And?
The Russian War Time Economy IS IN TROUBLE…..
The halting of Military Aid to Ukraine was NOT done by Trump….
Defense Sec Hegseth did it on his own…
There has been NO STOPAGE ……
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Russian air defences shot down four Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow on Saturday, the city’s mayor said, while one of the capital’s main airports temporarily halted outgoing flights. Sergei Sobyanin said emergency services were working at the sites of the downed drones, but gave no information on potential damage. Officials at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport reported delays in departures after flights were temporarily paused. Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsiya said the measures were taken in response to “restrictions” over the capital’s airspace as well as strong winds. Rosaviatsiya said incoming and outgoing flights at airports in several other Russian cities were also temporarily halted, including at St Petersburg’s Pulkovo, citing safety concerns.
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Russia’s defence ministry said on Telegram that air defence units had destroyed 48 Ukrainian drones over a five-hour period on Saturday evening. Those included five drones in the region surrounding Moscow, two of which were headed for the capital. The ministry said the total included 17 drones over Bryansk region on the Ukrainian border and 11 in the adjacent Oryol region. The governor of Belgorod region on the border said four Ukrainian drones had injured a bus driver and a man driving a car. An earlier defence ministry report said 94 drones had been destroyed over Russia overnight on Saturday and 45 more in just under six hours during the day.
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Ukraine’s special forces struck Russia’s Borisoglebsk military airfield in the Voronezh region on Saturday, hitting a glide bomb store and a trainer aircraft. In a statement on social media, the Ukrainian military said other aircraft were also likely hit in the south-western Russian region, without giving details. “This airfield is the home base of enemy Su-34, Su-35S and Su-30SM aircraft,” the statement said. The governor of Voronezh, Alexander Gusev, wrote on Telegram that more than 25 drones were destroyed overnight over the region. He said a power line was temporarily damaged, but made no mention of a military airfield, which is about 300km from the Ukrainian border.
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The US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, unilaterally halted an agreed shipment of military aid to Ukraine due to baseless concerns that US stockpiles of weapons have run too low, it has been reported. The Guardian’s Oliver Milman writes that a batch of air defence missiles and other precision munitions were due to be sent to Ukraine under a promise made during Joe Biden’s administration last year, but the Pentagon halted the shipment – reportedly a decision made solely by Hegseth. However, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell seemed to confirm that there is no current shortage of arms for US forces. “Let it be known that our military has everything that it needs to conduct any mission, anywhere, anytime, all around the world,” he said.
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Ukraine’s top military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi has warned of a possible new Russian offensive in the north-eastern Kharkiv region. “I dedicated two days to working with units in Kharkiv region,” Syrskyi wrote on Telegram. He said he spent the time talking to commanders, studying the situation in the area and the needs of troops there. “The Russians are looking to press with numbers, but we have to be ready, use appropriate tactical and technological solutions not to allow the [Russians] to move forward,” he said. Russian forces have already pushed into northern Ukraine’s Sumy region over the past months, carving out a small foothold there…..
- Russian forces recently advanced northeast of Pokrovsk and may attempt to advance further toward Dobropillya as part of a mutually reinforcing effort to envelop Pokrovsk and bypass Ukraine’s fortress belt in Donetsk Oblast from the west in the coming months.
- Russian advances west and northwest of Razine most immediately support the envelopment of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad — an operational objective that Russian forces have been pursuing over the last 18 months.
- Further Russian advances toward Dobropillya would indicate that Russian forces are placing a tactical prioritization on advancing west of Ukraine’s fortress belt – a series of fortified cities that form the backbone of Ukraine’s defensive positions – and forcing Ukrainian forces to withdraw from the fortress belt under pressure of envelopment rather than conduct a head-on assault against the fortress belt.
- Such an operation would be consistent with Russia’s recent tactics and operational concepts designed to advance by leveraging smaller partial envelopments to seize territory instead of attempting rapid, deep operational-level penetrations of Ukraine’s defense, which Russian forces currently do not have the means to conduct.
- Ukrainian forces continue to demonstrate their ability to conduct long-range strikes that target Russia’s defense industrial base (DIB).
- Ukraine’s Western partners to continue to allocate aid to Ukraine and collaborate with the Ukrainian defense industrial base (DIB).
- European intelligence services continue to report that Russia is intensifying its deployment of chemical agents in Ukraine in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), to which Russia is a signatory.
- Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Siversk. Russian forces recently advanced near Kupyansk, Siversk, and Pokrovsk.
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“Russia’s sanctions-defying economy, propelled higher by the Ukraine war, is suddenly coming back down to earth,” the Wall Street Journalreports.
“Fueled by massive military spending and steady oil exports, Russia recorded some of the highest growth rates among major economies over the past two years. But in recent weeks economic indicators have been flashing red: Manufacturing activity is declining, consumers are tightening their belts, inflation remains high and the budget is strained.”
“Russian officials are now openly warning of the risks of a recession, and companies from tractor producers to furniture makers are reducing output. The central bank said Thursday that it would debate cutting its benchmark interest rate later this month after lowering it in June.”
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Trump ain’t getting anywhere with Putin…..
President Trump told reporters he’s “very disappointed” with his Thursday conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he “didn’t make any progress with him” during the call.
The Trump-Putin call came after the White House said the U.S. is halting some weapons shipments to Ukraine. The Trump administration said the decision was made after a Pentagon review of U.S. military support and assistance to other countries. The pause was put in place because of concerns that U.S. military stockpiles were falling too low, a U.S. official said.
Mr. Trump also spoke Friday morning with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said he and Mr. Trump “spoke about opportunities in air defense and agreed that we will work together to strengthen protection of our skies.” Zelenskyy added that he and the U.S. president “agreed to a meeting between our teams.”
Speaking about his call with Putin, Mr. Trump told reporters in Washington overnight, “I’m very disappointed with the conversation I had today with President Putin because I don’t think he’s there.”
Asked on the way to a speech in Iowa Thursday if he made any progress with Putin on a potential deal on Ukraine, Mr. Trump said, “No. I didn’t make any progress with him today at all.”…./
Daily Kos grunt report for today….
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