The shackles should've been released ages ago.

US to Discuss Permitting Ukraine ATACMS Strikes on Russia.

The U.S. will this week discuss the possibility of Ukraine using its long-range weaponry to strike targets deep inside Russia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.

Blinken made the remarks at a press briefing alongside British Foreign Secretary David Lammy during a visit to London, where it was announced that the pair would travel to Kyiv this week, marking the first joint visit of its kind for more than a decade.

Kyiv has long urged its Western allies, including the U.S., to allow it to strike targets deep within Russian territory using weaponry such as the Washington-supplied ATACMS, ground-launched ballistic missiles. The U.S. has so far prevented Ukraine from doing so, fearing escalation in the conflict launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2022.

"Has the time come to allow Ukraine the freedom to use the long-range missiles you're supplying them to hit targets deep in Russia, and if not, why not?" Blinken was asked at the press briefing.

Blinken said the topic would be discussed during his visit with Lammy to Kyiv this week........

PooTin racks up yet another war crime.

Russia Strikes Red Cross Convoy in Donetsk.

Three Red Cross staff members were killed by artillery strikes in the eastern Ukraine region of Donetsk on Thursday, the organization said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of "another war crime."

"Today, the occupier attacked vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross humanitarian mission in the Donetsk region," Zelensky wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. "As of now, we know of two injured people who are receiving all necessary assistance. Unfortunately, three people were killed in this Russian strike. My deepest condolences to their families and friends."

"In this war, everything is absolutely clear—Russia sows evil, Ukraine defends life," Zelensky's post added.

The strikes, which left two others wounded, hit a Red Cross truck that was delivering firewood in the war-divided Donetsk region, the organization said.......

PooTin and Adolf Benji are just 2 peas from the same pod.

I wonder if PooTin privately regrets the war that he started now.

Ukraine Captures Multiple Villages As Kursk Incursion Advances.

As more support flows into the Ukraine.

Ukraine Receives Major Bohdana Howitzer Boost With NATO Support.

Ukraine's armed forces have received 18 domestically made Bohdana self-propelled, mounted howitzer units, funded by Denmark, marking a new chapter in NATO-aligned defense cooperation amid the ongoing war with Russia.

The announcement was made by Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen during the 20th Yalta European Strategy meeting in Kyiv on September 14.

Denmark's contribution represents a first-of-its-kind agreement, as the European nation has become the first in the EU to finance the direct purchase of Ukrainian-manufactured military equipment for Kyiv's defense forces.

The weapons were produced rapidly, with the order placed in July and the units delivered just two months later.

RBC Ukraine reported that Poulsen said it is much cheaper to manufacture weapons in Ukraine than to manufacture or buy them in the West.....

Now if only they could get approval to strike targets where they really need to.

It looks like the Ukrainians have PooTin's Black Sea fleet is on the run yet again.

Russian Black Sea Fleet Flees Reserve Base Amid ATACMS Threat.

While Ukrainian forces continue to make gains that could cut off more of PooTin's war criminals.

Russia War Map Shows Ukraine Carve Out New Incursion into Kursk.

Meanwhile PooTin makes new long term plan to get more troops. I hope that he's patient with this 1.

Russians Told To Make Babies During Work Breaks to Help Birth Rate.

And I'm surprised that PooTin isn't blaming the Ukraine for part of Russia burning yet.

Over 140 Fires Engulf Russian Region Bordering Ukraine.

But I guess that he'll get around to doing that. Then there's the unrest amongst serfs.

Russian soldiers record eerie video predicting their deaths, accuse commander of corruption.

That's another hit for PooTin, but I have to ask why these agents of his keep getting picked up in Florida?

Russian Man Arrested in Florida Over Smuggling US Parts for PooTin's Drones.

No mention of whether he was in a Trump owned residential unit block like the others caught doing the same thing so far.

As more bad news flows in for him.

Explosions Rock Russian Air Base Hosting Putin's Nuclear Bombers.

Russia Suffers 'Massive Casualties' After HIMARS Strike on Donbas Base.

Ukraine's F-16 Fleet Gets a Boost as NATO Ally Prepares New Batch of Jets.

NATO Ally Uses Seized Russian Assets To Fund Artillery for Ukraine.

And he maybe about to lose more of his war criminals.

Kursk Map Shows 'Gray Zone' of Surrounded Russian Troops.

So much for his 5 day war, some think that he has a deadline now.

PooTin Aiming for Victory in Ukraine by 2026: Defense Experts.

Russia destroys a drone attack near Toropets which causes a few small fires.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-targets-western-russian-regions-with-drones-russian-officials-says-2024-09-18/

As can be seen in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ow4Wxw7ttw

Why do Russians place such facilities only 1.5 ... 2 kilometers outside the city limits of a historic town with 13K inhabitants, unbelievable...

Wow!

CERN To Expel Hundreds of Russian Scientists

Ow!

For the world of Science, that is unheard of!!


Desperate despotic times indeed....

Stay safe folks...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

More of PooTin's ammo dumps are getting blown away.

Satellite Images Show Destruction of Russian Ammunition Depot in Air Strike.

Fire Engulfs Russian Mercenary Base After Night of Air Strikes.

He's lost quite a lot of those of late and it's not the only thing that he's losing.

Half of Russians Want PooTin To Withdraw Troops From Ukraine.

And all he does in reply is to attack Ukrainian citizens.

Russia Targets Kharkiv Apartments in Glide Bomb Attack.

While PooTin constantly complains about western support for Ukraine he conveniently forgets about those supporting his war.

Russia Secretly Building War Drones in China.

Russia is building military drones in China, according to an exclusive released by Reuters on Wednesday.

Drones have become a mainstay of the conflict, sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Kyiv has in recent weeks stepped up its own UAV offensives, deploying them deep into Russian territory to target infrastructure and supply depots.

The Biden administration has sanctioned several Chinese companies it says were involved in supplying Russia with drone components and other military-related goods. However, it's the first time China has been reported to be furnishing Russia with the airborne weapons in their entirety.....

To which China throws up a different story.

China Accuses U.S. of Supplying Russia With Weapon Components.

While [url=https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-starlink-russia-shahed-135-drone-elon-musk-spacex-1959563]Ukraine Discovers Starlink on Downed Russian Shahed Drone.

Are these being supplied by China or through Kyrgyzstan.

Europe's Skyrocketing Trade With Russian Neighbor Raises Questions.

The Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan has been inundated with imported goods, including many from Europe, since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, prompting experts to question the international community's commitment to its sanctions regimes.

Responding to the February 22 invasion, the European Union, United States, and others hit Moscow with sweeping sanctions targeting financial services and energy exports, along with restrictions on trade and technology vital to Russia's defense industry's dual-use technologies critical for military purposes.

These sanctions have been regularly tightened, with the aim of hobbling Russia's economic and military capacity, but businesses are taking advantage of illicit trade hubs that have emerged in countries like Kyrgyzstan........

Meanwhile PooTin keeps on changing his his so called "red lines"

PooTin Has Redrawn His Nuclear Red Line (yet again).

It seems that PooTin doesn't want to hear the bad news of his "meat grinder" actions and he certainly doesn't want his pawns to know either.

Russia Scraps Population Census As War Casualties Mount.

But are they just "mercenaries"?

'Chinese Mercenaries' Fighting for Russia Killed in Ukraine.

The U.S. must of finally given the go ahead.

Australia sending dozens of battle tanks to Ukraine.

The Albanese government is gifting dozens of battle tanks to Ukraine in its latest round of support for Kyiv’s fight against invading Russian forces.

The package, worth around $245m, will hand Ukraine 49 American-designed M1A1 Abrams nearing the end of their operational lives.

Defence Minister Richard Marles renewed Australia’s commitment to the Ukrainian cause.....

It seems that PooTin doesn't want to hear the bad news of his "meat grinder" actions and he certainly doesn't want his pawns to know either.

He knows and don't cares. He thinks that's what soldiers in Russian Federation (RF) forces are for... to die in heroic battles defending Russia. Heroic is what propaganda paints to be 'heroic'.

But what he definitely wants to hide from the RF citizens is the extremely unequal distribution of war casualties among the various peoples of RF. Asian Buryats and Tuvinians are a hundred times more frequent among war dead than ethnic Russians (in proportion to their population share). Still fewer Russians from Moscow and St. Petersburg died in Ukraine. Population census of the RF always have been detailed, broken down into its different federal subjects (autonomous republics, resp. Russian oblasts), dozens of different nationalities, urban or rural population, male or female, everything logged in great detail. The changes to these demographic data are now probably a state secret.

The results from previous population census 2020 (the latest, I know of) are still accessible:
https://rosstat.gov.ru/vpn/2020/Tom5_Nacionalnyj_sostav_i_vladenie_yazykami

Itogi VPN-2020. Tom 5 Nacionalnij sostav i vladenie yazykami
(Results of VPN-2020 [All-Russian Population Survey]. Vol. 5 National composition and language proficiency)

Tablitsa 1. Nacionalhnij sostav naseleniya: (Table 1: National composition of the population):
(no link because of MS Excel file format... copy/paste URL):

https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/Tom5_tab1_VPN-2020.xlsx

Some stats are out for what kills most of PooTin's war criminals.

Russian Troops' Most Common Cause of Death Revealed in Report.

Nearly three-quarters of Russian soldiers die due to one cause, a survey conducted by military doctors has found.

The Military Medical Journal examined fatal injuries faced by Russia's military personnel in a "modern armed conflict," looking at both those who had been killed on the battlefield or those at the pre-hospital stage of evacuation.

The findings, reported by the independent Russian news outlet Vyorstka, showed that 74.5 percent of deaths had been due to explosions. Vyorstka posted what it said was a table listing the causes of death next to the percentages.

In second place at 14.7 percent were fatalities due to gunshot injuries from small arms, with the vast majority of incidents (83.7 percent) from single wounds......

And is seems that some of his imported war criminals don't want to take any part in those stats either.

Russia’s plan with Kim Jong Un has been heralded as “the first step to a world war”, but it appears their partnership is off to a rocky start.

Russia’s military is juggling multiple headaches in its gruelling war in Ukraine, with reports now emerging of a wild man hunt for deserted soldiers on the frontlines.

Only, it’s not Russian soldiers this time.

Earlier this year we saw Vladimir Putin travel to North Korea in a bid to strengthen relations with Kim Jong Un.

Both leaders are in the bad books with the West due to their alleged humanitarian offences, and have now loosely banded together to meet mutual goals.

In the months after Putin’s visit, reports of North Korean soldiers being flown over to the Ukrainian frontlines began to filter through the world press.

The Kremlin immediately moved to squash these rumours, as the involvement of a designated hostile state in a foreign war would have much larger consequences.

But new findings from Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne this week have revealed almost two dozen North Korean soldiers have fled their ranks and are now running free.

The desertion has ignited a frantic search by Kremlin forces to locate them..........

The desertion has ignited a frantic search by Kremlin forces to locate them..........

Poor mooks. Even in peace times here in former East Germany, there frequently were Soviet soldiers of occupation forces serving as conscripts who fled their ranks. They were normally confined to enclosed Soviet military areas, never allowed to leave their barracks during free time. Only officers who lived with their families outside of barracks in German towns were allowed to move freely during off-service hours. Officer's children attended special Soviet schools (in German garrison towns) and had access to special shops (better food supply, chocolade, alcohol, ... than East German shops).

Conscripts had many reasons for desertion: e.g. Dedovshchina (violence, abuse of juniors by the more senior conscripts), psychological problems... Deserters were hunted without mercy like stray dogs by Soviet military police. Even German population noticed such manhunts. Rumours said they often were shot on the spot and if catched alive were locked up for years in punishment units somewhere in Siberia. Seems in Ukraine now, they instantly become storm troopers (suicide missions). The moment they flee their ranks, they become traitors; state enemies. I also don't want to imagine how Russian POWs are treated who were returned from Ukrainian custody (who obviously haven't fought as ordered).

Russian Troops' Most Common Cause of Death Revealed in Report.

Been that way since WW1 at least, Artillery incl mortars cause ~75% of deaths, followed by machine guns.

In second place at 14.7 percent were fatalities due to gunshot injuries from small arms, with the vast majority of incidents (83.7 percent) from single wounds......

Single wounds either indicate well trained Ukrainian soldiers or snipers... The alternative explanation is many gunshots were not actually fatal, but subsequent infections were. The rapid evacuation of frontline casualties does not seem to exist in the Russian Army. The military medical analyst supposedly doesn't dare to criticise noxexistant MEDEVAC or mobile field hospitals...

It looks like Russians will be in for a sobering time.

Russia's Alcohol Empire Suffers Devastating Quadruple Blow.

While this news won't make PooTin any happier.

PooTin Lacks Support As Only 14 Percent of Russians Back His Foreign Policy.

As his orcs wonder where their pay is.

Russian Pilots Leave Ominous Warning to PooTin on Bomb Bound for Kursk.

The Green Men who conquered Crimea from Ukraine also were doing it as 'volunteers'.

PooTin's war criminals will have to go into the meat grinder sober as another 2 distilleries get taken out.

Ukraine Takes Out Fuel Used by PooTin's War Machine.