy turns down Zelensky’s invitation to visit Kyiv to see how U.S. aid is spent.
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Ukrainian military groups release opposing statements about the identity of an executed prisoner of war.
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The Wagner mercenary group claims to control part of Bakhmut…..
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Moscow could soon take control of Bakhmut, the site of a bloody, months-long battle between Russian and Ukrainian forces. Russia has “suffered big losses,” he told reporters Wednesday, “but at the same time, we cannot rule out that Bakhmut may eventually fall in the coming days.”
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
- There is still no forensic evidence from the Nord Stream blast site that concretely ties the sabotage to any country, officials said. However, a senior Western security official told The Washington Post that governments investigating the bombings uncovered evidence that pro-Ukrainian individuals or entities discussed the possibility of sabotaging the pipelines before the explosions in September. Germany’s federal prosecutor said Wednesday that an investigation into items and traces recovered from a ship that may have been used in transporting the explosives is ongoing.
- Putin is prepared to keep fighting for years, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a panel of senators. “Putin most likely calculates that time works in his favor,” Haines told the Senate Intelligence Committee during an annual hearing on global threats. Ukraine also faces difficulties, she added. “At present, the Ukrainian armed forces remain locked in a struggle to defend against Russian offensives across eastern Ukraine.
- E.U. defense ministers gathered Wednesday in Sweden for talks over support for Kyiv. The discussions centered on Ukraine’s need for ammunition. “We need to deliver more, but we need to deliver faster,” Josep Borrell, the top E.U. diplomat, said at a news conference. He proposed a plan to mobilize more than $1 billion for ammunition shipments from existing European stocks, to allocate a similar sum to coordinate procurement of more ammunition through the European Defense Agency, and to build up the bloc’s defense industry.
- The head of the Wagner mercenary group claimed that his forces have taken control of the “entire eastern part” of Bakhmut, which has been at the center of intense fighting. Yevgeniy Prigozhin made the claims in an audio recording released Wednesday on Telegram. He said the group controls “everything east of the Bakhmutka River” that runs through Bakhmut. Neither Russia nor Ukraine has made similar claims about Bakhmut, and Prigozhin has a history of prematurely claiming victories.
- Shoigu’s visit to Ukraine last week could have been part of the continuing rivalry between the Russian military and the Wagner Group, the British Defense Ministry said. In its Wednesday update, the ministry said there was a “realistic possibility” that the trip was in part a response to Prigozhin’s own visit to forces fighting on the front lines. In recent weeks, Prigozhin has leveled his strongest criticism yetat Russia’s regular military forces, claiming that high numbers of his fighters have been killed because they were deprived of ammunition.
- The United Nations says it believes that a video appearing to show the killing of a Ukrainian prisoner of war may be genuine. “Based on a preliminary examination, we believe that the video may be authentic,” a spokeswoman from the U.N. Human Rights Office told the Agence France-Presse news agency. The 12-second clip, which The Post has not independently verified, went viral Mondayand sparked anger in Ukraine, where there have been calls for investigations into war crimes committed during the Russian invasion. The execution of prisoners is expressly forbiddenunder the Geneva conventions…..