Channels like this, what a strategy. From time to time, they will drop a prowest video, but then, the majority is Russian / Axis propaganda :
https://m.youtube.com/@Military-TV/videos
https://m.youtube.com/@Military-TV/videos
Russia & Ukraine
- Thread starter UsualName
- Start date
Russian vs drone, just a reminder of how this war is going (don't watch if sensitive):
Now for Putin's oppression and arrests. He won't allow any protests. Just a matter of time until the remote areas of Russia breakaway. China will be glad to help them with this effort when the stab Vlad in the back.
Russia hands down criminal charges following rare large protest
Activists in Bashkortostan face 15 years in prison on charges of organising ‘mass riots’, assaulting public officials.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024...criminal-charges-following-rare-large-protest
Russian authorities have laid serious criminal charges against four people following a large protest in the central region of Bashkortostan.
Security forces in the city of Ufa, in the Urals mountains, arrested the fourth suspect on Sunday evening, local media reported. The charges follow protests by thousands last week over the jailing of an Indigenous rights activist. Police were swift to crack down on what was a rare large showing of dissent in Russia since Moscow’s war against Ukraine started.
Dim Davletkildin was detained after being summoned by police in the town of Baymak, the scene of the rally, which was sparked by the sentencing on Wednesday of Fail Alsynov to four years in a penal colony.
Among the charges faced by Alsynov’s fellow activists are organisation of “mass riots” and assault of public officials, reported the OVN-Info monitoring group. The charges carry a potential sentence of 15 years.
OVD-Info added that authorities have already opened dozens of lesser administrative cases, accusing demonstrators of joining unsanctioned rallies.
The same court in Baymak, 1,400km (870 miles) east of Moscow, that last week sentenced Alsynov for inciting ethnic hatred has jailed several people for eight to 15 days for taking part in the protest, which saw police pelted with snowballs. The authorities responded with tear gas.
The charges against Alsynov followed a speech he delivered last year as locals opposed plans for the development of a gold mine.
The regional governor said the activist had made racist comments about people from Central Asia and the Caucasus. Alsynov claims that his words were mistranslated from the Bashkir language.
The protesters said the verdict was delayed revenge for his role in protests years prior, when activists successfully blocked plans to mine for soda on a hill considered sacred by locals.
Large protests are rare in Russia due to the risks of arrests. Thousands of people have been detained in the past two years for opposing the war.
Often coming from regions with few economic prospects, Indigenous peoples from across Russia have been actively courted by recruitment officials and heavily represented in the ranks that Russia has sent to the front line in Ukraine.
Alsynov was fined last year for criticising the invasion online, saying the war was not in Bashkortostan’s interests.
He heads Bashkort, a grassroots movement working to preserve the culture, language and ethnic identity of the region’s people that was banned as an “extremist organisation” in 2020.
Bashkortostan is an oil-producing region of 4.1 million people and is one of more than 80 entities that make up the Russian Federation.
The Bashkir ethnic minority are among Russia’s 260,000 people who are recognised as Indigenous to Russia.
Indigenous peoples living in Russia have long fought for their rights and to protect their traditional territory, which is often located in areas that are used for natural resource extraction, such as mining.
At this point, every republic that does not include Moscow is a potential breakaway republic. It is just of time until the dissolution of Russia.
Russia is freezing - and Putin is watching the tomatoes grow
People in the Moscow suburb of Podolsk have been freezing for two weeks. The heaters in many apartments in the Klimowsk district are still cold - and at temperatures below minus 20 degrees.
People in the Moscow suburb of Podolsk have been freezing for two weeks.
The heaters in many apartments in the Klimowsk district are still cold - and at temperatures that have recently fallen well below minus 20 degrees.
Shortly after the New Year there was an accident at the local thermal power plant. But the city and regional administration remained inactive for days. As a result, the district heating pipes also froze and burst. The matter only began to move when residents' complaints on social networks became louder and the first demonstrations took place.
The authorities have now arrested the director of the local arms factory, the head of the associated thermal power plant and the deputy mayor of Podolsk. Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin had the arms factory nationalized.
According to a report in the Novye Izvestia newspaper, the power plant boss had warned in advance of problems with the dilapidated infrastructure and refused to sign the winter suitability report for the plant. He is still in custody. Scapegoats are needed before the presidential election.
Problems are likely to last until spring
This has not improved the situation for around 20,000 residents in Klimovsk. The media loyal to the authorities showed Mayor Grigory Artamanov commissioning several mobile power plants. “The only problem is that after his departure, the boilers are shut down again, causing the heating and pipes in the houses to finally break,” wrote Novye Izvestia.
In many parts of the city, the district heating pipes are far too close to the surface, so they freeze unless hot water flows through them constantly. The problems are likely to last until spring.
Podolsk is not an isolated case. Across Russia, from Kaliningrad in the west to Novosibirsk in the east, hundreds of towns and tens of thousands of people are affected by bursting district heating or hot water pipes, failing power plant equipment and the like.
In Elektrostal, another large city in the Moscow region, the apartments have been cold since the beginning of winter. The residents warm themselves around campfires. In the city of Nizhny Novgorod, however, a dozen people sustained burns. A burst pipe flooded several streets in the snowy city center with hot water.
The collapse of the housing industry has now affected 43 Russian regions, reported the independent Internet portal 7x7. That's about every second administrative area in the country.
Discontent among the population
The dissatisfaction of the population is increasing. Images of people freezing and protesting are poison for the election campaign. Putin ultimately wants to be re-elected as president for the fifth time in March. In addition to great power fantasies, the 71-year-old, who has ruled for almost a quarter of a century, has in the past always promoted himself on the topic of stability.
Although Russia sank into chaos, crime and poverty in the 1990s, he managed to get the situation in the country back under control. The chain of technical disasters contradicts this picture.
70 percent of the municipal infrastructure is worn out
The problems are systemic in nature. Of course, due to its geography and harsh climate, the huge empire faces severe challenges in building and repairing the infrastructure. But for decades, municipal housing management companies were also underfinanced. In many places, only the networks that existed during Soviet times continued to be used with minimal repairs.
According to Sergei Pakhomov, head of the housing committee in the Russian parliament, the State Duma, more than 70 percent of the municipal infrastructure was already worn out by mid-2022. At the same time, private housing construction was booming, so that many more houses are now connected to old electricity, district heating, water and sewage pipes.
Given the drastic increase in spending on armaments, the military and security forces due to the Kremlin's war of aggression against Ukraine, there will probably not be any more money for maintaining the infrastructure in the coming years. On the contrary: spending should be cut to less than half by 2026.
The Kremlin chief isn't showing himself to be a concern these days either. He didn't show up at the freezing ones. And anyone who expected that he would at least address the currently most pressing issue during a conversation with representatives of local authorities on Tuesday was disappointed. Instead, it was once again primarily about his war, in which he was confident of victory and announced that he would under no circumstances give back the conquests he had made in Ukraine.
At least for a moment, Putin gave his compatriots the illusion that he was freezing with them. Two weeks ago he unexpectedly flew to the Chukotka polar region. This should give voters the impression that Putin is also cold, that the president is with his people, said political scientist Abbas Galljamov, explaining the intention of the trip.
But the impression only lasted for a short time. Putin had a demonstration of growing tomatoes in a greenhouse in the Arctic. This problem is probably the least concerning the Russians at the moment.
People in the Moscow suburb of Podolsk have been freezing for two weeks. The heaters in many apartments in the Klimowsk district are still cold - and at temperatures below minus 20 degrees.
People in the Moscow suburb of Podolsk have been freezing for two weeks.
The heaters in many apartments in the Klimowsk district are still cold - and at temperatures that have recently fallen well below minus 20 degrees.
Shortly after the New Year there was an accident at the local thermal power plant. But the city and regional administration remained inactive for days. As a result, the district heating pipes also froze and burst. The matter only began to move when residents' complaints on social networks became louder and the first demonstrations took place.
The authorities have now arrested the director of the local arms factory, the head of the associated thermal power plant and the deputy mayor of Podolsk. Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin had the arms factory nationalized.
According to a report in the Novye Izvestia newspaper, the power plant boss had warned in advance of problems with the dilapidated infrastructure and refused to sign the winter suitability report for the plant. He is still in custody. Scapegoats are needed before the presidential election.
Problems are likely to last until spring
This has not improved the situation for around 20,000 residents in Klimovsk. The media loyal to the authorities showed Mayor Grigory Artamanov commissioning several mobile power plants. “The only problem is that after his departure, the boilers are shut down again, causing the heating and pipes in the houses to finally break,” wrote Novye Izvestia.
In many parts of the city, the district heating pipes are far too close to the surface, so they freeze unless hot water flows through them constantly. The problems are likely to last until spring.
Podolsk is not an isolated case. Across Russia, from Kaliningrad in the west to Novosibirsk in the east, hundreds of towns and tens of thousands of people are affected by bursting district heating or hot water pipes, failing power plant equipment and the like.
In Elektrostal, another large city in the Moscow region, the apartments have been cold since the beginning of winter. The residents warm themselves around campfires. In the city of Nizhny Novgorod, however, a dozen people sustained burns. A burst pipe flooded several streets in the snowy city center with hot water.
The collapse of the housing industry has now affected 43 Russian regions, reported the independent Internet portal 7x7. That's about every second administrative area in the country.
Discontent among the population
The dissatisfaction of the population is increasing. Images of people freezing and protesting are poison for the election campaign. Putin ultimately wants to be re-elected as president for the fifth time in March. In addition to great power fantasies, the 71-year-old, who has ruled for almost a quarter of a century, has in the past always promoted himself on the topic of stability.
Although Russia sank into chaos, crime and poverty in the 1990s, he managed to get the situation in the country back under control. The chain of technical disasters contradicts this picture.
70 percent of the municipal infrastructure is worn out
The problems are systemic in nature. Of course, due to its geography and harsh climate, the huge empire faces severe challenges in building and repairing the infrastructure. But for decades, municipal housing management companies were also underfinanced. In many places, only the networks that existed during Soviet times continued to be used with minimal repairs.
According to Sergei Pakhomov, head of the housing committee in the Russian parliament, the State Duma, more than 70 percent of the municipal infrastructure was already worn out by mid-2022. At the same time, private housing construction was booming, so that many more houses are now connected to old electricity, district heating, water and sewage pipes.
Given the drastic increase in spending on armaments, the military and security forces due to the Kremlin's war of aggression against Ukraine, there will probably not be any more money for maintaining the infrastructure in the coming years. On the contrary: spending should be cut to less than half by 2026.
The Kremlin chief isn't showing himself to be a concern these days either. He didn't show up at the freezing ones. And anyone who expected that he would at least address the currently most pressing issue during a conversation with representatives of local authorities on Tuesday was disappointed. Instead, it was once again primarily about his war, in which he was confident of victory and announced that he would under no circumstances give back the conquests he had made in Ukraine.
At least for a moment, Putin gave his compatriots the illusion that he was freezing with them. Two weeks ago he unexpectedly flew to the Chukotka polar region. This should give voters the impression that Putin is also cold, that the president is with his people, said political scientist Abbas Galljamov, explaining the intention of the trip.
But the impression only lasted for a short time. Putin had a demonstration of growing tomatoes in a greenhouse in the Arctic. This problem is probably the least concerning the Russians at the moment.
Vlad is buying "Best Korean" missiles, which are "Best Korean" quality. Yep, it is laughable junk being supplied by Kim Jong Un.
North Korean Missiles Face Reality Check in Putin’s Battles
https://news.yahoo.com/north-korean-missiles-face-reality-010000134.html
UK sends UN experts photographs of North Korean shipments to Russia
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...rts-photographs-north-korean-shipments-russia
Ukraine drones hit St Petersburg gas terminal in Russia
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68046347
An explosion at a major gas export terminal near the city of St Petersburg in Russia was carried out by Ukrainian drones, BBC News has been told.
The blast caused a large fire at the Ust-Luga terminal, but no injuries, Russian officials said.
An official source in Kyiv said the "special operation" of the SBU security service masterminded the attack, with drones that worked "on target".
Both Russia and Ukraine have used drones in the current conflict.
Russia launched its full-scale of invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago, but has made little progress in recent months.
Regarding the explosion near St Petersburg, regional governor Alexander Drozdenko said a "high alert regime" was in place after the incident at the terminal of gas producer Novatek, in Ust-Luga on the Gulf of Finland. He shared a video of what appeared to be a large fire.
Novatek later announced that work at the terminal had been suspended, and said the fire was the result of "external influence" - without providing further details.
The Ukrainians say fuel processed at the plant was being used to supply Russian troops in their war against Ukraine and that this strike "significantly complicates" logistics for the military.
They also describe the attack as an economic blow to Russia, which exports fuel from the terminal.
Russia's Fontanka.ru has published video showing tankers moored close to where the fire is raging. It reports two drones were spotted approaching the city of St Petersburg at about 01:00 local time (22:00 GMT) but swerved sharply at the outskirts before heading for the coast and the Ust-Luga port.
An eyewitness is heard saying the ground shook beneath his feet with the explosions.
The Russian Telegram channel Mash quotes a source saying they heard two explosions before the fire. The channel says around 150 staff were evacuated from the terminal.
Another video - posted on Russian social media - appears to show huge balls of orange fire, a man's voice is heard referring to hearing the buzzing of a drone before the explosion.
Fontanka.ru, usually a reliable source, says flights in and out of St Petersburg had been grounded before the explosions, as a plan known as "Carpet" was put in place.
Russia's defence ministry also said it shot down three Ukrainian drones in Smolensk Region, close to its border with Ukraine, on Saturday night.
It earlier said it had shot down drones over Tula and Oryol, both in western Russia. There were no reports of casualties.
Also on Sunday, at least 25 people were killed and 20 injured by shelling at a busy market in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, Russian-installed officials said. Kyiv has not yet commented on that attack.
Russia and Ukraine have been targeting each other's energy infrastructure, and on Friday a fire broke out at an oil depot in Bryansk, south-west Russia, which Moscow blamed on a Ukrainian drone strike.
That came a day after an attack targeted a major oil loading terminal in St Petersburg.
On Thursday, Russia claimed to have captured a village close to the devastated city of Bakhmut, in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region. Kyiv has not confirmed the claim.
Ukraine has warned repeatedly that its army is facing severe ammunition shortages, but has set a target of producing a million drones domestically this year.
Russia launched the invasion of its neighbour nearly two years ago.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68046347
An explosion at a major gas export terminal near the city of St Petersburg in Russia was carried out by Ukrainian drones, BBC News has been told.
The blast caused a large fire at the Ust-Luga terminal, but no injuries, Russian officials said.
An official source in Kyiv said the "special operation" of the SBU security service masterminded the attack, with drones that worked "on target".
Both Russia and Ukraine have used drones in the current conflict.
Russia launched its full-scale of invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago, but has made little progress in recent months.
Regarding the explosion near St Petersburg, regional governor Alexander Drozdenko said a "high alert regime" was in place after the incident at the terminal of gas producer Novatek, in Ust-Luga on the Gulf of Finland. He shared a video of what appeared to be a large fire.
Novatek later announced that work at the terminal had been suspended, and said the fire was the result of "external influence" - without providing further details.
The Ukrainians say fuel processed at the plant was being used to supply Russian troops in their war against Ukraine and that this strike "significantly complicates" logistics for the military.
They also describe the attack as an economic blow to Russia, which exports fuel from the terminal.
Russia's Fontanka.ru has published video showing tankers moored close to where the fire is raging. It reports two drones were spotted approaching the city of St Petersburg at about 01:00 local time (22:00 GMT) but swerved sharply at the outskirts before heading for the coast and the Ust-Luga port.
An eyewitness is heard saying the ground shook beneath his feet with the explosions.
The Russian Telegram channel Mash quotes a source saying they heard two explosions before the fire. The channel says around 150 staff were evacuated from the terminal.
Another video - posted on Russian social media - appears to show huge balls of orange fire, a man's voice is heard referring to hearing the buzzing of a drone before the explosion.
Fontanka.ru, usually a reliable source, says flights in and out of St Petersburg had been grounded before the explosions, as a plan known as "Carpet" was put in place.
Russia's defence ministry also said it shot down three Ukrainian drones in Smolensk Region, close to its border with Ukraine, on Saturday night.
It earlier said it had shot down drones over Tula and Oryol, both in western Russia. There were no reports of casualties.
Also on Sunday, at least 25 people were killed and 20 injured by shelling at a busy market in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, Russian-installed officials said. Kyiv has not yet commented on that attack.
Russia and Ukraine have been targeting each other's energy infrastructure, and on Friday a fire broke out at an oil depot in Bryansk, south-west Russia, which Moscow blamed on a Ukrainian drone strike.
That came a day after an attack targeted a major oil loading terminal in St Petersburg.
On Thursday, Russia claimed to have captured a village close to the devastated city of Bakhmut, in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region. Kyiv has not confirmed the claim.
Ukraine has warned repeatedly that its army is facing severe ammunition shortages, but has set a target of producing a million drones domestically this year.
Russia launched the invasion of its neighbour nearly two years ago.