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Anton Gerashchenko is an official advisor and a former deputy minister at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, ex-member of the Ukrainian parliament. Cooperation - @Tatiana_Pravda
A pipe with boiling hot water has burst in Russian St Petersburg. Three people injured.
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I really enjoyed seeing these images today.
What about you?
Last night, the Russian army launched 4 Iskander-M missiles and 188 drones on Ukraine.
Critical infrastructure was hit. In Termopil, electricity is out and it is unclear so far when it will be restored.
Many of us didn't get nearly enough sleep as explosions were heard in Kyiv, Cherkasy, Sumy, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Chernivtsi and other regions of Ukraine.
8 soldiers of Svoboda Battalion of the 4th National Guard Rubizh Brigade defended a strongpoint near the village of Spirne near Siversk for 67 days - from July 10 to September 16. For the last three weeks, they fought in complete encirclement and fought off the last enemy assault when Russian assaultmen stormed their position and pelted their dugout with grenades.
The commander of the position was a 25-year-old platoon leader, Senior Lieutenant Vladyslav Stotskyi. Volunteer soldiers from Svoboda Battalion fought alongside Vladyslav. All of them had no military experience before 2022.
On September 16, a Russian assault team attacked the strongpoint with two tanks, two MT-LBs, and an infantry fighting vehicle, from which an entire assault platoon disembarked. Svoboda Warriors repelled the attack and destroyed the entire enemy assault team.
Military correspondent Yurii Butusov recorded this interview with Vladyslav a day after he left the strongpoint on the orders of the command and led 6 soldiers out, so he is full of emotions. The body of his brother-in-arms Oleksandr Khomiak, who died a brave death in close combat with the Russians, could not be taken out of the encirclement.
I highly recommend to watch this interview. It shows the incredible efforts and sacrifices Ukrainian soldiers are making to defend every meter of their homeland. Everyone needs to know this.
‼️ Warriors of the Special Operations Forces evacuate their brother-in-arms, not paying any attention to a mortar shelling that is taking place very close to them.
Glory to Ukrainian Defenders!
The official dollar rate has exceeded 103 rubles for the first time since March 2022.
As of November 26, the dollar rate is set at 103.7908 rubles (+1.21 rubles); euro - 108.8705 rubles (+1.45 rubles), the website of the Russian Central Bank reports.
‼️ Why did the ruble collapse now?
Because these are the weeks when state budget payments are made, and the Kremlin is short of money.
By the way, the news that went unnoticed:
‼️ On December 2, 2024, Olga Skorobogatova, first deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, will leave her position. This is one of the key figures in this area.
I am sure that Nabiullina also dreams of escaping from a sinking ship, but no one will allow her to do so.
Former president of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen emphasized the importance of U.S. support for Ukraine, urging Washington to prioritize helping Kyiv despite the rising threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
"They should do whatever they can to help the Ukrainians," she said during the Halifax International Security Forum. "We [Taiwan] still have time."
Ms Tsai added that American support for Ukraine would help deter China from an attack.
"A Ukrainian victory will serve as the most effective deterrent to future aggression globally", she said.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/23/taiwans-former-president-says-ukraine-needs-u-s-weapons-more-urgently-than-taipei-00191400
Defense Intelligence of Ukraine showed the process of launching the Liutyi drones, which are used to attack Russian military targets. Each drone carries 75 kilograms of explosives.
"Preparation is carried out in several stages. First of all, we analyze the targets, the feasibility of reaching them, and analyze the enemy's air defense and electronic warfare systems to find pathways to get through. Over the past year, it has been extremely difficult to do this, but we still manage to do it," said the commander of the long-range UAV operators group of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine.
He added that during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the use of attack drones has undergone major changes.
"We are the group that was the first to launch almost all long-range drones and those that came before them. We can see the dynamics - now we can hit targets at a distance of 2,000 kilometers," he said.
Glory!
📹: Radio Svoboda
A video appeared online that reportedly shows an attack on a Russian military airfield in Kursk region.
The video has subtitles.
Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Andrey Rudenko called on South Korean to "soberly assess the situation and refrain from reckless steps".
"Seoul must realize that the possible use of South Korean weapons to kill Russian citizens will fully destroy relations between our countries. Of course, we will respond in every way that we find necessary. It is unlikely that this will strengthen the security of the Republic of Korea itself," Rudenko noted.
"I hope that the administration of the Republic of Korea will be guided primarily by long-term national interests, and not by short-term opportunistic considerations prompted from outside," he added.
In my opinion, long-term national interests of South Korea will benefit from military aid to Ukraine and helping us defeat Russia. And I think Russia realizes this, too.
Russia fired a ballistic missile yet again at civilian infrastructure in Odesa.
6 injured, one person is in serious condition, doctors are doing their best to save a patient's life.
Residential buildings, a school and a university gym were damaged.
📹: Radio Svoboda
"No one should underestimate the Russian cyber-threat to NATO,” - Pat McFadden, UK Cabinet Office Minister.
He emphasized that Russia is "exceptionally aggressive and reckless in the cyber realm."
If Moscow launches a wave of cyberattacks against NATO members, millions of people could find themselves without electricity.
This will be discussed at a NATO cybersecurity conference in London today, Politico reports.
The Russian threat to NATO countries is finally being taken seriously. Hopefully, strong decisions will follow.
https://www.politico.eu/article/russias-aggressive-cyberattack-putin-poses-threat-nato-uk/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=social
According to the Romanian Central Election Commission, ultranationalist candidate Călin Georgescu is leading in the first round of the presidential election.
Georgescu's leadership is a surprise, as before the election, exit polls showed that the main struggle for the presidency would be between Ciolacu and Simion. The Prime Minister was in the lead last night, but at night, independent candidate Georgescu overtook him.
The second round of the Romanian presidential election will be held on December 8.
Currently, with almost 99.8% of the votes counted, the results of the Romanian vote are as follows:
🔹 Călin Georgescu – 22.91% (2,110,870 votes).
🔹 Marcel Ciolacu – 19.19% (1,768,206 votes).
🔹 Elena Lasconi – 19.14% (1,763,671 votes).
🔹 George Simion – 13.87% (1,278,310 votes).
🔹 Nicolae Ciucă – 8.8% (810,719 votes).
🔹 Mircea Geoană – 6.32% (582,210 votes).
🔹 Hunor Kelemen – 4.52% (416,548 votes).
🔹 Cristian Diaconescu – 3.1% (286,111 votes).
🔹 Cristian Terheș – 1.03% (95,142 votes).
The rest of the candidates received less than 1% of the vote.
Friends from Romania, what are your thoughts and forecasts?
Russian propagandist Keosayan: we can choose any NATO country as our enemy - England, Bulgaria or Estonia!
Only a Russian propagandist can become happy from that.
Russia terrorizes not only civilians but also animals.
During the shelling, explosions and constant air alerts, most animals are in a state of severe stress...
Shoigu visited Afghanistan, met with the "top leadership of the Taliban-ruled country" and discussed "economic, transportation and security issues," Russian media reported.
"I would like to say that in the time that the Afghan government has been in power, many things have changed, have become clear," Shoigu said. He also declared Russia's readiness to cooperate with Afghanistan "in all directions."
Afghan news portal Alemarah also reported that during his visit to Kabul, Shoigu pointed to plans to remove the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations "to strengthen political and economic ties in the near future."
There are clear signs that Russian economy is headed toward a collapse:
◾️ Resources are being used to the maximum. This means they will be increasingly expensive for enterprises, and not everyone will be able to afford them.
◾️ Prices are increasing, and the Russian Central Bank cannot stop them. Last week, according to Rosstat, inflation rose again: up to 0.37% (a week earlier, it was 0.30%). To slow down price growth, it is necessary either to stop economic growth and budget expenditures (infusions in the military-industrial complex, etc.) or put up with inflation rates above the target, the Russian Academy of Sciences said.
◾️ Only certain industries are growing in Russia, primarily machinery. In other words, what the budget pays huge amounts of money for and what goes to be destroyed in Ukraine is on the rise. This means that the money poured into industry does not bring anything to the economy except for the figures that are pleasant to the ear of the authorities. But even this growth has already been exhausted, as next year, GDP will increase by only 0.5-1%, and the growth rates of investments and private consumption may go to zero.
◾️ The International Monetary Fund predicts that the Russian economy will slow down threefold, from 3.9% growth this year to 1.3% next year. This is three and a half times less than in developed countries and 5-6 times less than in China or India.
◾️ A total of 4,363 legal Russian entities were declared bankrupt in the first six months of 2024, which is 40% more than in the same period a year earlier. And this is with the declared economic growth of 4%. What will happen at the economic growth of 0.5%, as predicted by the Central Bank? Mass bankruptcies and the economy of the early 90s - lots of tanks, nothing to eat?
Instead of a thousand words.
"Predator" Defender sleeps in a dugout.
📷: Ukrainian Police
Russian media report: "Russia and Iran have completely abandoned the dollar in mutual settlements. The countries conduct transactions only in their national currencies, the Iranian Central Bank said. In addition, Iran has created and started using an analog of SWIFT - the ACUMER banking system. With its help, the country carries out settlements with the member states of the Asian Clearing Union."
Has Russia managed to connect to this analog of SWIFT? Or was it refused?
China is increasingly unnerved about North Korea's engagement with Russia - The Guardian
According to Kurt Campbell, the US deputy secretary of state, "China has not weighed in directly to criticize Russia, but we do believe that the increasing coordination between Pyongyang and Moscow is unnerving them." There are also doubts in the Japanese foreign ministry that China supports North Korea's dispatch of troops.
Dennis Wilder, a former CIA assistant director for East Asia and Pacific, stated he finds Chinese media silence on the Russia-North Korea strategic agreement "staggering."
"If Russia goes down the road of nuclear assistance to North Korea, this will bolster the Americans' alliances in east Asia and maybe create a true NATO, so President Xi Jinping is in a very, very difficult spot," he stated.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/24/china-unnerved-russia-growing-ties-north-korea-claims-us-official
Attention, Europe!
Russian propagandist Solovyev threatens European countries with strikes on plants and military bases, saying they will not warn civilians because "there aren't our civilians there."
I recommend reading through. The overall picture is very telling.
‼️ Bankruptcies, losses, and optimization of the largest and most important enterprises and banks are happening in Russia.
In 2025, Russians will face a new series of losses and bankruptcies. The reason is not only sanctions restrictions but also growing problems inside Russia.
◾️ Rusal, one of the world's largest aluminum producers, announced the start of production optimization - it will be reduced by 250 thousand tons in the first stage. The company explained the decision of optimization by "record prices for raw materials and high risks of a continued negative macroeconomic environment."
◾️ Major Russian mining and metals company Mechel announced the suspension of one of its enterprises - Olzherasskaya-Novaya mine in Mezhdurechensk. The reason is problems with the sales market.
◾️ Major Russian corporation PJSC Gazprom made a record net loss of $6.1 billion in 2023, becoming Russia's most unprofitable company for the first time in 25 years.
◾️ ALROSA (Russian group of diamond mining companies) reduced its revenue under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) by 30% and net profit by 3 times in 9 months. The net loss amounted to 6.5 billion rubles ($62,7 million).
◾️ Baltika brewing company is among the top ten most unprofitable companies in Russia in 2024. In 2022, the company's revenue was about 100 billion rubles ($965 million). In 2023, the net loss was 28.1 billion rubles ($271,1 million). The option of filling the budget by nationalizing profitable private enterprises has failed.
◾️ PJSC KAMAZ's net loss for the first nine months of 2024 amounted to 3.8 billion rubles ($36,6 million) against a profit of 15.8 billion rubles ($152,4 million) for the same period last year, according to financial statements published on the company's website.
◾️ AvtoVAZ automobile manufacturing company is talking about possible bankruptcy and debts of over 100 billion rubles ($965 million). This is due to the increase of the Russian key rate.
◾️ Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin is going to classify data on Russian oil exports and the production volumes of Russian refineries ostensibly to protect Russia's national interests from "unfriendly actions" by the USA and other Western countries. In reality, it is to hide the crisis in this field.
◾️ Sanctions were imposed on Gazprombank, the major bank, and fifty other banks. Sanctions were also imposed against the Russian System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS, sort of Russian analog of the international SWIFT messaging system).
Nikita Zhuravel was sentenced to 13.5 years in a Russian colony under the "state treason" article.
In September 2023, a video was published on Kadyrov's Telegram channel showing h
Kadyrov's 15-year-old son Adam brutally beating up Nikita Zhuravel. No criminal case was open against Adam, and he has received about a dozen state and public awards since then.
A case of state treason was initiated against Zhuravel in October. According to the law enforcers' version, he sent a video of a train carrying Russian military equipment and airplanes to intelligence agencies in Ukraine.
Today's Russian strike on Odesa, as seen in a flowershops and cafes.
This is what Ukrainians cities endure every day.
❗️Russian "Z-bloggers" report that a 92N6E radar station and two launchers were destroyed when a Russian S-400 system was hit in Kursk region.
The 92N6E is part of the S-400 system and is a panoramic radar detection system with a 340 km range and protection against jamming.
Russian Telegram channels report a drone and missile attack on Kursk region of Russia last night.
At least one missile attacked Khalino military airfield.
A Russian airplane with 95 people on board caught fire at Antalya airport yesterday.
▪️ Sukhoi Superjet 100 of the Russian Azimut airline flew from Sochi, the engine caught fire after a hard landing at the airport. The airline said wind shear was the cause of the incident, Reuters reported. Officials are looking at pilot error – wrong speed on approach in difficult weather conditions.
▪️ According to FlightRadar24, a flight tracking website, the plane has been in operation for 7 years.
▪️ Russian Telegram channels wrote that the same airplane on the Mineralnye Vody – Ivanovo flight made an emergency landing in Vnukovo in October due to a hydraulic system failure. Aviation experts recalled that the landing gear flaps of this airplane were also damaged earlier.
▪️ On the same day, another Sukhoi Superjet of the same Azimut airline made an emergency landing in Krasnoyarsk. Without fire, but also with a malfunction of the front landing gear strut hydraulics.
▪️ There was a similar incident at Sheremetyevo airport in 2019. During a hard landing of an SSJ, the landing gear struts punctured the fuel tanks, the airliner caught fire. At that time, 41 people died.
4 oil tanks were damaged by the drone attack on Kaluga, Russian Telegram channels report.
At least eight drones attacked the local oil refinery.
Russian priest Andrey Tkachev suggested sending sending first-graders to work, Russian media report.
Tkachev explained that "children should work from the age of seven or eight, as a long childhood will hinder future family life." Because of the Western model of upbringing, "where children are constantly babysitted, a boy will be afraid of women and become a vigorous onanist" instead of "building, painting and giving birth to children," Tkachev said.
Labor shortage in Russia is becoming more and more pronounced.
Meanwhile, Russian passenger aviation is gradually losing airplanes. The reason is well known - the inability to maintain important components and assemblies, as a result of which flight safety becomes unacceptably low.
At the same time, there will be no smooth decrease in the number of serviceable aircraft - the process is dynamic, and once it has started, it will only accelerate. Two years without warranty service maintenance for any equipment is almost the limit—all the more so for such complex equipment as aviation equipment. Therefore, in a year, the number of out-of-service airplanes will be much higher, and if the situation does not change, the industry will actually cease to function as a single entity. Some flights on extremely simple equipment will probably still be possible, but no more than that.
A similar situation occurs in all other branches. Equipment of foreign production and using foreign consumables can be serviced point-by-point due to mythical import substitution and "parallel" import (which is practically the same thing). But it is impossible to do it regularly. Therefore, equipment failures and decommissioning will become a mass phenomenon in a year or two.
At the same time, it should not be expected that even the end of the war in Ukraine will automatically lead to the lifting of sanctions. On the contrary, they will turn into a very powerful tool of trade, and the lifting of each of them will require concessions around which this trade can go on for years. Suffice it to recall the famous Jackson-Vanik amendment, which was introduced quickly, but was repealed for a very long time even after the reason for which it was introduced had disappeared. Now there are thousands of sanctions against Russia, and hundreds of them are extremely painful.