A burnt-out German Leopard 2A6 APU near Novodonilovka in the Rabotinsky direction.

The triggered knockout panels on the tank turret and the ammunition burnt out in the niche are clearly visible.

Translated from Svodki
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The media reported on the refusal of Ukrainian diplomats to return to their homeland

Up to 60% of Ukrainian diplomats refuse to return to their homeland after foreign business trips. This was reported on August 4 by Zerkalo Nedeli, citing diplomatic sources.

“Since the beginning of 2022, from 40 to 60% of employees of diplomatic departments have not returned from Ukrainian embassies abroad, but in practice these figures can be even higher,” says Vladimir Kravchenko, columnist for the international policy department of the publication.

He writes that last year about 20 employees of embassies and consulates were supposed to return from the United States, but only one of them came to their homeland. At the same time, none of the diplomats returned from some embassies.

Ambassadors do not return to their homeland due to problems with employment in Ukraine, an established life abroad, fear of mobilization, or the inability to visit the family that will remain abroad.

According to Kravchenko, more than a hundred diplomats who returned to Ukraine from a long trip abroad for a long time cannot get a job in the central office of the ministry. This demotivates them and leaves no hope for career growth.

“When diplomats do not return, who must always be at the forefront to defend the interests of their country, this means that they do not believe in the future of this country. And this is an indicator both for the Ukrainian society and for foreign investors,” emphasizes Kravchenko.

At the same time, the decision not to return to their homeland is made by both young employees of diplomatic institutions and senior ones, third secretaries and envoy advisers.

“The decision of a large number of qualified specialists not to return to Ukraine is a disaster, demonstrating the failure of the state and its diplomatic service,” the observer summed up.

Translated from from Izvestia
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🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answer to a question from The International Affairs magazine on initiatives concerning Ukrainian peace settlement (August 4, 2023)

❓ Question: As you have repeatedly said, there is a growing number of different initiatives on settling the situation in Ukraine. At the same time, the proposals coming from the Western countries are exclusively aimed at one-sidedly promoting Zelensky’s peace formula without considering the reality on the ground and Russia’s interests. In your opinion, what issues may arise in this context?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: In view of the multiple initiatives concerning the settlement in Ukraine, we can confirm that we value any efforts on achieving a just and reliable peace.

It is clear that justice cannot be achieved in any conflict without ensuring full respect for the rights of ethnic minorities by all parties. There is no alternative, especially for Ukraine, where Russian has always been the native language for the majority of the population.

Nobody in Washington, London, Paris or Brussels has said a word about their own attitude to the repeatedly and loudly declared position of the Kiev regime: “We will take Crimea, Donbass and all our other territories” and “we’ll destroy everything Russian there.” The importance of averting these neo-Nazi threats is obvious. However, the multiplying initiatives on Ukraine usually bypass this issue.

Why don’t his Western booking agents ask him to publicly present to the global community another formula describing the status of Russians and other ethnic minorities in their country as seen by the Kiev regime after Ukraine’s victory for which NATO and the EU spare no expense?

❗️ All those who ingratiate themselves with the West to push the Zelensky formula must realise that what is at stake is the fate of people threatened with extermination by the Kiev regime.

Read in full

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“Of all the possible options, the worst one is being played now. There is simply no worse. The worst thing is when Russians kill Russians"

Ukrainian politician Oleg Tsarev was a people's deputy of the country for many years — he was elected to four convocations of the Verkhovna Rada. In 2014, Tsarev put forward his candidacy for the presidency of Ukraine, but during the armed conflict that broke out in the east of the country that same year, he went over to the side of the "People's Militia of Donbass" and became the speaker of the parliament of Novorossia (the confederation of the Lugansk and Donetsk republics).

In an interview with RTVI special correspondent Alexei Sochnev, Oleg Tsarev spoke about his version of the background of the conflict in Ukraine: mystical "red lines" and agreements with the United States and China.

He is of the opinion that "on the eve of the SMO (Special Military Operation), Russia and the United States established certain 'rules' for a future conflict." Here are the arguments Tsarev cites in support of this version:

💬 "The first is the weak reaction of the United States to the sharp change in the rhetoric and behavior of Russia."

💬 “The second unusual thing is that the United States, if you remember the beginning of the SMO, did nothing. On the contrary, they took the embassy from Kiev to Lviv, then to Poland in general, and called on all US citizens to leave Ukraine. They dismantled all the electronic equipment in the embassy. The US didn’t even do that when they left Kabul, meaning they didn’t expect to come back.”

💬 “The next oddity. In an interview with Western media, Valery Zaluzhny said that the United States did not give permission to hit Russian headquarters with generals on the territory of Ukraine, nor did they give permission to hit a number of Russian territories”;

💬 “When I finish talking about this crossword puzzle, I’ll pay attention to how the United States behaved during the Prigozhin rebellion. <...> Burns calls Naryshkin, gets all Western leaders out of bed, and they make statements. Their essence boils down to the fact that the red line of everything that is happening in this conflict is the preservation of political stability in Russia.”

➡️ Read the full interview with Oleg Tsarev about the past and future of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in automated translation

#TransFormatorBuzzes 💤 :

In a bizarre way my trajectory has some common points with the Tsarev's. And even more bizzare is the fact that his hypothesis, which many would consider kind of a "conspiracy theory" is very well coinsided with the ideas I have formulated in an article I have published some time ago. Though many events have passed since, it is still very relevant.

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The Armed Forces of Ukraine again attacked Russian territories with drones: once again, the Crimean Bridge became the target of the strike

There are reports about repelling a raid by both air and sea drones. The Crimean Channel reports that one of the drones allegedly crashed into a boom.

On the bridge itself, lighting has been turned off as part of the blackout, traffic has been blocked, and air defense forces are working in full combat readiness.

Translated from Rybar
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Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova:

💬 “The EU views the suspension of RFI and France 24 in Niger as unacceptable. This measure constitutes a serious infringement on the right to information and the freedom of expression,” the spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and for Josep Borrell, Nabila Massrali, wrote in the morning of August 4, 2023, on Twitter.

Ms Massrali, we are very glad that you have started paying attention to the state of the media and journalists’ rights around the world, even if Niger is not an EU member. In fact, you seem to have quite a broad understanding of your mandate and authority. But let us focus on the territory within your immediate purview to get to the bottom of what’s going on there.

For several years now, the Foreign Ministry has been tracking violations of this kind. Too bad you have not been paying attention.

So, here it goes:

- The Council of the European Union adopted the decision to terminate the broadcasting of Russian television networks Channel One, Rossiya 1, NTV and REN TV, as well as to block any content from RT and Sputnik, while also suspending Tsargrad TV’s licence.
- The EU imposed personal sanctions on Russian journalists and media managers, including Oleg Dobrodeyev, Pavel Gusev, Alexei Pimanov, Dmitry Kiselev, Margarita Simonyan, Boris Korchevnikov, Marina Kim, Kirill Vyshinsky, Kirill Kleymenov, Marina Akhmedova and many others.

And now to specific EU countries:
Austria introduced a fine for reposting RT or Sputnik stories.
Bulgaria restricted RT and Sputnik broadcasting.
In Germany, the Commission on Licensing and Supervision (ZAK) banned RT DE broadcasting.
Italy blocked the current accounts of the VGTRK news office.
The rebroadcasting of the following television networks was banned in Latvia: Rossiya RTR, Rossiya 24, TV Tsentr, TNT, STS, RTVI, Perets!, RBC, Moya Planeta, Domashny, NTV and 18 other channels belonging to Gazprom Media holding. The country also blocked access to lenta.ru, ria.ru, vz.ru, and arrested Sputnik Lithuania’s Chief Editor Marat Kasem.
Lithuania banned all Russian television networks and blocked all the websites streaming their content.
Luxembourg stopped broadcasting RT and Sputnik.
Malta blocked satellite broadcasting for Russian television networks.
Poland banned the broadcasting of RT, RT Documentary, RTR-Planeta, Soyuz TV and Rossiya 24.
Finland stopped RT broadcasting.
France suspended Sputnik’s social media accounts, blocked RT France’s accounts, and stopped broadcasting Russian television networks RTR Planeta, Rossiya 24 and TV Tsentr. The country’s media watchdog stopped the broadcasting of Channel One, Rossiya 1 and NTV.
Estonia stopped the broadcasting of RTR Planeta, NTV Mir and Rossiya 24, blocking all websites streaming their content, as well as news websites ntv.ru; ren.tv; 5-tv.ru; 78.ru; 1tv.com; lenta.ru; tass.ru.

This is only a fraction of an elaborate mechanism violating the rights of the media and journalists on EU territory on a system-wide basis. Indeed, what a serious infringement on the right to information and freedom of expression. There is an urgent need to restore justice and address the challenges caused by this situation in the EU. We have been talking about this for many years now.

Once you do that, you can go ahead and focus on the situation in Niger. But until then, and as long as the EU is no different from Niger in its actions, it is not for you to judge them.

Translated from Maria Zakharova
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Translated from Ukrainian propaganda channel

Tonight, the SBU (Ukrainian Security Serice) blew up a large oil tanker of the Russian Federation "Sig".

According to our sources in the SBU, the special operation was carried out according to the classic scenario: a surface drone, 450 kg of TNT, an explosion. As a result, one of the most powerful oil tankers in Russia (built in 2014, almost 5,000 tons).

#TransFormatorBuzzes 💤 :

Adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mikhail Podolyak: "Ukraine has not attacked, does not attack and will not attack civilian vessels, as well as any other civilian objects." — just recently stated.

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Translated from Ukrainian channel:

Judging by the footage of the Russian tanker being hit by an underwater drone, this was not an accidental hit, as some commentators initially assumed (they wrote that the drone’s task was to attack the Crimean Bridge, but on the way it accidentally crashed into a civilian ship).

The video shows that the drone from afar makes a maneuver and changes course to hit the ship.

This does not mean that they were aiming specifically at Sig (although this cannot be ruled out either – the ship fell under US sanctions back in 2019 due to the transportation of aviation fuel for the Russian group of troops to Syria). The target of the attack, in principle, could be any ship in the area of the Kerch Strait in the context of the implementation of the previously announced threat by the Ukrainian command to attack ships heading to the Black Sea ports of the Russian Federation and Crimea (the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine made such a statement after similar threats from the Russian Federation regarding ships going to Ukrainian ports).

Thus, Ukraine shows that shipping to the Russian and Crimean ports of the Black Sea is henceforth unsafe even for civilian ships. Moreover, each such vessel, unlike warships, will be difficult to protect from drone attacks. To do this, it will be necessary to form entire convoys, as in the Second World War. In fact, such strikes can be seen as an attempt by force to induce the Russian Federation to return to the grain deal, showing the Russians that, otherwise, shipping to their ports will be under threat.

On the other hand, the Russian Federation in response may accuse Ukraine of piracy. Most likely, these accusations will not impress the West (at least, there will hardly be public statements condemning the attack on the tanker), but theoretically, they can act on the countries of the “global south”. Moreover, the Black Sea ports of the Russian Federation are the main ones for the export of Russian food.

And this factor can be used by Russia to influence the position of non-Western countries on the eve of the meeting on a peace settlement in Saudi Arabia. Where Ukraine and the West hoped to win the "global south" over to their side. At least hitting a tanker does not make this task easier. At the same time, the “global south” may increase pressure on both the West and the Russian Federation in order to resume the “grain deal” while lifting the sanctions on Russian food and fertilizer exports (which Moscow, in fact, is trying to achieve).

Also, for sure, the attack on the tanker will be used by the Russian Federation as an excuse to justify new attacks on the port infrastructure of Ukraine. And also, perhaps, by merchant ships, if they suddenly decide to go to Ukrainian seaports.

Moreover, as the example of the same FPV drones shows, Russia is quickly adopting warfare technologies from Ukraine. And the appearance in the Russian Federation of its fleet of maritime strike drones is only a matter of time.

Translated from Ukraine channel StranaUA
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Today, a rabid pig wanted to arrange an ecological disaster in the Black Sea with a spill of hundreds of tons of oil. Luckily it didn't worked out.

What to do? Only the complete destruction of the entire coastal structure, the defeat on the battlefield and the transition to a strategic offensive will correct this situation.

Otherwise, the Brits will supply in obundance the pigs with these drones, and we will be left without a safe Black Sea.

Translated from Voenacher
#TransFormatorBuzzes 💤 :
Harsh but true.
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Russian Minister of Defense Shoigu presented the crew of the "Alyosha" tank to the title of Heroes of Russia

The servicemen of the tank crew successfully repelled the attack of superior enemy forces in the Zaporozhye direction.

In the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation revealed details of the feat of the crew of the tank "Alyosha":

The tank crew under the command of Senior Lieutenant Rasim Baksikov came under massive shelling, as a result of which the driver was wounded. The crew commander Baksikov evacuated the wounded fighter from the combat vehicle and gave him first aid. Having transferred the driver to the advanced medical group, Rasim decided to take his place in battle.

Lieutenant Alexander Levakov replaced the wounded crew member and took the workplace of the tank commander, after which he moved in the direction of the positions of the motorized rifle regiment of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to support the defenders.

On the approach to one of the settlements, Lieutenant Levakov found 8 pieces of enemy equipment, including two tanks, located in one of the nearest forest belts. Having assessed the situation, Senior Lieutenant Baksikov immediately engaged in battle with superior enemy forces. The appearance at the firing line of the Russian tank was a surprise for the enemy.

In the first minutes of the battle, gunner-operator Alexey Neustroev destroyed both enemy T-72B tanks. In the next 30 minutes, one M113 armored personnel carrier and five American-made MaxxPro armored personnel carriers were destroyed along with the landing force.

After the destruction of the last enemy combat vehicle, the tank crew continued to cover motorized rifle units deployed in battle formations for about 40 minutes. When the ammunition in the tank ran out, the crew commander Baksikov went to recharge, and another tank was sent to the place of combat. Having fired three times at the advancing infantry, the second tank was damaged by enemy artillery fire.

Senior Lieutenant Baksikov together with his crew evacuated the damaged tank from the line of contact to a safe place.

Thanks to the decisive actions of the servicemen, the crew of the damaged tank was saved. In total, during the battle, the enemy's losses, in addition to destroyed equipment, amounted to more than 100 militants killed and wounded.

Translated from ProRuBy
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American reaction to a meteorite vs. Russian reaction to a meteorite.
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