KYHorn

Nearly a dozen European countries that pledged to train Ukrainian pilots are still waiting on the U.S. to formally approve. Earlier, European officials have said they hope to begin the program in August. But trainings on F-16s can’t start until the U.S. signs off on the necessary requests. Now, partners hope to start the training in Romania, in October. - Politico

It looks like purges in the ranks of the Russian army continue. Russian sources say that Major General Vladimir Selivestrov, who commanded the 106th Airborne Division, which is now located in the Bakhmut direction, was fired. As claimed, due to "unaccommodating character". P.S: A little earlier, Major General Ivan Popov, commander of the 58th Army of the RF Armed Forces, was also removed from his post.

Nice to see this brewing Russia has rejected South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's request that Lavrov attend the BRICS summit instead of Putin. "We realize we are bound by the Rome Statute, but we cannot invite someone and then arrest him. We would be happy if Putin did not come," South African Vice President Paul Mashatile said.

^Impressive

Probably not enough to interfere with supplying Russia because $$$, but not bad news A conflict is brewing between Iran and Russia after the Russian Federation supported the UAE in a territorial dispute with Tehran. Three islands: Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb have been controlled by Iran since 1971, but they are also claimed by the United Arab Emirates. The Emirates recently renewed their claims to the territories, and this week Russia and the Gulf Arab states issued a joint statement calling for a diplomatic solution to the territorial dispute . Instead, Iran declared that these islands "belong to it forever", and such statements contradict the friendly relations between Tehran and its neighbors. Two days after the announcement of the statement, Tehran summoned the Russian ambassador, and Iranian officials called on the Russian Federation to correct its position on the territorial conflict.

russian TG is saying that ukraine knew about the upcoming attack from the 1GTA they have prepped the battle field. they knew the attack rout and they knew the units and when they were going to attack.... so what could go wrong there???? just how long do you think it will take to get to 300k??? only 64K to go... and the 1GTA with the rest of the central military district has about... 75K alone. or its about 1.333 troops per cluster bomb. and yes they are attacking in the open.

Reuters: UN asks Putin to extend Black Sea grain deal in exchange for SWIFT access. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has offered Russian dictator Vladimir Putin that he extends the Black Sea grain deal in exchange for connecting a subsidiary of Russian sanctioned bank to the SWIFT international payment system, Reuters reported on July 13, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

Top notch troll, even if it's not actually him

Russian lieutenant general Oleg Tsokov was reportedly killed near temporarily occupied Berdiansk - advisor to Mariupol mayor Petro Andriushchenko. Tsokov was under sanctions of the EU, Great Britain and New Zealand. Since August 2022 he commanded the 144th motorized rifle division of the 20th combined arms army of the Russian Federation. He received the rank of lieutenant general in 2023. In addition to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he took part in two Chechen wars and the war in Syria. Russia hasn't confirmed this information. Some accounts I'm not familiar with are saying he and other officers were staying at a hotel and that nothing remains of the hotel.

“Krasnodar runner Kiril Budyonov reported that he was nearby at the time of the murder of the local deputy head of the mobilization department. The sportsman stated that he personally saw how the serviceman took out a black pistol and fired 2 9mm bullets into his own chest, after which he carefully buried the weapon, threw away the cartridges, laid down, and died.” 😂😂😂

We value our allies. We value our shared security. And we always appreciate an open conversation. Ukraine will be represented at the NATO summit in Vilnius. Because it is about respect. But Ukraine also deserves respect. Now, on the way to Vilnius, we received signals that certain wording is being discussed without Ukraine. And I would like to emphasize that this wording is about the invitation to become NATO member, not about Ukraine's membership. It’s unprecedented and absurd when time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine's membership. While at the same time vague wording about "conditions" is added even for inviting Ukraine. It seems there is no readiness neither to invite Ukraine to NATO nor to make it a member of the Alliance. This means that a window of opportunity is being left to bargain Ukraine's membership in NATO in negotiations with Russia. And for Russia, this means motivation to continue its terror. Uncertainty is weakness. And I will openly discuss this at the summit.

The largest German weapons manufacturer #Rheinmetall to open armored vehicle plant in Ukraine within 3 months, CNN reported. According to CNN, the plant will be located in the west of the country. Its estimated cost is $218 million. Its production capacity will be about 400 tanks per year.

I heard this one a few weeks ago talking to my wife's uncle. He was extremely confident about it.

After heavy losses at Klishchiivka, south of Bakhmut, a Russian elite airborne brigade notorious for atrocities at Bucha was forced to make a chaotic retreat under fire, suffering more casualties, and some survivors were detained for refusing orders to immediately return to combat, Russian open-source site CIT says citing Russian reports A powerful Ukrainian assault forced Russia's 83rd Airborne Assault Brigade to retreat on foot without an evacuation plan, only to be given "illegally issued orders" to go right back to the front, the Russian troops complained in a video appeal Russian draftees in another unit at Klishchiivka - the 1442nd Regiment - also refused to fight after suffering heavy losses under Ukrainian fire while being sent into combat without ammunition, their relatives said in an appeal. Some of the refuseniks were reportedly being held in a pit The Russian airborne troops said they were "fraudulently" sent to Klishchiivka, where they spent 15 days under mortar fire without Russian artillery or air support or communications (which had been shut down by Ukrainian electronic warfare) Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones reportedly zipped around freely overhead underhindered by Russian electronic warfare After refusing to fight, they said they were threatened with being forced to join a "Storm-Z" unit of ex-convicts, notorious for being deployed in Russia's virtually suicidal so-called "meat assaults" CIT report notes.citeam.org/ru-dispatch-ju… My post on recent Ukrainian advances south of Bakhmut twitter.com/ArmedMaidan/st… Russian airborne troops' appeal t.me/astrapress/319… Appeal by Russian draftees' relatives archive.is/wJzF9 Map source: deepstatemap.live/en#13/48.5258/… After heavy losses at Klishchiivka, south of Bakhmut, a Russian elite airborne brigade notorious for atrocities at Bucha was forced to make a chaotic retreat under fire, suffering more casualties, and some survivors were detained for refusing orders to immediately return to combat, Russian open-source site CIT says citing Russian reports A powerful Ukrainian assault forced Russia's 83rd Airborne Assault Brigade to retreat on foot without an evacuation plan, only to be given "illegally issued orders" to go right back to the front, the Russian troops complained in a video appeal Russian draftees in another unit at Klishchiivka - the 1442nd Regiment - also refused to fight after suffering heavy losses under Ukrainian fire while being sent into combat without ammunition, their relatives said in an appeal. Some of the refuseniks were reportedly being held in a pit The Russian airborne troops said they were "fraudulently" sent to Klishchiivka, where they spent 15 days under mortar fire without Russian artillery or air support or communications (which had been shut down by Ukrainian electronic warfare) Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones reportedly zipped around freely overhead underhindered by Russian electronic warfare After refusing to fight, they said they were threatened with being forced to join a "Storm-Z" unit of ex-convicts, notorious for being deployed in Russia's virtually suicidal so-called "meat assaults" CIT report notes.citeam.org/ru-dispatch-ju… My post on recent Ukrainian advances south of Bakhmut twitter.com/ArmedMaidan/st… Russian airborne troops' appeal t.me/astrapress/319… Appeal by Russian draftees' relatives archive.is/wJzF9 Map source: deepstatemap.live/en#13/48.5258/…

Some important points by Kofman here. I believe Jake Sullivan also pointed this out in defending the US's decision: this opens up a large stockpile of artillery ammunition that would otherwise be unavailable and goes a long way in helping bridge the gap between now and when Ukrainian allies are able to fully ramp up production as the year progresses. This is all in addition to the unique benefits cluster munitions provide.

Additional HIMARS ammunition= ATACMS?

The Ukrainians seem to be fiercely defending their positions on the other side of the Dnipro

Purple rain remix anyone?