RUNNING UPDATES ON THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE - 13.08.2024
Including geopolitical issues affecting the balance of power in the ongoing end game war to establish our common future, a closely monitored prison planet or tolerance for diverse modes of governance.
THE ROAD TO THE ULTIMATE CONCLUSION OF WORLD WAR III RUNS THROUGH HERE.
Please note: We will be in transit during the next two weeks.
Updates may be sporadic and perhaps absent during this time.
Our apologies for this alteration to your daily updates.
*** KIEV’S NAZIS TO LEAVE KURSK USING ALL MEANS NECESSARY ***
“Ukraine. What is the truth...?
Why won’t western media tell both sides…?”
VIRTUALLY UNREPORTED ATROCITY IN LUGANSK, 2nd JUNE 2014
A lot has been said about atrocities in the western media claimed to have been perpetrated by the Russians, for example at Bucha and Mariupol among others. These assertions are conveyed on the say so of the Ukrainian authorities. How willing though are western news broadcasters to convey atrocities attributed to the Ukrainians? The following will I think provide the answer.
If anyone wonders if they are receiving accurate coverage of the conflict in Ukraine I would suggest watching the video below of an event which occurred on the 2nd of June 2014 and ask themselves if they recall hearing about it on any mainstream media news channel at the time.
The video is harrowing to watch. The bodies (five women and three men) are real. Yet across western media there was only one single news report that occurred a day later. This was from CNN and occurred only because a CNN team happened to be nearby at the time of the atrocity and so the network could hardly ignore it as all others so obviously did.
The video below shows the unvarnished truth that was not considered newsworthy in western mainstream news.
THE SINGLE WESTERN MSM REPORT ON THE LUGANSK ATROCITY, 3rd JUNE 2014
The video at the CNN link below is the crime scene sanitised by CNN, though played straight with honest reporting on the scene not playing things to Kiev’s tune.
(There was a time early in the war in the Donbass when CNN were not afraid to contradict the Ukrainian regime in Kiev.) Watch, because it's the first and last time you will see this.
5 women and 3 men died, all civilians.
Air attack on pro-Russian separatists in Luhansk kills 8, stuns residents.
COLLECTIVE WEST-UKRAINE <-> RUSSIA
SHAMELESS WESTERN MEDIA IGNORED THIS:
Airstrike in Lugansk - 10 Year Anniversary.
ALEXANDER MERCOURIS of THE DURAN: Putin No Talks, Kiev Regime Change Needed; Ukr Heavy Losses, Kursk Stalled, Pokrovsk Battle Starts.
ALEX CHRISTOFOROU of THE DURAN: EU X panic, demands Musk censor Trump. Dyumin in charge of Kursk. Graham in Kiev, wants F16 pilots.
Several Russian Ambush Operations | Ukrainian Forces Expand Front To Southern Kursk.
GEORGE GALLOWAY - RICHARD MEDHURST: INTERVIEW: ‘The Ukrainians lost the war about a year and a half ago.’
Ukraine’s Massive Column Was Badly Ambushed By Russia In Kursk. Ukraine’s Huge Loss. New Break Thru.
THROUGH THE EYES OF... ANIA: PUTIN:"NO MORE PEACE TALKS". ZELENSKY: "WAR IS COMING HOME TO RUSSIA". POLISH FIGHTERS IN KURSK?
DMITRY ORLOV: Russia Just HUMILIATED NATO.
Russia Strikes Back At Ukrainian Forces In Kursk Region.
Kursk attack: This is why Zelensky felt emboldened.
Kiev’s attempt to open a second front didn’t go as planned, but it has still raised the stakes.
By Sergey Poletaev, information analyst and publicist, co-founder and editor of the Vatfor project.
To understand the situation with Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region, we need to consider that beyond the heavily fortified front lines where intense fighting has been ongoing for three years, the two states share over 1,000 kilometers of internationally recognized border. Most of this stretch is relatively peaceful, with low troop density on both sides – mostly border guards and reinforced security – and regular economic activity continues.
On August 6, reports emerged of Ukrainian forces entering Kursk near the town of Sudzha. Initially, this seemed like another routine border skirmish. However, by the end of the first day, it was clear that something bigger was unfolding – there were no staged TikTok videos or mass disinformation, and Kiev remained silent for two days, with Ukrainian Telegram channels primarily reposting Russian sources.
The first official statement from Kiev came on the morning of August 8. Mikhail Podoliak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president’s office, confirmed that regular troops had entered Kursk Region. By then, Russian reinforcements had been deployed to Sudzha, starting with special forces teams to eliminate isolated enemy groups, followed by regular units to bolster the area.
By August 8, the crisis was contained. Ukraine could not establish a continuous front line in Kursk Region, Sudzha was not captured, and barring any surprises, we can expect a tedious cleanup operation to remove Ukrainian forces while sporadic raids across the border continue.
The Ukrainian strategy resembled the 2022 autumn offensive in Kharkov Region: Create a numerical advantage in a narrow sector, penetrate enemy territory with light armored vehicles, spread quickly, and force defensive positions to retreat without a fight.
Western sources have provided insight into the scale of the operation. According to The Times, 6,000 to 10,000 Ukrainian troops are involved. Forbes has identified participating units, including the 22nd and 88th Mechanized Brigades and the 80th Air Assault Brigade, which it describes as one of Ukraine’s most elite and agile groupings.
Other information revealed that around 1,000 to 1,500 Ukrainian soldiers, several dozen armored vehicles, and a few tanks initially crossed into Russia, supported by artillery fire from the Ukrainian side of the border, heavily shelling Sudzha just 10km away.
Read more: Why is Zelensky suddenly talking about holding a referendum?
These numbers align with Western reports. In military terms, the spearhead of an assault usually constitutes 15-20% of the total force, with the rest following up, securing flanks, and providing logistics, artillery support, and drone operations. Since the advance failed, most Ukrainian troops remain in Sumy Region, continuing cross-border incursions.
Notably, throughout all the turmoil, the Sudzha gas station continued (and continues) to operate, facilitating the flow from Russia through Ukraine to Europe.
Why did it happen?
Western media is rife with speculation about why Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is pursuing this path. Seizing a relatively unknown district center hardly seems worth depleting the most combat-ready units of the Ukrainian Army. The main action is happening in Donbass, where the Russian Army, although advancing slowly, appears unstoppable and where fresh, eager Ukrainian brigades are desperately needed.
Last summer’s experiences demonstrated that Ukraine’s ability to break through the front line is significantly inferior to that of the Russian military. The Azov Sea operation (the ill-fated counteroffensive) ended in failure, and now all the Ukrainian Army can do is retreat, plugging gaps in its defenses here and there.
This scenario spells defeat and, consequently, the downfall of Zelensky’s regime. In the West, it’s become commonplace to suggest that Ukraine must come to terms with losing territory and essentially accept defeat.
Kiev is scrambling for creative solutions to reverse these trends. The Ukrainian Army does have some precedents, notably the Kharkov operation in the autumn of 2022. Alongside Kherson, this was one of Kiev’s only genuine military successes. It seems logical to try to replicate it, which requires finding suitable conditions on the battlefield. However, these are absent at the front (with dense infantry presence everywhere), making breakthroughs by light, mobile units impossible.
Now we arrive at the intriguing part. The relative calm along the 1,000-kilometer border for two and a half years likely wasn’t coincidental. We can suggest there were agreements between Moscow and Washington, specifically with the administration of US President Joe Biden. The White House openly opposed Ukrainian actions on territory recognized by the West as part of Russia (which includes the border areas we’re discussing).
Read more: A new détente: Can Putin and Biden make a deal?
Thus, numerous incursions across the shared border into Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk regions were conducted under false flags by specially created entities such as the ‘Russian Volunteer Corps’, the ‘Legion of Freedom for Russia’, and other neo-Nazi groups.
Kiev repeatedly tried to bypass the West’s red lines by any means necessary, arguing there is no need to fear escalation since Russia has limited capacity for retaliation, and so on.
With a change in the White House, Kiev sees an opportunity. Leaks indicate that Kiev’s representatives have been communicating with advisers to Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris rather than Biden for some time now. This presents a convenient moment to raise the stakes and confront the new team with a fait accompli: Look, we can successfully advance on Russian territory; it’s in your interest to support us.
Even partial success, securing just one city, would allow Kiev to demand more from Washington, then even more. It doesn’t matter that Russia will inevitably respond by fortifying its defenses here too. The media impact, as Kiev envisions, will last as long as the front line cuts through what is canonically Russian territory. Even a zero-sum result, if the raid has to be aborted, can be spun as a victory.
From Kiev’s perspective, such a gamble is worth the combat-ready brigades that would otherwise be lost ingloriously in yet another obscure Donetsk village. There’s more logic here than in the six-month bloodbath in Krynki (with over 1,000 casualties) or in the countless failed attempts to land a flag in Crimea or on sandy spits at the mouth of the Dnieper.
What will the Kremlin’s response be?
The second aim of the attempted incursion into Kursk Region is to stir discontent within Russia, portraying President Vladimir Putin as weak and provoking rash decisions.
What is at stake here? It’s well known that the conflict between Moscow and Kiev has devolved into a war of attrition. The key to victory is to deplete at a slower rate than your adversary. Which town or city is under control doesn’t matter much; everything will be decided by who exhausts their resources first.
After bouncing back from initial setbacks, Russia has embedded the conflict into its national economy. With expenditures of around 7% of GDP, the country can sustain the fight for a long time. Yes, it faces recruitment challenges, but they are far less severe than Ukraine’s, where willing soldiers ran out over a year ago.
Read more: ‘I’m afraid of dying’: How and why Ukrainian men hide from military service
As mentioned earlier, this trajectory will lead to collapse for Ukraine, making Kiev’s desperation to disrupt the Kremlin’s game understandable. From the Russian leadership’s perspective, sticking to its ‘special military operation’ strategy means it shouldn’t focus too heavily on events in Kursk to avoid playing into Kiev’s hands.
However, it’s not that simple. Moscow can’t ignore enemy actions. It’s not just about politically legitimizing what was previously unacceptable, as we’ve discussed. It’s about the raid on Sudzha forcing the Russian General Staff to reconsider the security of the 1,000km of shared border with Ukraine, anticipating that similar events could happen anywhere along it.
Under the Kremlin’s strategy, there is no clear-cut response to such a bold raid – the answer since February 2022 involves using all available resources while avoiding general mobilization or self-depletion. Moscow does not have another army ready and standing by to occupy newly vulnerable border areas.
What’s next?
There are three potential scenarios for the developments in Kursk Region.
First: Russia could prepare a task force to carry out its own cross-border operation, either by opening a full-fledged second front (possibly targeting Sumy) or establishing a buffer zone similar to the one in Kharkov. This would be Moscow’s most aggressive response options. It secures not only Kursk and neighboring regions but also provides a clear and direct answer to the Ukrainian raid.
But without additional mobilization, Moscow might lack the strength for a second front. Maintaining a narrow border strip with a dense front line requires a sizable force, which might be needed elsewhere.
Second: Kiev might have several fresh, well-trained, and equipped brigades ready to launch a new offensive on other Russian border regions or break through an existing front line. This would force Moscow to scale back or significantly slow down its operations in Donbass, reallocating troops from there. The political objectives mentioned earlier would be achieved.
However, there is no clear evidence that Kiev has such forces. Western sources indicate that the three brigades involved in the recent raid are all of Ukraine’s combat-ready reserves not engaged at the front. Even if this is not correct, Russia still holds a numerical advantage, the element of surprise is lost, and thus the chances of success for another attempt are lower.
Finally, the third scenario, which seems most likely given the Kremlin’s rhetoric: Neutralize Kiev’s actions with available resources, clear the border area of Ukrainian sabotage units, and prevent breakthroughs elsewhere. This allows Russia to continue its strategy, which Moscow believes is the most beneficial.
In this case, the border region will become another active combat zone, and the lack of decisive retribution allows Kiev to claim a shift in red lines and at least partial success. Russian relying on limited forces and refusing to withdraw large numbers from the Donetsk theater would mean the operation to secure the Kursk borderlands could drag on.
Kursk attack: This is why Zelensky felt emboldened.
LARRY JOHNSON (EX-CIA INTELLIGENCE ANALYST): Israel’s Epic Struggle vs. Iran - Russia's Devastating Blow to Ukraine's Army.
THE GRAYZONE: The Real Story Behind US-Russian Prisoner Swap.
MINTPRESS NEWS: Ukraine Captures New Russian Territory: Master Stroke or Strategic Blunder?
SCOTT RITTER: Israel's Entire Future Hangs in the Balance - Russia Wiping Out Ukraine's Army.
COLONEL JACQUES BAUD: Israel on the Brink of Collapse? Ukraine's Desperate Move.
GLENN DIESEN: Reviving Bloc Politics?
Russia ambushes Ukrainian tank convoy and NATO vehicles.
BORZZIKMAN: The French Commando Unit Was Destroyed Just a Few Meters From The Border of RUSSIA.
Trump outlines hopes for relations with Putin.
If reelected, the former president has said he expects to get along with “tough characters”.
It is “a good thing” for US presidents to get along with foreign leaders, even if Washington disagrees with their policies, Donald Trump has said. The Republican presidential nominee cited his own track record with Vladimir Putin, claiming that the Russian leader “respected him.”
In a livestreamed interview with X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk on Monday, Trump accused the current US administration of weakness and a failure to engage with certain foreign leaders.
“I know Putin very well. I got along with him very well. He respected me and it’s just one of those things,” the former president said.
Trump claimed he had established a rapport with Putin despite the ‘Russiagate’ attack on his administration, which he said had been launched by his then-Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, and a group of “shifty people.”
Read more: Biden’s ‘stupid threats’ caused Ukraine conflict – Trump
“I hope to get along well with him again. You know, getting along well with them is a good thing, not a bad thing,” Trump said, referring to Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Trump was responding to Musk’s suggestion that “evil dictators” and “real tough characters” need to be intimidated by the White House for the world to be a safer place.
The Republican reiterated his claim that the Ukraine conflict would not have broken out under his watch, blaming incumbent President Joe Biden for the start of hostilities.
Trump claimed that while in office, he had issued unspecified warnings to Putin regarding Ukraine. “I said: ‘Don’t do it, you can’t do it. Vladimir, you do it, it’s gonna be a bad day. You can’t do it’. And I told him things that I’d do. And he said: ‘No way’. And I said: ‘Way’.”
He also recalled the runup to the crisis in late 2021-early 2022, when Russia accumulated troops in regions close to Ukraine after NATO rejected Moscow’s call to deflate the tensions. Trump, who was no longer in office at the time, said he had perceived the military buildup as Putin’s way of trying to reach a deal.
READ MORE: Harris leading Trump in key states – poll
“Putin is a good negotiator. I thought he was doing that to negotiate,” Trump said. “But then Biden started saying such stupid things.”
In particular, Trump cited Biden’s vow to bring Ukraine into NATO against Russian objections. Moscow has protested the US pledge to Kiev ever since it was first made under President George W. Bush in 2008.
Trump outlines hopes for relations with Putin.
ISRAEL-WEST <-> PALESTINE-IRAN-SYRIA-IRAQ-LEBANON-YEMEN-VENEZUELA-DPRK
THE GRAYZONE: How AIPAC stealthily brought down Cori Bush.
LARRY JOHNSON (EX-CIA INTELLIGENCE ANALYST): Israel’s Epic Struggle vs. Iran - Russia's Devastating Blow to Ukraine's Army.
SCOTT RITTER: Israel's Entire Future Hangs in the Balance - Russia Wiping Out Ukraine's Army.
COLONEL JACQUES BAUD: Israel on the Brink of Collapse? Ukraine's Desperate Move.
EUROPE / UK
SEAN FOO: UK Economy Declared “Broke & Broken” As Russian Airspace Ban Hits British Airlines Hard.
Loss of free speech in UK, EU traced back to US.
AFRICA
THE AFRICA NEWS NETWORK: President Traoré’s Riveting and Empowering Speech: A Historical Call to Action.
NON-ENGLISH NEWS
LIU SIVAYA: RUSIA SE PLANTA: LA FIRME REACCIÓN RUSA QUE LO CAMBIA TODO (y que no se esperaban en Occidente).
EXPATS IN RUSSIA
TIM KIRBY: How to integrate into Russian society.
MAPPING CHANNEL UPDATES
Several Russian Ambush Operations | Ukrainian Forces Expand Front To Southern Kursk.
UKRAINE GOING FOR MORE IN KURSK~! SMO undisturbed. | Ukraine War Summary / SITREP / SItuation Report.
WAR UPDATE: It's Over! Russia Captured All New York 2014 Defense Line.
VICTORY BELONGS TO RUSSIA: IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME
Each day that passes makes a conclusive Russian victory in the Donbass and beyond more certain. As Russia bolsters her forces, and weaponry, those of Ukraine decrease. Russian forces gain ready access to rest and recuperation as troop numbers increase. The increasingly exhausted and demoralised Ukrainian troops have an ever decreasing prospect of such respite. This situation is likely to bring them to complete breakdown as Russia unleashes the firepower of the more modern and advanced weaponry that is arriving with the newly mobilised Russian troops.
The various Ukrainian offensives are now weak when confronted by the reinforced Russian lines. A few futile efforts achieve quite miserable results before fire reigns down on the Ukrainian troops and they are forced back to their starting positions.
And now, all this being said, we have arrived at the wet, and later, freezing conditions where these pathetic Ukrainian forces will be subject to myriad forms of abject misery with death and injury all around them while they lie sodden or frozen, abandoned to their fate by Kiev.
The pitiable young and old of Ukraine have been frogmarched to their deaths as cannon-fodder while the bestial elites of the collective West urge their "president" to add more to their number there at the gates of Hell and their doom. We must feel for the majority of them as they are not the Nazis we revile, in most part they are decent men, fathers, sons, brothers, husband and uncles, who no doubt saw through the coup of 2014 for what it was. But sadly, their fate seems sealed.
Nothing will stop Russia now. Every factor favours them. Victory will be Russia's. In Donbass and beyond and in due course across the world.
Victory belongs to Russia: It is now only a matter of time.
UPDATES TO BE ADDED HERE AS AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS.
UPDATES TO BE ADDED HERE AS AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS.
NIU YORK IS ABOUT TO FALL
The foolishly-named town adjacent to Toretsk in the soon to be Russian Donbass named Niu York will soon be liberated and no doubt quickly renamed.
Russian forces are now in a position to take the major Donbass cities of Niu York and Toretsk. With the current disposition of forces this will take place within a week to ten days from now. Ukrainian forces, lacking manpower and munition capacity are now falling back from undefendable positions around these two large conurbations. The situation is exacerbated for the Ukrainian troops fighting there due to the recent concentration of troops by the Kiev regime in its misconceived incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
The fall of Niu York and Toretsk will undoubtedly precipitate a further decline in Ukrainian army morale across the battlefront in the Donbass, and no doubt too in those now within the Kursk incursion which is rapidly turning into a trap. With the liberation of these two major cities and the opening up of further territory for the Russians with the ukrainians increasingly on the run, the way will be open for the Russian military to advance upon the last remaining outposts of the Ukrainian regime in the Donbass.
The major Ukrainian logistic hub, Pokrovsk will be next to fall after Niu York and Toretsk. This may take several weeks to achieve. Slovyansk and Kramatorsk are the largest cities remaining in Ukrainian hands in the Donbass but we could easily see these fall by November if not sooner should there be a catastrophic collapse in Ukrainian army morale. It is all to play for, for the Russian troops now, the wind is at their back with crumbling opposition before them.
With the developments above plus the certain defeat of the Ukrainian troops now within Russia’s Kursk region there can be little doubt that these events will finally see major changes within Ukraine’s western support base. They will be loath to associate themselves with a failing regime and will slowly but surely begin to withdraw their support. This will be seen in massively reduced mainstream media news coverage and a certain lack of the now familiar statements of “everlasting” support for the Kiev regime. Supplies of cash, weaponry and munitions will decline even more precipitously than the already noticeably falling tranches.
The West’s Project Ukraine is failing quite obviously now. It has been failing for a very long time now but western obfuscation of this fact via its news media peddling fantasies instead of facts. There is nothing short of direct NATO or western power intervention that can halt the precipitous fall of their Ukrainian device to weaken Russia. The last laugh will certainly be Russia’s with its growing economy (while Europe’s declines and the USA soars to unsustainable levels of national debt), its battle-hardened, much stronger army basking in the glory of a monumental victory over the modern day Nazis of Ukraine and a nation with its sovereignty and security guaranteed in perpetuity. The reputation of the Russian president will be further heightened, not only in the nations of the global majority but also all across the western world.
Niu York and Toretsk will mark the most significant milestone yet and will equal the fall of Avdeevka as a sign of things to come. With the clearance of the Ukrainian infestation from Russia’s Kursk region another nail will be hammered into the Kiev regime’s coffin. It will be only a matter of time from these events that Zelensky and his minions are clearing their desks and departing in humiliating ignominy, never to be heard of again.
There will be one last and abiding memory to be correctly proud of within Russia when this is all done and dusted. That memory will feature the city that was given a certain name (surely to be replaced in due course). The Ukrainian city presently called Niu York. The liberation of Niu York will always stand in Russian minds not only as potent symbol of Russia’s defeat of the Ukrainian Nazis, but also, and even more importantly, of the total humiliation of the world’s fastest declining and most aggressively evil superpower, the USA.
