Has Russia hardened its approach after today’s attack on Ukrainian infrastructure?

Hard to say. This could be a one-off event or an action they had planned all along, and reserved it for winter. The only way to tell if the approach has changed is to observe the actions of the Russian Armed Forces for the following days.

If Kiev starts getting hit, it’s pretty safe to assume that the Russian Command has lost its diplomatic approach to this war (which is frankly stupid when your enemy is anything but diplomatic. However, the Russians are known for their annoyingly rigid patience in politics)

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Italian wine with a portrait of Hitler will stop selling because of the hype among German tourists

The wine house, which has been selling collector's wine with portraits of dictators for 30 years, will stop producing the series next year.

The reason is disagreements with the German and Austrian sides. Swastikas and other Nazi symbols are illegal there.

"The Germans really like to buy these wines, and they are clearly in great demand there," said one indignant visitor to the wine shop. He is quoted by #SputnikItaly.

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⚡️Russian and Ukrainian teachers who taught under the Russian program were detained in the Kharkiv region. Everyone faces a real life sentence.

This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk.

Russian citizens who came on a business trip fell under the article "Violation of the laws and customs of war" (up to 12 years), and Ukrainians who agreed to teach according to the standards of the Russian Federation will be convicted of collaborationism (up to 15 years).

Vereshchuk also said that Russian teachers would not be treated as prisoners for exchange.

MOSCOW, September 12. /TASS/. Residents of the village of Logachevka in the Belgorod region have been evacuated after a shelling attack, Alexey Dybov, head of the local administration said on Monday.

"All residents of the village [of Logachevka] have been evacuated. Many went to their relatives. Those who have no one to go to - 27 people - were accommodated in Valuki (the district’s administrative center - TASS)," he wrote on his VKontakte account. "The most frequently asked questions are how to feed domestic animals. We will do it along with the military police and National Guard servicemen."

https://tass.com/russia/1506477

Reports coming in that certain “decisions” regarding the operational situation will be announced today. Whatever they may be—if they are announced—let’s focus on what we have. I will wait to hear things said officially.

However, it is already clear that Russia is taking the Ugledar and Zaporozhye theatres very seriously, with transfer of reserves and defensive preparations.

I have no understanding what Russia is doing at Svyatogorsk, although I can intuit that the major troops and reserves are tied up with the defense and preparations along the Oskol river line, and, for that reason, both Svyatogorsk and Krasny Liman/Yampol and Belogorovka have been neglected.

Once the defensive preparations along the Oskol are complete, I suspect that troops will be freed up to curtail the Ukrainian threat in north DPR/LPR.

If I can hazard a guess, the Oskol defensive preparations are proceeding at a very rapid pace, and Russian command believes that the Svyatogorsk—Krasny Liman—Yampol—Belogorovka line can hold out enough with their current garrisons to allow the Russian forces to then swoop in and force the enemy back beyond the Seversky Donets engagement line. But this is just a guess—although maybe a good one.

With the rapid pace of the Ukrainian offensive in the Kharkov region, they will have had to tie up not inconsiderable forces in cleaning up behind the front lines, and, in any event, no army can continue fighting at the same tempo, particularly with natural obstacles in the way. This plays in favour of Russia’s defensive preparations.

Nonetheless, the count here may be down to days—who will secure their respective objectives first.

More later.

NYT: Northeast Offensive Claims More Ground

The delight of the articles about the Ukrainian offensive exceeds all imaginable limits.

It may seem that Ukraine's next step will be to seize Moscow. Former Ukrainian intelligence officer Aleksey Arestovich took on Twitter a post where he is sitting next to the Kremlin in a cafe, and Putin's press secretary Peskov is ready to take an order.

But the way from Kharkiv to Moscow is very long.

Ask Hitler and Napoleon.

Disclaimer: War has no excuse. We do not support any of the conflict side, especially since it is impossible to verify the accuracy of information during the war.

#Russia #EU #Ukraine #war

Look, I will make this plain: This week and the next will decide the outcome of this conflict.

Either Russia will pull together its resources—I am not even talking about mobilization, but even the resources immediately available, like all the reserves prepared at this time to go into Ukraine and the troops and equipment already on the ground, and stops this wave of the Ukrainian offensive, or the next war will be a war for Russia itself—whether it starts immediately, with NATO smelling blood, or even in a few years, with Ukraine and its vulture partners even better prepared.

If the Ukrainian offensive is stopped and turned back—as Russia is fully capable of doing now—then the counteroffensive may well be even more rapid than what we’ve seen from Ukraine in the past two weeks. In the face of such counteroffensive, the enemy’s morale may well crack.

It all depends on political will and the proficiency of military command. The fact that the front has not collapsed any further that it has, and the at pace of the Ukrainian offensive has slowed considerably, compared to the Balakleya breakthrough, indicates resilience on the part of even the light defensive lines that Russia had on the Izyum front.

The key here is to maintain the morale of the troops—lose that, and the conflict is largely over. And by that defeat I mean even Russia retaining Kherson, Zaporozhye and the Donbass.

Properly organized—and considering that the withdrawal appeared to have been orderly and controlled—the Russian pullback would work to create a counteroffensive spring that can be utilized.

But it will require political will. If anyone at the top is sitting pretty and thinking that they can force Ukraine into a peace or a ceasefire in the face of this rout, they will get defeat and shame, rather than just shame.

Political will, an appeal to the nation, positing that this war is a matter of Russia’s survival—and the outcome will be clear and in Russia’s favour.

Political indecision, and the next war Russia will be fighting to defend its borders.

Iranian TG channels report that Iranian army equipment is heading toward the Azerbaijani border.