An acknowledgement that the Wagner Group soliders made ethe difference in the Russian gains in Bakhmut…..
Ukraine worries about sanitary conditions after the dam flooding ….
President Biden pushed back against Ukraine Prersident Zelensky’s campaign to get his country INTO NATO and drag NATO and America into the fight against Russia….Biden seems to be ok with a non-binding agreession pact sign up….
Putin has been adment against such a move….
This as even Sweden can’t get into the organisation due to Turkey and Hungary NOT wanting to annoy the Russian President either….
African leaders in Moscow want the conflict that is driving their consumer prices up to end…..
Pro-Ukraine Russian militia’s have continued to launch attacks over the border IN Russia bringing the conflict TO Russian and requiring the Russians to divert resources to the area’s involved….
The deal to allow the flow of Ukraine grain down the Black Sea may come to a halt….
Zelensky says there can be no end to the conflict unless Russia retreats from ALL of the Ukraine’s territory before the conflict …..Would that include the Crimea also?
In rebuilding the Ukraine?…(could cost $1 Trillion )
Corruption will have to be addressed say’s Europe and the US…..
American officials acknowledge that Russian tactics have improved. But those officials believe, based on battlefield intelligence reports, that the success in Bakhmut was largely because of Wagner’s willingness to throw prisoners into the fight, no matter the cost in lives.
But the soldiers on the ground saw something else happening.
Soldiers fighting for Ukraine in Bakhmut described a fight that ended much differently from how it began. Prisoners were not as prevalent. Instead, they said, Wagner’s professional fighters coordinated ground and artillery fire on Ukrainian positions, then quickly outflanked them using small teams.
As Ukrainian territory shrunk to a final few blocks, for example, Russian forces saturated a Ukrainian-held building with artillery. Moments after they retreated, Russian troops were inside.
“The Ukrainians just couldn’t keep up,” said one foreign legion soldier. To counter Russia’s strategy, Ukrainian forces wired buildings to explode, detonating them as they retreated.
The March mission report shared with The Times alluded to this type of enemy: “Assumed to be Wagner group,” the report read. “Evidence of being well-trained.”
“Used effective fire and maneuver,” it continued, describing “the best equipped Russian soldiers.”….
…
The African leaders ended their visit to Russia on Saturday with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa calling for an end to the war in Ukraine “through negotiations” and “diplomatic means.”
“All sides want some guarantees, and we agree with that,” Ramaphosa said Saturday night. “The prices of commodities have gone up, particularly grain and fertilizer, and the prices of fuel have also gone up. And this is a consequence of the war.”
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects around the globe.
- The United States is “not going to make it easy” for Ukraine to join NATO, President Biden told reportersSaturday as he boarded Air Force One. The comment comes days after Biden met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and ahead of next month’s NATO summit. Some members of the defense alliance are calling for Ukraine’s formal invitation to the membership process, though others worry that could draw Europe more directly into a military confrontation with Russia. Most NATO diplomats believe Ukraine still lacks the required political, social and military stability to join the alliance.
- The Kremlin said the talks with African states on Saturday focused on “possible ways to reach settlement in Ukraine.” The African leaders have expressed concerns about the lengthening war, due to the continent’s reliance on Ukraine and Russia for key food imports such as wheat. “We would like to call for the opening up of the movement of grains across the Black Sea,” said Ramaphosa. “Whatever blockages there are should be opened up.”
- The South African president also called for the release of prisoners of war on both sides, the return of childrenwho have “been caught up in this conflict” and the provision of humanitarian assistance to those “who are suffering.”
- The Russian missile attack on Kyiv only made the African peace mission more important, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said before the Putin meeting. “It’s precisely this type of event that we saw today or witnessed or even experienced that makes us call for de-escalation,” he said. Russia fired six Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missiles, six Kalibr cruise missiles and two self-destructing drones, Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on Telegram.
- Russia does not appear likely to extend a deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain through the Black Sea, according to an interview with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov cited by the state news service TASS. While he couldn’t make final predictions, Peskov said Saturday there is “no chance” of the deal continuing. According to Reuters, the two sides agreed to extend the deal last month until July 17, so long as Russian food and fertilizer exports received support, which Moscow says has not materialized. The deal has helped Ukraine continue exporting grain to international markets, including in Africa.
- Ukraine has advanced up to two kilometers, or about 1.25 miles, in the south, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said late Friday. Ukrainian units are encountering minefields but are achieving tactical success, she said on Telegram. The Washington Post could not immediately verify her statement. The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said the same day that geolocated footage from Thursday indicated that Ukrainian forces had made “marginal gains” to the north west of Bakhmut, while Russian military bloggers claimed continuing Ukrainian counterattacks in a number of locations.
- Russia has no reason to resort to nuclear weapons for now, Putin said Friday while speaking to Russian business elites at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. Russia has already transferred some tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus and will complete its deployment of the weapons by the end of the year, he said. On Saturday, Biden called the transfer “totally irresponsible.”
- More than 20 additional Russian helicopters have been deployed to Berdyansk Airport, giving the Kremlin a temporary advantage in the south, the British Defense Ministry said Saturday in its daily update. The aircraft, which are based around 100 km (62 miles) from the front line, are employing longer-range missiles against ground targets, the ministry said.
- Voice of America has cut ties with a host after investigating whether he promoted Russian propaganda. Journalists with the U.S. news service protested Garri “Harry” Knyagnitskiy’s hiring this fall, saying he spread Russian disinformation. The federally funded outlet said Friday that it would not renew Knyagnitskiy’s contract, and it declined to explain its decision. It reinstated another reporter accused of the same thing.
- Zelensky says negotiations could only happen once Russia withdraws its troops. “We need real peace, and therefore, a real withdrawal of Russian troops,” he said.
- The Ukrainian leader also appealed to the African delegation to ask Putin to free political prisoners from Crimea. His remarks came after Comoros President Azali Assoumani mentioned creating a “road map” to peace, prompting Zelensky to request clarification and say he did not want “any surprises” from the delegation’s meeting with Putin. “Would you please ask Russia to liberate the political prisoners?” Zelensky said, according to the Associated Press. “Maybe this will be an important result of your mission, of your ‘road map’.”
- NATO is working to establish a new NATO-Ukraine Council, which would give Ukraine the ability to convene meetings and raise concerns, Stoltenberg announced Friday. At a two-day meeting, NATO members also discussed renewing its regional plans for the first time since the Cold War, including how the alliance would respond to a Russian attack. These were not finalized, but NATO members said they would be discussed further at the Vilnius Summit in July. According to Reuters news agency, one diplomat blamed Turkey for blocking the plan, due to the wording of some geographical locations.
To fight Putin, Russian militias aid Ukraine with cross-border attacks: Russian militias that are opposed to Putin — the Russian Volunteer Corps and the more centrist Freedom of Russia Legion — have carried out incursions into Russian territory, distracting the Kremlin’s forces and presenting a political problem for Putin, who has sought to keep Russian lands and citizens out of the war, Pamela Constable reports….
…
- Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, confirmed troops were “engaged in active moves” to advance the counteroffensive in the south. Ukrainian forces around Bakhmut, captured by Russia last month, were trying to push Russian forces out from the outskirts of the devastated city. Russia did not officially acknowledge Ukrainian advances and said it inflicted heavy losses on Kyiv’s forces in the previous 24 hours….