Fight for Bakhmut isn't going well for putin

[Dave Grubb]

Russia in retreat

[UTAH]

You are being a Capitalistic stooge. They aren't losing, they've merely moved to “more advantageous defensive positions.”

Hunter

[Truckman]

You are being a Capitalistic stooge. They aren't losing, they've merely moved to “more advantageous defensive positions.”

Hunter

A few more thousand miles to the east might be even more advantageous......Ben

[Dave Grubb]

I remain amazed at how one man can have so much power over so many people that he can send them off to die for his ego-----and they go!

From Aljazeera this morning:

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner forces that have led the campaign in the city, said in an audio message: “What Konashenkov described, unfortunately, is called ‘a rout’ and not a regrouping”.

In a separate video message, Prigozhin said the Ukrainians had seized high ground overlooking Bakhmut and opened the main highway leading into the city from the West.

“The loss of the Berkhivka reservoir – the loss of this territory they gave up – that’s five square kilometres, just today,” Prigozhin said.

“The enemy has completely freed up the Chasiv Yar-Bakhmut road which we had blocked. The enemy is now able to use this road, and secondly, they have taken tactical high round under which Bakhmut is located,” said Prigozhin, who has repeatedly denounced Russia’s regular military over the past week for failing to supply his forces in Bakhmut.

And this from this morning's NYT:

The flurry of posts, videos and statements also exposed tensions and rifts among Russia’s disparate forces in Ukraine. Mr. Prigozhin, long an aggressive critic of Mr. Shoigu and other top defense officials, this week issued a series of expletive-laden audio and video messages, including with comments that some observers interpreted as his first direct criticism of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

Cracks appeared elsewhere, too, as the Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, whose paramilitary forces have fought alongside Wagner in Ukraine, criticized Mr. Prigozhin, his longtime ally, in a video broadside.

Some prominent Russian pro-war bloggers warned that the animosity was beginning to affect battlefield performance at a crucial moment.

“There is no single command that is respected without exception,” wrote one blogger, Anastasia Kashevarova. “We have a mass of people at the front, and no one can reach an agreement with each other.”

“The enemy,” she added, “is using this.”

prigozhin might do well to not book a room above the first floor

[Truckman]

If this NYP article is credible, it appears there are four fewer aircraft in the Russky inventory today...

Four Russian aircraft shot down ‘simultaneously’ near Ukrainian border

...Ben

[Mike]

Probably true - I've seen the report in several places......

[Truckman]

The founder of the Wagner mercenary group hired by Putin to assist his own incompetent clown parade says the Russky military likely shot down their own aircraft...

Prigozhin, a former Putin ally whose relationship with the Russian president has become more tense as the Ukraine war continues to stagnate, hinted on Sunday that Putin's own forces may have shot down the aircraft.

...Ben

[Dave Grubb]

Good shooten boys

[Mike]

Russia has also lost 48 artillery systems in the last 2 days.

[Honda]

Let Trump settle it in 24 hours.

[Truckman]

Another less than stellar day for Vlad as all attacks from air, sea and land launches ended in failure...The count varies from source to source...I've read from 18 all the way up to 37 strikes were attempted by the Russkies, all of which were shot down by Ukrainian forces...The only damage done on the ground were fires sparked by debris falling from the exploded missiles...

Russia fired the Kinzhals from MiG-31K warplanes, along with nine cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea and three S-400 cruise missiles launched from the ground, Ihnat said. In all, Ukraine’s military said later, Russia had targeted Ukraine with 27 missiles in a day and launched 37 airstrikes.

Go gettum Ukrainians!......Ben