One by one, the men slipped out of their houses into the night in plain clothes, breaking the Russian curfew. Dodging patrols and moving quickly but quietly, they gathered at the site of a weapons cache hidden two years earlier.
Selected from a wide network of Ukrainian partisans in the nation’s occupied south for their weapons training and physical prowess, they were about to embark on their most daring mission of the war to date; one that would almost cost one of them his life.
KYIV, Ukraine — Tensions around the nuclear power plant on the front lines of the war in Ukraine escalated sharply on Thursday, as the Russian and Ukrainian militaries traded charges that each was preparing to stage an attack on the plant in coming days, risking a catastrophic release of radiation.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the Ukrainian military was preparing a “terrorist attack” on the sprawling Zaporizhzhia power plant complex on the Dnipro river, prompting the Ukrainian military intelligence agency to respond that the Russian warning was in fact a pretext for Moscow to stage a “provocation” of some kind there on Friday.
#Ukraine: The first documented loss of a Russian 2S5 Giatsint-S 152mm self-propelled gun, after being hit by counter-battery fire from the Ukrainian 44th Artillery Brigade. pic.twitter.com/FZn9wxF6xH
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 18, 2022
KYIV — “Grenade!”
As recently as last year, the shout would have been frighteningly out of place at Kyiv’s EBSH sports club — a gym like those in well-heeled neighborhoods worldwide, frequented by upwardly mobile members seeking to get fit, build muscle, or lose weight — and perhaps get their weekly dose of adrenaline.
The war in Ukraine has exposed the truth about Russia. Those who refused to see that Putin’s state has imperialist tendencies today have to face the fact that in Russia, the demons of the 19th and 20th centuries were revived: nationalism, colonialism, and totalitarianism. But the war in Ukraine has also exposed the truth about Europe. Many European leaders allowed themselves to be lured by Vladimir Putin and today are in a shock.
Pavel Filatyev knew the consequences of what he was saying. The ex-paratrooper understood he was risking prison, that he would be called a traitor and would be shunned by his former comrades-in-arms. His own mother had urged him to flee Russia while he still could. He said it anyway.
“I don’t see justice in this war. I don’t see truth here,” he said over a tucked-away cafe table in the Moscow financial district. It was his first time sitting down in person with a journalist since returning from the war in Ukraine.
Presenting the rising cost of living as a necessary price to pay for Ukrainian freedom is a surefire recipe for trouble
Wars aren’t always decided on the battlefield. As bravely as Ukrainian soldiers defend their homeland from Russian invasion, their heroics won’t suffice without continuous military and financial support from the West. American and European leaders have so far stood firmly behind Ukraine. Public opinion, however, is starting to dwindle. The most important fight for Ukraine could ultimately take place in the homes, streets and squares across Europe.
How long will Canadians put up with Trudeau using the Ukraine conflict as cover to inflict his economically ruinous Green-Scam agenda on them?
It all began with an “egg”: Germany’s first nuclear reactor went online in October 1957, in Garching, near Munich. Given its shape, it was nicknamed the “atom egg” and belonged to Munich’s Technical University. It was a landmark in nuclear research and a symbol of a new beginning after WWII. The research reactor operated until 2000.
Elite special forces reported to be behind fireball blast at ammunition dump in Russian occupied territory
Ukrainian special forces are reported to be behind a series of mysterious explosions behind enemy lines in occupied Crimea.
Blasts at an open-air ammunition dump and an electrical substation in the north of the Russian-held peninsula were the work of an elite military unit, according to an anonymous Ukrainian official.
Footage shared on social media showed a huge fireball sent into the sky by the explosion at the ammunition dump, followed by secondary blasts as munitions cooked off.
Explosions at a munitions dump in Crimea. The detonations have allegedly damaged a cable, disabling Russian communications.#russiaisaterrorisstate #WarInUkraine #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/2ovloxoZ5v
— Stepan Stepanenko (@StepanenkoSF) August 16, 2022
On a sunny October morning, the nation’s top intelligence, military and diplomatic leaders filed into the Oval Office for an urgent meeting with President Biden. They arrived bearing a highly classified intelligence analysis, compiled from newly obtained satellite images, intercepted communications and human sources, that amounted to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war plans for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
#Ukraine: The crew of a Russian BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle decides to take the safest route – right between two previously destroyed Russian BMP-1AM and BMP-2 in Yakovlivka, #Donetsk Oblast – and surprisingly they blow up on an anti-tank mine. pic.twitter.com/2E2cNs0sbF
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 15, 2022
Britain’s failed elites could spark a winter revolution
Britain may be recovering from a heatwave, but its politicians are already fearful that winter is coming. Only now, more than 170 days since the war broke out, are policymakers realising the potentially catastrophic implications of their gung-ho approach towards Russia.
Just last week, it was revealed that the UK government is preparing for a “reasonable worst-case scenario” over the winter in which below-average temperatures and gas shortages could force authorities to trigger emergency gas-saving measures, including organised blackouts for industry and even households. And this is as energy prices continue to spiral out of control: this winter, the average annual energy bill for a typical household is expected to reach £4,200, or about £350 a month — more than double what households are currently paying and a four-fold increase on the average bill paid just a year ago.
A week after an apparent Ukrainian attack on a Russian military base in occupied Crimea, an arms store at another military facility has been hit by a series of explosions.
Russian officials said a fire triggered the blasts in the Dzhankoi area, before blaming “sabotage”.
A separate fire broke out at a power sub-station and a railway was damaged.
A string of blasts last week destroyed Russian warplanes at a Black Sea base on the Crimean coast.
#Ukraine: A Russian cargo truck and APC were tracked by the Ukrainian drone right up to the moment when the truck was hit by a German DM22 HEAT off-route mine hidden in the bushes. pic.twitter.com/D9wR1nFlbI
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 16, 2022
Soaring international energy prices have brought power blackouts to Europe as Kosovo said it could no longer afford to import electricity, adding to fears that tensions with Russia will plunge the continent into crisis this winter.
Consumers in the Balkan state have been told they will be allowed six hours of power at a time, punctuated by two-hour breaks, according to a spokesperson for its energy distribution company, KEDS.
In the scrubby bush of a southern Ukraine battlefield, the enemy is hard to see but clearly a looming threat.
Four soldiers fire repeated rounds through a curtain of flimsy trees as their unit beats a halting escape from the Russian troops.
“Move, move, move,” someone urges, his command rising above the clutter of English and Ukrainian voices.
Ukrainian artillery has struck a headquarters of Russia’s shadowy Wagner paramilitary group of mercenaries in eastern Ukraine, reports say.
The attack in Popasna was reported by Serhiy Hayday, Ukrainian governor of Luhansk region, and several pro-Kremlin war reporters.
The number of casualties is not clear and details remain sketchy. Photos said to show the damage were posted on the Telegram messaging service.
Wagner has been linked to war crimes.
#Ukraine: Footage showing that the Russian Air Force Ka-52 attack helicopter was indeed hit by Ukrainian fire, possibly a MANPADS.
It seems that the crew probably survived, but the aircraft is unlikely to fly again any time soon. https://t.co/NcFC1Y5IJs pic.twitter.com/BKOUYOBWSg
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 15, 2022
Thousands of Russians have flocked to Europe on short-term visas since the country invaded Ukraine. Some sought an escape from repression, while summer has brought Russian tourists just looking to escape to the beach. Now some European politicians are calling for an end to the short-term visas that allow Russians to holiday in the EU as the war in Ukraine rages on.
Countries including Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Finland and the Czech Republic have called for the EU to limit or block short-term Schengen visas for Russians, in protest at their country’s invasion of Ukraine.
