RUNNING UPDATES ON THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE - 08.08.2024
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 three weeks.
Updates may be sporadic and perhaps absent during this time.
Our apologies for this alteration to your daily updates.
*** DESPITE KURSK DISTRACTION UKRAINE’S ARMY BEING DEFEATED ***
“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.
The Heat: Ukrainian Offensive Continues, Pokrovsk Front Is Collapsing. Military Summary For 2024.08.8
ALEXANDER MERCOURIS of THE DURAN: Ukr Aims Kursk NPP, Fails, US Upset; Rus Near Pokrovsk, Niu-York Falls; Muslim States Back Iran.
ALEX CHRISTOFOROU of THE DURAN: UK floats mean retweets penalty. Tulsi under flight surveillance. Kursk incursion leverage/debacle.
SCOTT RITTER: I'm the Number One Threat to Truth.
Russian forces destroy Ukrainian armor in Kursk Region – MOD (VIDEO).
The Russian military has released video footage of Lancet strikes on Kiev’s Kazak and US-made Bradley armored personnel carriers.
(Click on link at foot of article to view associated video.)
Source: the Russian Defense Ministry
The Russian Defense Ministry has published a video showing the destruction of Ukrainian military equipment that has been taking part in Kiev’s ongoing attempted incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region.
The video, released on Thursday, features a compilation of footage from both surveillance drones and FPV kamikaze drones. According to the ministry, Russian forces have used Lancet loitering munitions to neutralize a number of Ukrainian Kazak armored personnel carriers and US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.
Prior to the footage published on Thursday, the ministry also shared a number of videos depicting Russian strikes on Ukrainian armor and air defense systems that were amassed in areas bordering Kursk Region.
Source: the Russian Defense Ministry
Kiev initially launched its assault on Russia’s border region early on Tuesday, with the resulting hostilities mainly occurring near the town of Sudzha. Up to 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers have taken part in the operation, backed by armor that included several US-made Stryker armored fighting vehicles, as well as artillery and drones, according to Moscow.
Read more: EU endorses Ukraine’s incursion into Russia
On Wednesday, the chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, reported that the incursion has been halted by Russian forces, with the Ukrainian force losing over 300 troops and 54 armored vehicles, including at least six tanks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the attack as yet another “large-scale provocation” and has accused Kiev of conducting “indiscriminate strikes” on civilians, residential buildings and ambulances.
At least four civilians have been killed in the attack and 28 have been injured in Ukrainian artillery and drone strikes on Sudzha, Kursk acting governor Aleksey Smirnov has said.
Russian forces destroy Ukrainian armor in Kursk Region – MOD (VIDEO).
Russia should no longer hold back in Ukraine – Medvedev.
The “terrorist operation” in Kursk Region justifies going “to Kiev and further,” the former president believes.
Former Russian President Dmity Medvedev.
Russia should respond to Kiev’s attempted incursion in Kursk Region by taking over land that Moscow currently recognizes as Ukraine, former President Dmitry Medvedev has suggested.
The Ukrainian military initiated a cross-border raid involving some 1,000 troops this week, which has so far claimed five civilian lives and left over 30 others wounded in Russia. The operation has largely been thwarted by the Russian army and border guards, Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov reported on Wednesday. He estimated Ukrainian casualties at 315, including 100 killed in action.
“From this moment, the special military operation should become openly exterritorial in nature,” Medvedev, who serves as deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, argued in a post on Thursday.
“We can and should go further into what still exists as Ukraine. To Odessa, Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Nikolaev. To Kiev and further. There should be no restrictions in terms of recognized borders,” he explained.
Kiev and its Western backers claim that Russia started the hostilities in February 2022 out of a desire for imperial conquest. Moscow has denied that, saying it sought to stop continued Ukrainian attacks on the ethnic Russian breakaway republics in the east and preempt a Ukrainian military offensive in Donbass.
Four Ukrainian regions have since voted in referendums to join Russia, though some parts of them remain under Kiev’s control. Moscow says it will only agree to peace talks if Ukraine pulls its troops out of these new federal subjects.
Medvedev, a Ukraine conflict hardliner, said the “terrorist operation” in Kursk Region should “remove any taboo” on declaring publicly that the Russian forces “will only stop when we consider it acceptable and beneficial for us.”
The EU has endorsed the Ukrainian operation in Kursk Region. European Commission spokesman Peter Stano has said that the country has the right to defend itself, “including by striking the aggressor on its territory.”
READ MORE: Veteran Russian war correspondent wounded in Ukrainian drone attack
The US has implied that it had not been made aware of Kiev’s plans, with White House national security spokesman John Kirby telling the press: “We intend to reach out to our Ukrainian partners to get a fuller picture of what happened.”
Russia should no longer hold back in Ukraine – Medvedev.
Russia estimates Ukrainian losses in Kursk incursion.
The invaders lost half their armored vehicles in the attack, Moscow has claimed.
Ukrainian forces numbering 300 soldiers and 30 armored vehicles crossed into Russia’s Kursk Region on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said. Half of the enemy armor has been destroyed so far, according to the ministry.
The attack took place in the morning local time in the area of Nikolayevo-Daryino and Oleshnya, along the Russia-Ukraine border, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. Ukrainian forces launched artillery and drone strikes before attacking with up to 300 troops of the 22nd Mechanized Brigade, supported by 11 tanks and 20 other armored vehicles.
“Operational-tactical and attack aviation carried out strikes on concentrations of Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel and equipment in the areas of Basovka, Zhuravka, Khoten, Yunakovka, Belovody, Khrapovshchina in Sumy Region,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Read more: Russian forces repel Ukrainian incursion attempt – governor
As a result of air and artillery strikes, Ukrainian forces lost six tanks, two infantry fighting vehicles, four armored personnel carriers, three armored cars and a mine-clearing engineering vehicle, according to Moscow.
Earlier, unconfirmed reports in local media spoke of at least 20 Ukrainian casualties in the incursion.
At least two Russian civilians were killed in Ukrainian artillery and drone strikes, Acting Governor Aleksey Smirnov said on Telegram. More than a dozen civilians were injured, including four children.
Most of the civilian casualties and property damage were in the town of Sudzha, an important junction on the Druzhba oil and gas pipeline from Russia to central Europe.
Russia estimates Ukrainian losses in Kursk incursion.
REDACTED: "Putin has no choice left but to fight NATO" now that Ukraine is out of men.
DMITRY ORLOV: Russia Obliterates Ukraine’s Army.
LEVAN GUDADZE: Ukrainian Invasion of Russia - Kursk Region. Middle East Crisis. Georgia. Western Brands...
KIM IVERSEN: Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter Raided by FBI.
THROUGH THE EYES OF... ANIA: FBI SEARCHED SCOTT RITTER'S HOUSE AS A PART OF A FEDERAL INVESTIGATION."I'M NOT INTIMIDATED", RITTER.
GARLAND NIXON: SCOTT RITTER SAYS FBI RAIDED HIS HOUSE CLAIMING FARA VIOLATIONS.
JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO - SCOTT RITTER: Scott Ritter Statement Following FBI Raid on his home.
SCOTT RITTER: Scott Ritter's SHOCKING Day.
Dr. GILBERT DOCTOROW: A Small Ukrainian Victory?
INTELLIGENCE ROUND TABLE: LARRY JOHNSON (EX-CIA INTEL ANALYST) & RAY MCGOVERN (EX-CIA INTEL ANALYST) : WEEKLY WRAP.
MICHAEL BRENNER: Ukraine’s Destruction.
ANDREI MARTYANOV: How NATO and the West Completely FAILED.
Zelensky's Ukraine Hits Debt Peak As It Fails to Cover Expenses.
Since Ukraine became an independent country in 1991, its public debt has been steadily growing. According to the Finance Ministry, the country’s external debt is now $103.79 billion, while its internal debt amounts to $40.52 billion. The total public debt has reached $152.16 billion.
Ukraine recently received a $3.9 billion grant from the US via the World Bank for social expenses that the country fails to cover on its own, showing up a dire financial situation in the country, especially in its levels of debt.
According to IMF data and the budget report of Ukraine’s Finance Ministry, Ukraine's state debt amounted to $152.2 billion in July, a record 88.4% of GDP.
The main increase is in Ukraine's external debt, which increased by $59.5 billion to reach $103.7 billion. Taking into account the amount of external debt and Ukraine’s current 38 million population, every Ukrainian citizen now owes around $2,728 to a foreign country.
Likewise, domestic debt increased by $14.4 billion to $40.5 billion.
Under Zelensky, the country’s state debt has grown by $74 billion, which is just a little less than what the previous five Ukrainian presidents incurred between them.
Last week, the international rating agency S&P lowered Ukraine's long- and short-term foreign currency credit ratings to SD/SD (Selective Default) - after the country failed to make a bond payment. It came after a similar downgrade in Ukraine's rating by US credit rating agency Fitch.
Ukraine's debts have been rising since the 1990s when the country was ruled by Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma. According to the Finance Ministry’s data, Ukraine’s public debt increased by $15.7 billion in 2005 alone.
After the first Maidan coup, the debt jumped under President Viktor Yushchenko, leading to the fall of his popularity and his defeat in the presidential election in 2010. Next, President Viktor Yanukovych, who defeated both Yushchenko and his Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in 2010 at an internationally recognized election, reduced the debt to 39.9% of GDP. The debt stabilized under the first post-Maidan ruler Petro Poroshenko.
During the term of Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's state debt has grown by $73.8 billion, almost doubling the burden that Zelensky inherited from Poroshenko in 2019.
In late July, Zelensky signed a law that allowed the government to suspend payments on foreign debt until October 1 in order to reach an agreement with creditors on restructuring, according to the website of the Verkhovna Rada.
After the outbreak of hostilities, private creditors allowed Ukraine to suspend payments on the national debt. Earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal announced that bondholders had agreed on debt restructuring to the amount of about $20 billion. The agreement included writing off 37% of the debt volume.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin underscored that Ukraine's economy exists only on handouts from other countries. He explained that executives go with their hand outstretched, "begging for an extra million dollars."
Zelensky's Ukraine Hits Debt Peak As It Fails to Cover Expenses.
ISRAEL-WEST <-> PALESTINE-IRAN-SYRIA-IRAQ-LEBANON-YEMEN-VENEZUELA-DPRK
THE DURAN: Iran's Impending Retaliation - Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen.
DMITRY ORLOV: Is Israel Losing Its Grip?
DANNY HAIPHONG: Israel HUMILIATED: Iran's Attack will Expose IDF Cowardice w/ Journalist Ghadi Francis.
RICHARD MEDHURST: Hamas Deploy "Red Arrow" Missiles to Punish Israeli Tanks.
DANIEL DAVIS - PROFESSOR JOHN J. MEARSHEIMER: The Israel Lobby - it's POWER.
BREAKTHROUGH NEWS: Imperialism’s Non-Stop War Against Venezuela.
AMBASSADOR CHAS FREEMAN: Is Israel on the Brink of TOTAL Defeat?
AARON MATÉ : US Enables Israel.
BREAKTHROUGH NEWS: Middle East on a Knife’s Edge: Axis of Resistance to Strike Back on Israel.
RACHEL BLEVINS: Iran, Hezbollah Have Right to Self-Defense After Israel Crossed Multiple Red Lines –Marwa Osman.
SABBY SABS: Lindsey Graham PUSHING War With Iran.
GEOPOLITICAL TRENDS: What: Saudi Arabia & Jordan Decided to Help Defend Israel.
Venezuela | Producers mobilized in support of Pres. Maduro.
MAX BLUMENTHAL: Netanyahu At His Worst.
INTELLIGENCE ROUND TABLE: LARRY JOHNSON (EX-CIA INTEL ANALYST) & RAY MCGOVERN (EX-CIA INTEL ANALYST) : WEEKLY WRAP.
COLONEL DOUGLAS MACGREGOR: Is Israel On the Ropes?
MICHAEL BRENNER: Israel Losing on All Fronts.
COLLECTIVE WEST <-> GLOBAL MAJORITY
THE DURAN: Geopolitical and economic turmoil w/ Martin Armstrong.
MULTIPOLARITY - RUSSIA-CHINA / BRICS
PROFESSOR JOHN J. MEARSHEIMER: Will Russia and China Back Iran?
EUROPE / UK
GEORGE GALLOWAY: STREETS OF FIRE - MOATS with George Galloway Ep 367.
NON-ENGLISH NEWS
LIU SIVAYA: ÚLTIMA HORA: COMIENZA UNA NUEVA FASE DE LA GUERRA | RUSIA SUFRE UN ATAQUE UCRANIANO EN SU TERRITORIO.
EXPATS IN RUSSIA
EXPAT AMERICAN: Riots in the UK! British Men Answer YOUR Questions! Is it Time to leave the West?
MAPPING CHANNEL UPDATES
The Heat: Ukrainian Offensive Continues, Pokrovsk Front Is Collapsing. Military Summary For 2024.08.8
Ukraine CRUMBLES Russian Forces Swarm Towards Pokrovsk.
Battlefield Ukraine Russian Army Encircles UAF.
Russian Forces Stop Further Ukrainian Assaults In Kursk.
WAR UPDATE: What's Going On? - Ukrainian Columns DEEP Offensive Into Kursk Oblast.
Sudzha Has Been Encircled⚔️ Serhiivka Has Fallen⚔️ Military Summary And Analysis For 2024.08.07
Reality didn’t change at Avdiivka & Vodyane; Kursk Offensive!! | Ukraine War Frontline Changes Report.
Russian Forces Capture Serhiivka | Pokrovsk Offensive Doesn't Stop | AFU Captures Sudzha.
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.
RUSSIA OUGHT TO DECLARE WAR ON UKRAINE AND HAVE DONE WITH IT
The latest clear act of war by the Kiev regime against Russian territory ought to end the patience of Russia's president & military high command. Zelensky must now be taught a vital, final lesson.
The latest incursion into Russian Federation territory will perhaps result in a final end to Russian patience over such attacks, clearly acts of war.
A very clear signal to the Kiev regime in response to this latest attack is vital. Declaring war on the regime and hitting government offices wherever they have been located across Ukraine would be my choice of response.
Attacking such targets has been avoided until now as has declaring war on the regime. Clearly there are significant geopolitical risks and potentially very negative consequences which are without doubt why this has not been done till now. But it seems to me we have reached a point where declaring war and hitting these targets has become necessary no matter what those knock-on consequences for Russia may be.
Of course another reason for not declaring and waging all-out war against Ukraine is the (until now) perceived need to have someone in power there to negotiate Ukraine's eventual capitulation or peace settlement. If Russia was to eliminate Zelensky then this would create a crisis and possible power grab by the Nazis of Ukraine. Zelensky however, shows zero sign of EVER submitting to the inevitable end of this conflict. He appears totally incapable of confronting the reality of the situation. And besides, the chances are that there would be massive popular resistance in Ukraine to the Nazis taking over. They have suffered incredibly in so many ways that they are surely totally sickened by the war and crave its end.
If it is necessary for Russia to take temporary control of western Ukraine so be it. A Ukrainian president and government for Ukraine that acts pragmatically to restore peace and end the dominance of Ukrainian Nazi forces is vital. Russia would be in a position to coordinate the process of electing such entities in the first few months after Zelensky and his minions are gone. A transition to EU control would be coordinated with Brussels but with the stipulation backed by Russia’s overwhelming military power in the region that no entry to NATO by Ukraine would be permissible.
With the world largely distracted by Israel's genocidal war in Gaza and particularly in this moment by Iran's expected response to Israel's latest assassinations it may be exactly the right time to hit Zelensky and Kiev and hit them very hard.
