There continue to be major signs of internal turmoil in Ukraine. The latest occurred yesterday when a gunfight erupted between the two security apparatuses of the SBU and GUR, with multiple operatives being shot and wounded.
The below video showcases the initiating moments, but the gunfights were said to last for hours afterwards:
It all apparently began over the SBU’s detention of a “Russian legion” commander part of a GUR sub-group. This account gave a detailed write up, for those interested in the nuts and bolts of what happened:
While the GUR took more wounded, the SBU was forced to eventually release the RDK (Russian Legion) member.
The SBU’s official explanation, on the other hand, blamed the situation on a “terrorist attack” by the Russian FSB:
In a fascinating twist, the SBU went on to outright accuse the RDK commander of working for the Russian FSB, and released screenshots of secret conversations “proving” this.
For his part, Zelensky immediately censured both agencies and demanded an investigation into the true cause:
When two of Ukraine’s top intelligence agencies resort to open exchanges of gunfire, it becomes a palpable sign of things to come as the country gradually descends into the abyss.
As Ukraine descends, Europe goes full force in ginning up more hybrid provocations against Russia in an attempt to unbalance and distract Russia from any oblique angle that it can. Yesterday Norway seized a Russian research ship near Svalbard, while in Germany the Russian panic continues to be stirred via artificial narratives:
In Germany, three suspicious incidents occurred in the past 24 hours:
-- two suspected acts of sabotage against energy infrastructure in Brandenburg and Bergheim
-- and an explosion near the train station in Augsburg.
* On September 1st, around 8:00 AM, damage to a high-voltage line was discovered at a substation in Brandenburg, along with more than 20 homemade, rocket-like pyrotechnic devices that were apparently intended to cause a short circuit.
* On September 1st, around 8:00 PM, a short circuit occurred at a substation in Bergheim. Law enforcement officers who arrived at the scene found 6 similar launching devices for pyrotechnic charges.
* On September 2nd, around 3:15 AM, an explosion of an unknown object occurred near the train station in Augsburg. An 18-year-old man and a 17-year-old woman, both Ukrainian citizens, were slightly injured.
While the connection between the two attacks on the power substations is almost certain, the explosion in Augsburg is currently considered separate due to the timing, method, and location. The German police have opened criminal investigations on suspicion of foreign sabotage and the creation of a terrorist organization.
New provocations are now a daily occurrence:
In Poland, a drone manufacturing plant which supplies Ukraine caught fire:
The fire broke out at night at the factories of WB Electronics. This is a company that produces spare parts for drones used by Poland and the Ukrainian army. According to unofficial information, video surveillance recorded a masked man on the territory of the plant. Special services do not exclude the possibility of arson. The Internal Security Agency is working on the site. "We take the case extremely seriously," a spokesman for the special services coordinator said.
Meanwhile in Denmark, authorities have uncovered alleged Russian plans to sabotage Danish military firms linked to Ukrainian aid, with Russian intel agencies reportedly trying to hire local “proxies” for the job:
In France, a new film is being teased which revolves around nuclear war with Russia:
An intriguing new French film, Jupiter, explores what happens when Europe faces the threat of nuclear war: from an underground bunker beneath the Élysée Palace, France’s newly elected president must confront a rapidly escalating crisis with Russia. Released at a time when the war in Ukraine is reshaping Europe’s security order, the film goes a step further, imagining 🇫🇷extending its nuclear protection to Ukraine.
As can be seen, the scare-mongering and panic is being ratcheted up by Europe full-tilt in order to drive some kind of political groundswell against Russia. But this is not working too well, because Euro-elites have squandered most of their political capital, and their numbed citizenry are suffering from major Ukrainian-propaganda fatigue.
MSM outlets beat the same old tired drums:
Certainly, Russia would have an interest in sabotaging foreign military firms supplying Ukraine. After all, they are complicit in Ukraine’s terror attacks against Russian civilians, not to mention attacks in general, which could easily be argued as making these European countries parties to the war.
Beyond that though, Russia likely has little time to waste on the irrelevant Europeans when its own military campaign in Ukraine continues to pick up steam once more.
Earlier today, the capture of several villages bridging a cauldron in the Kharkov region was reportedly announced:
Russian Army has liberated the villages of Vasilevka, Blahodatne and Dovzhanka in the Kharkov region, according to the Ministry of Defense.
These settlements are precisely here, which would mean the entire cauldron north of this area would be closed, resulting in the capture of major territory along the border:
Several prominent mappers have disputed this, or at least the extent of the full cauldron closure, but we’ll see soon if it is true. Either way it likely forebodes the area falling in the near future as Russian forces are clearly pushing here.
Ukrainian channels continue to complain of the dire situation on the front. The famed Rubizh Rapid Reaction Brigade of Ukraine writes solemnly:
Meanwhile the official channel of a Ukrainian officer reports that major fuel shortages have begun for the AFU at the front:
After a summer campaign of bragging about destroying Russia’s Crimean logistics by targeting its supply trucks, Ukraine is now itself facing a reckoning for its own transport system. A Russian drone group released a new video showing the targeting of dozens of Ukrainian haulers that gives a glimpse to how the tables have turned:
A compilation of FPV drone, “Geran-4,” and “Lancet” loitering munition strikes carried out by operators of Russia’s 50th Separate Unmanned Systems Brigade “Varyag” against Ukrainian cargo truck transport.
Latest reports claim that Kiev has now been hit with its very first FPV attack. The distance was previously too great for FPVs to ever reach the capital city, but now larger Russian mothership drones have begun dropping FPVs directly over the city:
A video showcasing Russia’s newer rocket-assisted UMPK glide-bombs which now fly farther than ever:
Recall in a recent report we mentioned Putin’s latest comments that the sun is waning on Ukraine’s campaign against Russian refineries due to the fact that new countermeasures are beginning to go up en masse.
Today some of these were seen for the first time, as pictures were released showing the types of defensive structures now going up around Russian fuel depots—click to enlarge:
A video shows the construction of such a defensive canopy:
In a new statement, Putin now claims that only 10% remains to be repaired of the damaged refineries, which—if we are to understand him correctly—would mean virtually everything has been repaired already:
Putin also finally directly answered the mobilization rumors, stating that there is “no such scenario at this time which would require a mobilization”:
For Zelensky, on the other hand, time continues running out as MSM increasingly turns against him:
The latest Foreign Policy piece writes that a major “mood swing” in the nation has finally turned all public support against the once-darling Zelensky:
But now, after more than seven years in office, four and a half years of war with Russia, and a series of scandals involving his leadership team and close friends, Zelensky appears to have lost the nation’s political support. Indeed, polling published in early August points to a major mood swing among Ukrainians, suggesting that many of them have lost faith in Zelensky and would vote him out of office at the earliest opportunity.
Now there are reports that the Russian Alabuga factory which produces the Geran drone has seen such massive and unprecedented expansion that it will soon be able to produce a whopping 11,000 Gerans per month, up from a current estimate of ~5,000 per month.
For now, all that remains for Ukraine’s future is to beg more money from Europe for this coming winter, which will see unprecedented Russian strikes. Recall that Putin had just announced a new such campaign against energy infrastructure which has yet to kick off.
Soon we will see just how much more pain Ukraine can take.
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I had noticed the Russians closed the Volchansk gap yesterday. Managed to trap some Colombians in a big pocket.
I believe Putin wants to annex everything in Kharkov oblast to the east of the Severskiy-Donets river. Don't forget that Kupiansk is already Kharkov oblast. You don't fight 4 years for a city just to let it go during negotiations. Thus it's going to be the four oblasts annexed + land outside of those that make sense to retain, in order to produce a robust new frontier.
There will be a full scale mobilisation for the great advance, and it will include a NK contingent because NK desperately wants to be part of this great military victory march having played its own heavily medalled part earlier on. This is how it will unfold if the europeans continue to refuse to discuss a new security architecture for f.Ukraine.
Contrary to what the europeans are desperately trying to rev up, Russians are fervently committed to this putative final leg of the operation, with ordinary Russians saying that Russia should be marching on Berlin again and no division nonsense this time.
I am not saying that taking Germany is part of the plan but the AFD which speaks for East Germans has announced its intention to restore the Russian language. East Germans would regard a Russian advance as a liberation from Mertzian self destructive madness. The EU led by potty fringe states is talking itself into its own demise, and the question being discussed behind closed doors amongst the old europeans is whether they could just ditch the likes of Estonia (and Poland?) in return for a new peace. Do these nutters know they are expendable? You bet.
The US would just as happily deal with a bigger Russian homogeny than the EU huddle it despises. Not that it didn't work its socks off for years to maintain the grand fault line between western europe and Russia, but not to the point of getting stuck into a new war in europe, not on your nellie. It is the same sentiment as rules across the citizenry of old europe- those who would be drafted, that is. And who have given this prospect a big fat finger.