SMO Update + ⚡️

On a farm somewhere in the Netherlands:

Odessa

It is clear that Kiev and their enablers have moved to a policy of individual terror, says DPR Chief Pushilin. And that is indeed so. I have experience of this. There is nothing that scares the general population like this, outside of real kinetic war, as everyone feels under threat, a threat that cannot be quantified, that one cannot react to, and comes from nowhere. And this is the crux of NATO war where pure criminals are being used to create this threat to a population that simply want to live and continue on with their lives. Bear in mind that it does not matter which side you are on. The only important factor is creating terror and nobody, not even the Ukies, are free of this fear.

The question of course is how Russia and the Republics and the full spectrum of the allies are going to react to this trend? It is course a losing side, a badly losing side that moves their tactics to a phase of pinprick terror attacks. We will pick this up in a dedicated essay.

“The more Russians we kill now, the less our children will have to kill,” said the Ambassador of Ukraine to Kazakhstan.

This can only be said by the ambassador of the terrorist regime, commented the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“For 8 years, the Kiev Nazis killed in silence, blaming Moscow for everything, now they are openly talking about plans for national cleansing,” Maria Zakharova wrote on her TG channel.

Thing is, they are killing their own.

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine are getting rid of seriously wounded soldiers and officers

Unpleasant details about the state of affairs in the units of the 58th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, fighting near Bakhmut, have become known.

Trying to cope with the lack of antibiotics on the line of contact, the brigade command gave tacit instructions to doctors to use such drugs only for minor injuries in order to prevent the development of infection. The commanders consider it a “stupid idea” to waste a resource of scarce drugs on those who are unlikely to return to duty.

Doomed to death, seriously wounded soldiers and officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are written off as “irretrievable losses.” This, as it is right, does not raise questions from the higher command, they look at the situation through their fingers. Along the way, another task is also being solved – saving money that would have to be paid to the soldier, although he no longer performs the combat missions facing the unit.

📌 I wonder what will happen to the property of those whom their own command has already sentenced to death?

The Breaking News:

⚡️OFFICIAL: Ukrainian Secret Services Behind Dugina Murder in Moscow – Here’s what 🇷🇺 FSB has established

Killer was Ukrainian national who entered Russia last month – now on the run abroad:

▪️Suspect is Ukrainian citizen Natalia Vovk
▪️Arrived in Russia on July 23 with daughter Sofia Shaban
▪️Rented apartment close to where Dugina lived in Moscow to spy on her
▪️Used Mini Cooper with three different number plates – licenses from Donetsk, Kazakhstan & Ukraine
▪️Vovk & her daughter attended festival where father Aleksandr Dugin was speaking
▪️After deadly controlled explosion they fled through Pskov in western Russia to Estonia

Is this all true? If so, one can drive a truck through the plausible deniability that can be claimed on the Ukrainian side. It is so that the Russians wanted quick action, and it may be so that this may form a part of the story. Is it the full story? The channels are going crazy reporting that this is the Ukrainian special services. I would wait awhile though for the full story.

The Real Human Situation on the front

Reporter Andrey Rudenko: “Igor Uvarov is a senior lieutenant, platoon commander of the 53rd brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He was not taken prisoner in battle.
Igor Uvarov, unlike many currently serving the Kyiv regime, is a hereditary military man who graduated from a military university. Therefore, he perfectly understands the prospects of the Ukrainian army. He says that he decided to escape from the ranks of the “defenders” immediately. At first, he was afraid to implement his decision because of the prison that threatened him. But, seeing reality on the front line, I decided that it was better to choose life than a ghostly term.
I managed to talk to him near the front line, where he was taken from our positions, to which he went himself. A former soldier said that he understood that they were thrown to the slaughter. The ranks of his brigade are mostly prisoners, alcoholics and drug addicts. With such a contingent, it is hardly possible to win. There are no weapons, everything is old – from Soviet times.
Uvarov said that a year before the war they were trained at the Yavorovsky training ground. Imported officers very often came there, whom, in his opinion, the Ukrainian command simply served. Then he realized that his country had been sold.
Igor did not leave empty-handed: he took with him secret maps, a combat log and data on all personnel. Now the former officer is safe, unlike those who remained there, on the front line.
The flight of an officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from positions is an indicator of the real situation here in the Donbass. And another confirmation that the situation with the paramilitary units of the Kyiv regime is much more deplorable than the talking heads of Zelensky tell about it daily from the screens.” https://t.me/NeoficialniyBeZsonoV/16782

Expert opinion: This opinion is from someone that should be fact checked in back, in front and in detail. There is a certain hollywoodish presentation that makes him interesting, but not always accurate. There are accurate comments here though so, we present it for discussion:

“In 1991 Iraq, USA has fired 60,000 rounds for the entire gulf war.

Russia fires this in one day.

The NATO industrial base is not capable of such production numbers.

Europe is not capable of producing an arsenal capable to stand up to the Russian military.

Expert opinion:
According to ex-US marine corp officer Scott Ritter, the British would run out of ammunition in 2 weeks in a war against Russia. Scott Ritter said they would “not even last 2 weeks because they’d lose their entire army by then.”

According to Scott, NATO has been demilitarized. Even the United States,
According to Scott, has run out of rounds for their most important systems which are meant to break down the russian military — in event of conflict.

Scott says that the Russian military, according to leaked documents by Ukrainian ministry of defense itself — inflicted 250,000 casualties onto the Ukrainians. This is 3x the size of Britain’s entire standing army.

Scott estimates that before the war, no European military would stand in a conflict with the Ukrainian army. He explains that the Ukrainian military would decimate Poland, Germany, Romania, etc.

Having internal knowledge due to his US military background/connections, Scott is aware of the level of support, training and supplies to the Ukrainian military since 2014. Scott describes the pre-2022 Ukrainian military as best combat equipped in Europe with more battle experience than any other army in Europe.

Scott Ritter estimates 15,000 combined casualties for Russia and its allies, this is inline with our previous estimation.

Ukrainians are losing thousands of men without ever seeing a Russian soldier face to face. This is inline with the videos we saw from various Ukrainian units who refused to fight and called on the Ukrainian authorities to pull them out of battle. They said the exact same thing. The casualty ratio between Russia and Ukraine is simply jaw dropping. These are numbers we have not seen in modern history.

Russia is doing this with 200k men, a peace time economy. Russia has not mobilized. Russia has employed 20% of its capability.

One more thing to add: while looking at maps, we only see “small advance” arrows. Small advance arrows accomplish one thing, they demilitarize Ukraine and inflict heavy casualties on the Ukrainians without putting Russian lives at danger. Russia is not on a timed schedule here. They have no reason to rush. Anyone who studied history, especially WW2 battles — is aware that big arrow map moves cost big casualties. Thousands of men die. There’s simply no reason for this. In fact, the longer Russia drags this out, the more they demilitarize Europe and drain the United States military supplies and funds.

At the same time, the Russian military is now the most combat experienced military in the world. The longer this drags on, the more soldiers get combat experience due to rotations. The more pilots get to perfect their skills, navy, intelligence, etc.

No modern military has fought a war even remotely similar to the Ukrainian war. This is not a war where the enemy gets bombed to oblivion by aviation, cities get turned into rubble and soldier then move in like heroes with minimal resistance— this is ground warfare in its purest form; artillery battles, territorial conquest. This is where individual skills and strategy are crucial.

The world has not seen anything like this since WW2. Russia will demilitarize Ukraine. Russia will reach its goals. No magical weapon can change that. No one with military background doubts this.

For details, please check Rybar. Weekly is about the correct sequence of reporting at the moment. https://t.me/militarysummary/806

And perhaps because I know his style, I stay with Military Summary report. Quality has deteriorated but the news from the Russian side is highly controlled.

Defense Policy Asia has this:

[ Ukraine SITREP ] Day 178 (20/8) Summary – Russia attacking New York from 2 different directions!!!

00:00 Intro
01:05 New package of military assistance from USA announced
02:24 Russia strikes ammunition depot with HIMARS missiles
02:38 Mykolaiv Front (Fighting reported at Blahodatne from Vasylky direction)
05:45 Zaporizhzhia Line (Russian MoD: Russian soldiers stationed near Vasilivka suffered poisoning)
10:23 Donetsk Front (Fighting reported at Zolota Nyva)
12:57 Donetsk Front (Fighting reported towards Marinka from Staromykhailivka)
14:23 Donetsk Front (Fighting reported towards Nevelske from Lozove, towards Nevelske from Pisky)
17:42 Donetsk Front (Fighting reported at Opytne)
17:53 New York Front (Fighting reported towards Niu York from Novoselivka, towards Niu-York from Zalizna Balka, at Mayorsk)
21:30 Bakhmut Front (Fighting reported at Kodema, Zaitseve, Bakhmut)
22:45 Bakhmut Front (Fighting reported at Bakhmutske)
23:13 Siversk Front (Fighting reported towards Ivano-Daryvivka from Berestove direction, at Ivano-Darivka)
25:08 Izyum Front (Fighting reported at Bohorodychne from Pasika direction)
26:43 Izyum Front (Fighting reported at Virnopillya, Kurulka, towards Nova Dmytrivka from Brazhkivka and Sulyhivka)
29:12 Kharkiv Front (Fighting reported near Borshchova)
29:57 Conclusion (Press press press)

Larry Johnson on weapons is a good read.

Question of the day: What is Zelenski and his cohort going to be accused of in front of a global criminal court? Could we hope that he gets into the dock for massacring his own people?

Feel free to use as open thread. Kindly stay on topic.