Russia's Invasion of Ukraine, aka "Putin's Special Operation"

[Yohan]

https://vl.aif.ru/incidents/pogibli-ger ... pehotincev
(in Russian)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-ru ... -aid-cuts/

World
Ukraine kills Russian navy's No. 2 commander in strike, but officials worry about Trump's military aid cuts

July 3, 2025 / 11:49 AM EDT / CBS News

The deputy commander of Russia's navy, Major General Mikhail Gudkov, was killed by a Ukrainian missile strike in the far-western Russian city of Kursk, a state-linked Russian news outlet said on Thursday.

Gudkov, who previously commanded a Russian marine unit involved in the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, died of injuries sustained in the strike on a military administration building, according to the AiF website.

Russia's Ministry of Defense provided no details, but confirmed that Gudkov died "during combat operations in one of the border areas of the Kursk region."

[Yohan]

Another one also died...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... Putin.html

Russia's sacked transport minister has been found dead in his Tesla outside Moscow with a gunshot wound and the principal hypothesis is that he took his own life, state investigators said on Monday, hours after President Vladimir Putin fired him.

A presidential decree published earlier on Monday gave no reason for the dismissal of Roman Starovoit after barely a year in the job, though political analysts were quick to raise the possibility that he may have been dismissed in connection with an investigation into corruption in the region he once ran.

Reuters could not independently confirm these suggestions, though a transport industry source, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Starovoit's position had been in question for months due to questions about the same corruption scandal, which centred on funds earmarked for fortifying Russia's border with Ukraine in the Kursk region.

See links above for full reports.

[Yohan]

https://www.newsweek.com/top-russian-oi ... ll-2094669

(Another Russian guy who committed 'suicide')

A top Russian oil executive has been found dead beneath the windows of his Moscow home in what authorities said was an apparent suicide, state media report.

Andrei Badalov, 62, had been vice president of the state-owned oil pipeline company Transneft since 2021.

His body was found beside a house along the Rublevskoye Highway after an apparent fall from a window, TASS reported. Police told TASS that Badalov had left a suicide note.

Badalov is the latest in a long line of high-profile and wealthy Russians to die in recent years, many after apparent falls from windows or suffering what authorities described as accidents. Others have been murdered.

The deaths come amid Russian President Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine, which has seen his country's oil sector hit hard with Western sanctions.

Transneft confirmed Badalov's death and said it came during a "difficult and stressful period" marked by Western sanctions.....

[Yohan]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/pol ... 499725007/

'We have to': Trump sending weapons to Ukraine after expressing disappointment with Putin
USA TODAY

President Donald Trump said he was unhappy with Russian President Vladimir Putin and would be sending Ukraine more defensive weapons, days after the Pentagon said it would halt some shipments as it conducted a review of U.S. military stockpiles.

"We're going to send some more weapons – we have to. They have to be able to defend themselves," Trump told reporters July 7 during a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "They're getting hit very hard now. They're getting hit very hard. We're going to have to send more weapons – your defensive weapons, primarily."

The Trump administration has worked for months without success to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump spoke with Putin last week and said afterward that the call did not result in any progress. Russia pummelled Kyiv with the largest drone attack of the war, killing one person, injuring at least 23 and damaging buildings across the capital hours after Trump spoke to Putin, officials said.

Trump said July 7 that he's "disappointed frankly that President Putin hasn’t stopped."

Trump recently held a closed-door meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the NATO Summit in The Hague and said afterwards he would see if he could make additional Patriot missiles available to Ukraine.

However, the Pentagon said last week that it was suspending the transfer of some weapons, including interceptors, as it assesses its readiness and future military assistance for Ukraine.

The pause in weapons deliveries is part of a "capability review" to "ensure U.S. military aid aligns with our defense priorities," Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell told reporters at a July 2 briefing.

[Voyager1]

They should put up an Iron Shield over Ukraine just like Israel has the Iron Dome.

Then they should bomb the hell out of Russia

[Yohan]

They should put up an Iron Shield over Ukraine just like Israel has the Iron Dome.
Then they should bomb the hell out of Russia

This all takes time. Europe in general was badly prepared for a Russian attack, but this will change in future.
NATO related activity will be focus on European production of weapons to make it less depending on USA.

Times are changing, up to a few years ago it was considered as a good NATO strategy that USA will supply mainly weapons and the other countries will do all other necessary support, like food, clothings, medical supply, construction materials, refugees etc. etc.

You cannot win a war only with weapons but without any other supplies, which are important too.

If USA is reluctant to support NATO regarding Ukraine, the supply routes to assist Ukraine have to be changed.

However I cannot say that USA is doing 'nothing' as it is still fully supporting Israel against Iran, which indirectly is also helpful for Ukraine.

Russia must be already in a desperate state if it needs Iran for drones and otherwise weapon supplies and North Korea for manpower to help out.
-----

According to some sources from South Korea, there are maybe up to 30000 North Korean soldiers undergoing training in Russia in the Kursk region and elsewhere, (true or not, nobody really knows) but they are not in direct combat anymore - total failure. 1000s of them died.

They are now used mainly as workers, helping to repair the Kursk area or elsewhere. The Ukrainian soldiers, forced to move out and back to Ukraine left Kursk in a horrible condition. They left slowly, but destroyed just everything - streets/bridges, railway tracks, buildings, water supply and electricity power lines - nobody can live there anymore.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/ ... e-fighting

Kim Jong-un pays rare public tribute to North Korean soldiers killed in Ukraine
Photographs of leader with soldiers’ coffins were displayed at a gala concert marking anniversary of military treaty with Russia

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/worl ... ng-un.html

Some more information in English:
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/02/euro ... e-intl-cmd

[Yohan]

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/29/euro ... raine-intl

Russia’s summer offensive in Ukraine underwhelms – but Kyiv won’t be celebrating

For months the talk in Kyiv was of a much-anticipated Russian offensive that would aim to gobble up more of Ukraine’s eastern regions. So far, it’s been underwhelming – but the Russians have made some gains and vastly reinforced their troop numbers in some areas.

Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to pursue territorial gains as ceasefire talks take a back seat. Last week he restated what has long been one of his key ways of justifying his unprovoked invasion.

“I consider the Russian and Ukrainian peoples to be one people,” he said. “In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours.”

Even so, the Ukrainians have launched counterattacks in some areas and are rapidly developing a domestic weapons industry. And Russia’s wartime economy is facing stronger headwinds.

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But there are darkening clouds on the horizon. Russia’s military budget is some 40% of its total public spending – more than 6% of its GDP. That’s stoked inflation, and Putin acknowledged last week that growth this year would be “much more modest” to combat rising prices. He even suggested that defense spending would decline next year.

One senior Russian official, Maksim Reshetnikov, who is Economic Development minister, said that “based on current business sentiment, it seems to me we are on the brink of transitioning into recession.”

The head of Russia’s Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, disagreed with Reshetnikov but warned that financial buffers like the national reserve fund are nearly depleted.

“We must understand that many of these resources have been used up,” she told the St. Petersburg International Forum.

Full article see link above

[Yohan]

https://www.dw.com/en/trump-sending-pat ... a-73265133

Trump sending Patriot missiles to Ukraine, EU to cover costs

AFP, Reuters 1 hour ago

The announcement comes less than two weeks after the US paused arms shipments to Ukraine. Donald Trump has become frustrated with Russian leader Vladimir Putin over the lack of progress in peace talks.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that the United States will send Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine to help it fight Russia's invasion.

Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington DC, Trump did not specify how many systems would be sent to Ukraine.

"We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need, because Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then bombs everybody in the evening. But there's a little bit of a problem there. I don't like it," Trump said.

The announcement comes as Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the lack of progress on securing peace in Ukraine.

[Voyager1]

Lviv Polytechnic hit in Russian strike: University buildings damaged
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/lv ... r-AA1ItfEv

Russia shelled Lviv overnight on July 12. As a result of the enemy strike, three buildings of Lviv Polytechnic were damaged, according to the Telegram channel of Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi.

"Forty-six buildings were damaged, with more than 500 windows shattered. Fifteen apartments are uninhabitable—28 residents have been offered temporary free accommodation in a hotel. Three buildings of Lviv Polytechnic, city courts, and more than 20 small and medium-sized business premises were also damaged," the mayor stated.

Lviv was the last place Tsar said he was. Hope he's alright

[Yohan]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/kim-jong-un- ... 00962.html

Mon, July 14, 2025
Kim Jong Un says he'll 'unconditionally support' Russia's war amid a report he's sending 30,000 more troops against Ukraine

Kim Jong Un is pledging to "unconditionally support" whatever Russia does to fight Ukraine.
That comes after a report from early July that he wants to send 30,000 troops to Ukraine.

North Korea, meanwhile, is estimated by Seoul to have supplied 12 million artillery rounds to Russia.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Sunday that he was all in on Russia's war against Ukraine.

Pyongyang's foreign ministry wrote that Kim had met with Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, during which the two leaders pledged to "strengthen strategic and tactical cooperation" between their countries.

Russia must be very desperate if it really needs troops and ammunition from North Korea.