SITREP 4/11/24: Zelensky in Shock as Kiev's Largest Power Plant Wrecked in Massive Strikes

The day starts with a massive Russian missile strike that has wiped out another chunk of the remaining Ukrainian energy capacity. It’s now confirmed that Russia is hitting precisely the turbine rooms causing long-lasting, if not permanent, damage.

Here’s Ukraine’s own Centernergo energy concern declaring it to be the worst day in their history, as the Trypil Thermal Power Plant in the Kiev region was wiped out:

Here’s a before and after:

The regime apologists are in conniptions over this:

The Kharkov plant and several others were struck as well. Full report:

Missile attack on the territory of Ukraine on April 11: details

🔺Tu-95MS missile carriers and Geran-2 loitering ammunition hit many targets, including both military and infrastructure/energy facilities.

What objects were hit?

▪️Tripolye (Kyiv region). Trypilska Thermal Power Plant.

▪️Kharkov, CHPP-3.

▪️Kharkov, plant named after. Malysheva, workshop No. 510 and building No. 400.

▪️Chuguev (Kharkov region). Central warehouse of engineering ammunition of military unit A-2467.

▪️Kharkov, Turboatom plant. Foundry shop and KEMZ building.

▪️Stry (Lviv region), gas collection point No. 2.

▪️Susk (Rivne region). 1448th Central Artillery Weapons Base.

▪️Chervonograd (Lviv region). 72nd separate mechanization battalion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

▪️Chervonograd (Lviv region), substation “Chervonograd-2” 110/35/6 kV.

▪️Odessa, substation 330/110/10 kV “Usatovo”.

It is noteworthy that during attacks on electricity generation facilities, eyewitnesses recorded multiple arrivals, as in the case of the recent finishing off of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station. Indirectly, this indicates that the Russian Aerospace Forces have been tasked with completely destroying or critically damaging ALL large non-nuclear generation facilities on the territory of Ukraine.

Taking into account the fact that the attacks on Ukraine’s energy system are systemic in nature (and some facilities, such as CHPP-3 and substations in Odessa, have been hit not for the first time), the cumulative effect of a sharp shortage of electricity generation may appear in the near future.

It’s difficult to truly estimate how catastrophic the situation is becoming because every ‘expert’s’ opinion seems to differ, and many were disappointed with last year’s energy grid strikes. However, one thing that can be objectively said is Russia has demonstrably been hitting engine rooms, as we’ve seen in actual video from the Dnipro HES hydroelectric station. In the Centernergo note above, they also admit a ‘large fire’ in the ‘turbine workshop’.

And by the way, for those wondering why Russia didn’t begin such a devastating campaign in winter, here’s what Putin is alleged to have told Lukashenko at their soiree today:

Russia did not strike Ukrainian energy sector in winter for humanitarian reasons - Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin, during a meeting with Lukashenko, said that Russia was forced to respond to the Ukrainian series of attacks on the energy sector. Our country did not carry out such attacks in winter for humanitarian reasons, so as not to leave hospitals and schools without electricity.

If only Netanyahu had 0.01% the compassion.

Now that things are heating up in this way, Ukraine is in a froth over those Patriot systems:

In fact, Bild’s Roepcke appears to claim that Ukraine has completely run out of the flagship AD missiles:

Update:

Unfortunately, here’s Germany’s Annalena Baerbock’s response:

https://www.rt.com/news/595655-baerbock-patriots-ukraine-exhausted/

If you want to see how truly desperate the situation has gotten, get a load of this unhinged rant by EU lunatic Guy Verhofstadt:

During all these urgent calls for new Patriots to be sent has anyone bothered to ask where the previously delivered Patriots have gone, by any chance? We were told they were totally unscratched after stopping all those Kinzhals. It seems perhaps that wasn’t entirely accurate.

In the meantime, Russian MOD published another video of a new Ukrainian S-300 being taken out by what’s likely an Iskander or Tornado-S near Odessa:

But here’s where it starts getting interesting. What began as mere improbable rumor weeks ago is slowly starting to spin into a common thread of something going on in the Kharkov direction. My readers know I’m very open and honest about these things—when something feels speculative and merely ‘rumor’-based, I readily say so, as I hate clickbait and groundless rumorbait just as much as you do.

But when a certain critical mass of rumors and information is reached, sometimes our ears perk up and we’re forced to pay attention. Kharkov is a particularly sore spot in this regard merely because we’ve heard rumors for so long about all the possible “big arrow” offensives that could come down from the north. However, we must objectively admit that Russia has never gone after the Ukrainian energy infrastructure with as much commitment as is happening now.

So, to dress the table, here’s head of the Kharkov administration announcing they’ve made their decision on evacuating nearly 50 settlements and villages in the north Kharkov region close to the Russian border:

Recall the parallel thread I’ve been following here with many citizens beginning to slowly flee Kharkov, sensing what may be coming their way. Also recall my own personal on the ground intelligence, which I wrote about several weeks ago, that said Russian villages on the border of Sumy were being quietly evacuated, with residents being offered money by Russian authorities to leave within a two month frame.

Russian ex-general and current Duma member commented on just this:

And Ukrainian pundit Max Feigin even stated on air that Kharkov is in danger of being evacuated, and appears to state that city services are already removing secret documents—if I’m understanding correctly—so they don’t fall into Russian hands in the event of Kharkov’s fall:

Josep Borrell, too, seemed to signal something big being imminent:

But the most eye-opening piece of new information came in the latest Economist article centered on Kharkov:

https://archive.ph/SELjo

First, might I mention that the article begins with this quite thematic quote which shows the nature of what Russia’s up against:

While describing the huge uptick in strikes on Ukraine’s “second city”, they make the first notable admission—that Russia may be looking to effectively force the city’s evacuation, as reportedly opined by ‘military sources’ in Kiev:

The escalation had military sources in Kyiv suggesting that Russia has resolved to make the city a “grey zone”, uninhabitable for civilians.

This is important because all the lead-ups I had mentioned earlier certainly appear to paint the picture of an increasing campaign to shut the city’s power down and purge it of civilians in the run-up to a potential large-scale ground assault of some kind.

They appear to further admit that Russia has destroyed Patriot systems guarding Kharkov:

But then comes the big one I’ve been setting up:

So: according to them Russia is preparing for a ‘major summer offensive’ and is training a massive two-corps field army of six divisions in ‘eastern Siberia’, according to a high-ranking Ukrainian official.

That is extremely interesting because it gives us the first potential intel on what some of Shoigu’s newly constructed army corps could be doing. But more importantly, and what most will miss about this news, is the following:

The 120k number matches almost precisely with the number of troops Russia has been designating for each given sector or front. For instance, the Kupyansk-Kremennaya theater was said to have about 120-150k men. The Zaporozhye theater was said to have roughly that amount as well; and then the Donetsk also. Most of that information is compiled from various sources such as the Pentagon leaks, which gave Russian troop dispositions. But as an example, here’s an older out of date graphic I happened to find in my collection just to give a rough idea:

You can see the Kupyansk theater with ~130k, the center group with 50k + 60k, and Zaporozhye with 50k that later grew to much more, not to mention they don’t count the nearby Kherson region’s grouping.

My point is that this number roughly corresponds to what Russia has been using for an entire given major front or sector. So if we are to assume, hypothetically, that this potential new 120k man structure is being trained as one cohesive grouping—an assumption based on the fact that they’re reportedly training together in the same region—under one command, ergo we can make the logical extension that this grouping is intended for a new theater. And what possible new front or theater could be opened up with such a large grouping? There is no room anywhere else to inject such a group other than into the north.

Admittedly, these are all very preliminary assumptions. No one really knows anything quite yet—the grouping could very well be meant as reserves to replace and rotate men all along the front, or the Economist’s “report” could be entirely fake. There were other rumors that Russia intended to inject a huge amount of new men into the Zaporozhye front and push a large new offensive there. But it really does strike me as quite ‘coincidental’ and my personal suspicions are up about a potential Kharkov direction.

However, one thing I’ll say is that even if that were to happen, I’m not necessarily expecting it to be any time soon, or even necessarily this year. We see now Russia moves fairly methodically at its own pace. The coming ‘summer offensive’ could very well be an increased tempo of actions along the current front, and the phantom 120k man group could be meant to open the Kharkov theater for winter or even spring next year, for example. After all, one thing to remember is that it takes up to a year to properly train a new recruit. It’s unknown what training level all those enlistments have, which have been coming in over the past year at a rate of ~30k per month. Many of them could be in training for a long time before being allowed to see any action.

And in case anyone asks: I’ve been talking for a long time about Shoigu’s new 500k man army meant to be a reserve against potential NATO attack. But they’ve already raised the full 500k, yet have not stopped recruiting. That means this year alone, they’ve already raised a new 50k—as of last reporting by Medvedev and Shoigu several weeks ago—and so, potentially taking 120k of the reserves for SMO action would not be a major reduction given that, at 30k per month, in only a few more months they can already replenish the total.

Russia appears to know something—here’s UN rep Nebenzya’s latest statement to the committee:

"Very soon, the only topic for any international meetings on Ukraine will be the unconditional surrender of the Kiev regime, I advise all of you to prepare for this" - Nebenzya

A few other interesting adjacent items:

U.S. Congressmen appeared to admit that the U.S. has thus far spent a mindblowing $300 billion on Ukraine since 2014:

The rest of the exchange is fascinating too, particularly the admission of 12 CIA bases in Ukraine.

And on the note of congressional antics, a big uproar ensued in the Ukrainian commentariat after it was finally revealed definitively by Biden’s administration that they apparently do not support Ukraine hitting Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure due to the fear of affecting “global energy markets”:

This is clearly either not right, or misunderstood. I already explained how hitting Russian refineries doesn’t really affect global oil as refineries are working to refine gasoline for Russia’s domestic use. The real reason Biden’s admin is worried about “global” markets is because of the implicit threat of Russia’s retaliation. There are obviously backdoor deals wherein Russia has made clear its escalatory regime should Ukraine be abetted by NATO in striking certain critical ‘red line’ facilities.

Such escalatory measures could be the threat of Russia striking facilities in NATO countries, for instance, in a tit-for-tat measure, particularly given that British drones are now being reportedly used for some of these incursions. Or there may be more asymmetric means by which Russia has expressed its threats, such as providing various “help” to Iran and its proxies in upping the pressure on the current ongoing Red Sea situation. There is a variety of methods Russia has at its disposal to provide anything from weaponry to intel and satellite targeting data to Iran and the Houthis that could make things extremely painful for the U.S., and would certainly result in a destabilization of “global markets”.

This is, as always, the one area the pro-UA punditry simply has no understanding of because it requires a subtle comprehension of the realpolitik shadow dance behind the scenes which is always the true driver of events. I’ve explained many times that there is a delicate balance of “understandings” in Ukraine between Russia and the West. Each has their red lines, and I’ve even provided proof via CIA admissions in previous articles that this is the case:

By the way, as a last point, this exchange on the topic was notable in demonstrating how utterly involved the U.S. really is in the ‘proxy’ conflict. Listen just to the last few seconds where the congressman literally says “we should destroy [Russia’s oil & gas infrastructure]”:

We, Mr. Congressman? Is it the U.S. at war here, or is that just a slip of the ol’ forked tongue?

And speaking of corrupt congresses, the Ukrainian one reportedly finally approved a revamped mobilization bill to much furor and tooth-gnashing:

However, it still needs Zelensky’s ratification to fully pass.

There has been such a tumult and controversy that it would take a separate article to enumerate it all. But the biggest sticking point was in regard to the removal of a provision that allowed Ukrainian servicemen to be demobilized after 3 years of fighting. Now, it appears, mobilization is ‘permanent’—i.e. until death.

Then there was a video posted by one of the Rada reps who showed that only 40-some odd members even attended, out of the 400+ quorum:

❗️Breaking news from the Crazy House 404🚨

⚡️The Verkhovna Rada adopts the most anti-people, criminal law in the history of Ukraine. Of the required 450 people's deputies, there are about 45 people in the Rada.

⚡️But the most interesting thing is that this does not prevent them from making the necessary amendments to preserve their seats

I don’t quite know what to make of it other than to remind you the several reports I’ve made in the past about how the Rada has been deteriorating, with ‘rumors’ claiming it has devolved into total chaos with many members attempting to flee the country and no longer even attending the sessions. This appears one of the first visual confirmations of that.

All the while, things get worse:

And no single object has generated greater chatter amplitude than Russia’s glide-bombs, which are becoming an utterly insurmountable problem for the AFU:

Just as the Lancet was the star of last year’s show, it seems now the glide-bomb has moved into the spotlight. The reason is simple: Ukraine hardly uses armor or vehicles anymore, given that they’ve bunkered up and gone fully on the defensive. Thus there’s not much for Lancets to do at the moment. But glide-bombs are precisely the remedy for Ukraine’s defensive, trench-heavy posture, as they shred trenches and cave them in even from non-direct impacts. And given Ukraine’s frontline air defense depletion, Russian fighter-bombers are able to operate with full impunity, launching the glide-bombs at any and all times and directions.

I wrote this on X, but I’ll say it here again as a final point. Now that Russia is mass-producing heavy glide-bombs, there is almost no possible way for Ukraine to hold ground. Only in places like Avdeevka, with massive fortified underground structures, were they able to withstand the onslaught. But nearly everywhere else that’s left, such as Chasov-Yar now, glide-bombs will wreck top-ground fortifications and trenches, crumpling them even from some distance away. Ukrainians have reported that the Fab-500 rips doors off hinges from 1km away. There is simply no way to hold trenches when the Fabs start arriving on top of them. And as of this writing, there’s said to be a massive Kab/Fab assault on Chasov Yar ongoing. Here’s what it looks like over the city:

A Ukrainian military account is ‘shocked’ at the speed with which Russian forces are advancing into Chasov Yar, and there’s even rumors that Azov Brigade again ‘refused’ orders to fight there:

And another from the AFU 46th Brigade. Read carefully about what glide-bomb Fabs are doing:

Rezident UA channel corroborates this:

#Inside
Our source in the General Staff said that the Armed Forces cannot build adequate defense against the new Russian attack tactics. In all directions, it happens the same way, first 70-90 KABs are dropped to our positions, and then small assault groups come along with artillery positions, which calmly go to the scorched positions of the Armed Forces. The only chance to keep the front-fill positions with tanks at two or three rashes a day, but this method simply leaks out our forces.

Well, what else can we say?

Last few sundry items:

The Russian UGV ground bots first seen recently operating on assault near Berdychi have finally been shown more closely:

The first footage of the Courier ("Курьер") #UGV tests at the training ground.

These drones have already been tested in real combat operations in the Avdeevka area (versions with AGS-17 and 12.7mm machine guns were used), showing good practical results.

For the first time presented the product's specifications, used a wide range of weapons: AGS-17, AGS-30, RPO, RPG, ATGM, 12.7mm machine guns, anti-tank mines, EW systems. And the matter is not limited to this.

In the foreseeable future, drones of this type will take their place on the battlefield, just as air and sea drones did before our eyes.

The project is supported by Boris Rozhin and Chingis Dambiev.

Further robotisation of warfare seems inevitable.

Not to mention a host of others already being used in the field:

Next:

Micron proudly boasted about some kind of new ‘dynamic’ surging through Europe that he initiated:

In reality, behind his back, French newspapers report the opposite. From Le Monde:

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2024/04/10/this-war-economy-coined-by-macron-has-yet-to-see-the-light-of-day_6667985_23.html

This was followed by a British former Lieutenant-Colonel Glen Grant stating that if France sends troops to Ukraine, then so must the UK, lest it become a ‘lost nation’ (as if it weren’t one already):

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1886379/ukraine-war-british-army-macron-russia

Poor Grant must have forgotten this:

Meanwhile:

Lastly, for those interested, here’s an illuminating new episode from Uralvagonzavod’s famed 130th workshop now mass producing the T-90M ‘Proryv’ (“Breakthrough”) tanks.

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