“Ukraine – Russia”

New footage circulating online appears to show U.S. volunteers fighting Russian troops in Ukraine under near-constant mortar fire.

The footage shows soldiers advancing through a smoke-filled urban area with visibly damaged buildings. Faces captured in the footage have been blurred, but dialogue and what appear to be American accents can be heard over the sound of firing in the clips.

Video of a large group of American volunteer soldiers engaging in intense battles with the Russian Army in Ukraine.

Video 1 of 2… Video 2 will be posted in the comments section below

🇺🇸🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/qsD7LX5tIV

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 20, 2023

All wars have political dimensions, the war in Ukraine more than most. As leader of the international coalition supporting Kyiv, President Biden must retain domestic support for our massive financial contribution to Ukraine while maintaining the unity of the coalition.

The evidence suggests that he is doing better with the latter task than the former. Yes, there have been recurrent disagreements with allies about the kinds of weapons Ukraine should receive and the pace of delivery. Mr. Biden has made it clear that he wants to do everything possible to assist Ukraine without triggering a wider war. Because the line between maximum effort and dangerous overreach is unclear, he has proceeded at times more deliberately than other countries, especially those in Eastern Europe, would have preferred. But he has moved forward enough to mute coalition discontent while assisting Ukraine with robust offensive capacities and surprisingly effective air defense.

#Ukraine: A Russian tank was destroyed by the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade using a Stugna-P anti-tank guided missile in Zherebyanky, #Zaporizhzhia Oblast. pic.twitter.com/KhZg0GoWNK

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 20, 2023

Western defense officials now estimate that over the last 16 months 200,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in Ukraine. This is almost triple the casualties suffered by the Soviet Union during a decade in Afghanistan. Doubts are growing that Russia can sustain this cost. In the 1980s, the Soviet Union had twice the population of today’s Russia.

Beyond the elite, the morale of the Russian soldiers and civilians seems low. In interview after interview posted last week by Ukraine’s UA media consortium, Russian POWs say they do not understand why they are in Ukraine and complain of disorganization and poor leadership.

#Ukraine: A "unique" Russian vehicle was targeted by FPV loitering munitions of the Ukrainian 72nd Mechanized Brigade near Vuhledar, #Donetsk Oblast- a BTR-80 with a couple of 57mm UB-32 unguided aircraft rocket pods was damaged by two FPV drones. pic.twitter.com/lKL3kdJ6im

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 19, 2023

Ukrainian special forces have been filmed surprising and killing Russian soldiers in brutal close-quarters trench fighting on the southern front.

It came as Ukraine said it had captured another village in the south and Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister, said the counter offensive was “making good progress”.

The two-minute clip purports to show members of the 72nd Marine Centre for Special Operations, the Ukrainian equivalent of Britain’s Special Boat Service, storming a Russian trench system somewhere in the south of the country.

Russian soldiers are packing defunct, Soviet-era tanks with devastating explosives and rolling them directly into Ukrainian positions in the latest desperate attempt by the Kremlin to gain an advantage on the battlefield.

In video footage posted online, a 70-year-old T-54 tank rigged with six tons of explosives could be seen guided by remote control as it rolls toward a Ukrainian trench.

The vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, however, is obliterated into a cloud of dust and smoke when it suddenly strikes a mine before being demolished by a Ukrainian anti-tank missile, according to Forbes.

#Ukraine: A FPV loitering munition of the K2 unit of the Ukrainian 54th Mechanised Brigade destroyed a Russian Ural truck with ZU-23-2 autocannon in Verkhnokamyanka, #Luhansk Oblast.

For some reason the Ural is a little jumpy after being hit. pic.twitter.com/egnILYOce6

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 15, 2023

RIGA, Latvia — As Ukraine readied its counteroffensive by gathering Western weapons and sending its troops for NATO training, Russia spent at least seven months preparing for this potentially definitive stage of the war — by readying reserves, artillery and aviation support, stockpiling ammunition and fuel, and procuring more drones.

Russian forces also burrowed into the territory they occupy in southeast Ukraine, digging lines of trenches and erecting fortifications along the entire 900-mile-long front line, from Zaporizhzhia to Russia’s Belgorod region.

#Ukraine: A Russian 2S3 Akatsiya 152mm self-propelled howitzer was blown apart by a Ukrainian FPV loitering munition strike after the ammunition on board detonated. pic.twitter.com/txuDCEZ02A

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 18, 2023

The 4 counteroffensive scenarios

Ukraine’s much-heralded counteroffensive has only just begun but already the politics are boiling over. Last week politicians and analysts close to President Putin threatened nuclear Armageddon once more and said Moscow might disrupt Europe’s internet by slicing underwater cables.

Nato is also sabre-rattling. Its secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has repeatedly declared that Ukraine’s future lies in the military alliance. Flights across Europe are being rerouted because of the military alliance’s biggest air manoeuvres, conducted this month over Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Longer-range missiles deployed against ground targets to impede Ukrainian hopes of severing land corridor between Crimea and eastern Donetsk

Russia is using attack helicopters equipped with long-range missiles to gain an upper hand on the key southern front of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Moscow has deployed more than 20 extra helicopters to Berdyansk airport, which lies approximately 100km behind the front line, since Kyiv launched its offensive earlier this month, the ministry said in an intelligence update.

For a month the two men could not tell their psychologist what had happened to them, only that it was horrible beyond words. “If there’s hell somewhere, it’s worse than that,” said one.

The Ukrainian soldiers, aged 25 and 28, had been in Russian captivity — one for one month, the other for three.

Russia has already stationed a first batch of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Vladimir Putin says.

Russia’s president told a forum they would only be used if Russia’s territory or state was threatened.

The US government says there is no indication the Kremlin plans to use nuclear weapons to attack Ukraine.

“We don’t see any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after Mr Putin’s comments.

Russia’s forces are suffering a shortage of tanks, the country’s defence minister has admitted, as Ukraine’s offensive in the south and east continued to push back the frontline with the help of western hardware.

Sergei Shoigu, on a visit to a military factory in western Siberia, said that production of armoured vehicles needed to be increased as Kyiv talked up the heavy losses being inflicted on the occupying enemy.

An increase in the manufacture of tanks was said by Shoigu to be necessary “to satisfy the needs of Russian forces carrying out the special military operation”, in comments that echoed those of Vladimir Putin earlier in the week.

#Ukraine: The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) destroyed a Russian up-armoured BMP-3 IFV with a FPV loitering munition.

Impressive ammo detonation included. pic.twitter.com/EecCAAdlLh

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 15, 2023

Earlier this spring, a Russian unit that trained at a Chechen military academy deployed to southern Ukraine, as Russia’s military girded for an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Called RUS, the volunteer unit is affiliated with Akhmat, a semi-autonomous special forces detachment that is commanded and overseen by the government of Chechnya. RUS soldiers trained at a special academy located in eastern Chechnya.

#Ukraine: A Russian 1L259 Zoopark-1 counter-battery radar was taken out of action by a GMLRS strike of the Ukrainian army near Bakhmut, #Donetsk Oblast.

Another vehicle (presumably a maintenance vehicle with a power supply unit) was taken out by several GMLRS strikes as well. pic.twitter.com/4vwbxBIonz

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 15, 2023