Missile strikes and untrained volunteers
(memoirs of a mercenary)

Roe arrived in Ukraine at a bad time for would-be foreign fighters.

Many deserted hurriedly after a missile strike on a base used by the fledgling International Legion only 10km from the Polish border.

“There were a lot of people in the International Legion during that bombing attack who were laying down their rifles, and they just ran for the Polish border,” Roe says. Some of them forgot to unpack their bags, and they tried to cross the border with five, six hundred rounds of ammunition.”

After that, the Ukrainian government’s policy changed dramatically: volunteers were welcome, but they would need to prove their mettle before they were trusted to fight.

“We were all pretty pissed off,” Roe says of learning that he wouldn’t be fighting. “Quite a few people … just left.”

Roe stayed. He enlisted in the Georgian National Legion, receiving training as a military instructor, despite his own lack of experience.

Since then Roe has criss-crossed Ukraine’s central regions training boys and men – often the only instruction they receive before being sent to the front.

“You’ll … be like ‘how many people here have fired a rifle?’ There’s like 100 people and two hands go up,” Roe says. “Unfortunately, we have lost quite a few people that we have trained. But it’s better than nothing … and you can see how much of a difference it’s making.”
(read more at the Guardian)

Military aid to Ukraine doesn't always get to the front lines: "Like 30% of it reaches its final destination"

The bulk of these weapons and military supplies make their way to the border of Poland, where U.S. and NATO allies quickly ferry it across the border and into the hands of Ukrainian officials. That's where U.S. oversight ends.

"All of this stuff goes across the border, and then something happens, kind of like 30% of it reaches its final destination," said Jonas Ohman, founder and CEO of Blue-Yellow, a Lithuania-based organization that has been meeting with and supplying frontline units with military aid in Ukraine since the start of the conflict with Russia-backed separatists in 2014.

"30-40%, that's my estimation," he said in April of this year.

The United States has committed over $23 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the start of the war at the end of February, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which has been tracking global commitments of aid to Ukraine. The United Kingdom has committed $3.7 billion, Germany $1.4 billion, and Poland $1.8 billion, with multiple other countries following suit.

“30 percent of weapons end up to their destination”. A bigger fragment of the video mentioned above ⬆️

USA and India to hold joint military drill 100 kilometers from disputed border between China and India - CNN.

These will be 18 US-Indian exercises called "Yudh Abhyas" or "Military Practice".

#India #China

Gonzalo Lira talking about Graham Phillips and Alina Lipp

All three are Western journalists working in Donbass and accused of being pro-Russian propagandists. Which may be true. However, we at TransFormator believe that being an honest propagandist may have only one alternative - being dishonest propagandist.
We have already mentioned, that if you are writing about something of vital importance and to what you have an emotional attachment, then certainly, your attitude will be transferred to the text and the reader. You may admit it, or pretend that you are "impartial", so that you can blame others for being "propagandists".

#TransFormator #TransFormatorBuzzes 💤

https://youtu.be/NDdPB_dCR-E
This is only a small episode from Johan Mearsheimer about when thinks went wrong and what is happening now.

German cities are switching off hot water and central heating in public buildings and not lighting monuments 

Berlin has plunged 200 monuments and buildings into darkness, while Hanover has let its fountains run dry

Moves come as Gazprom, Russia's state-run supplier, has cut the flow of gas from the Nord Stream 1 pipeline

Of course, the data is distorted here. It is important to mention, that the reduction in the supply (down to 40% of planned) has happened due to the Western sanctions imposed on the planned repair and maintenance of turbines, manufactured by Siemens. The rest of it is true, however, Germany may blame for it only itself.

A nice one from Peter Hitchens:
@TrFormer 💤
For some reason, the USA has for 14 years now been having a costly arm-wrestling contest with Russia in Ukraine. This turned hot eight years ago and has led to horrible numbers of deaths, and much destruction, in Ukraine itself.

I really cannot see what ordinary Ukrainians will ever gain from it. Nor can I see what interest Britain has in it, apart from our endless, rather pathetic desire to please the USA, which neither notices nor cares.

Yet we pledge billions in arms supplies, so sustaining the horror. The same goes for all the other European nations now preparing for a chilly winter of fuel shortages and raging high prices.

Is there anybody out there with the wit and courage to bring an end to this idiocy? Or, in years to come, as we sit unemployed in our freezing houses eating bread and potatoes, while Ukrainians pick about in the ruins of their 'victorious' country, wondering how to rebuild it, and where all the young men have gone, will we comfort ourselves by saying that it was all worth it?

 

That what means freedom of speech and expression in the cradle of democracy nowadays. Or, probably, it was always like that, just applied selectively.

Good and honest one from Peter Hitchens again.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-11065067/PETER-HITCHENS-Freedom-means-freedom-nasty-people.html

We were writing about it just recently @TrFormer

Roger Waters Tells CNN Why Biden Is A War Criminal, Says Host Needs To Read More

(must read if you are a fan of Pink Floyd)

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters is currently on his This Is Not A Drill tour, which CNN recently covered in a segment with anchor Michael Smerconish. During Smerconish’s interview with Waters, the host questioned the overtly political elements of Waters’ set, particularly one where Waters displays a “War Criminals” montage with a photo of Joe Biden. “Well, he’s fueling the fire in the Ukraine, for a start,” Waters replied. “That’s a huge crime. Why won’t the United States Of America encourage [Volodymyr] Zelensky to negotiate, obviating the need for this horrific, horrendous war?”
“But you’re blaming the party who got invaded,” Smerconish responded. “You’ve got it reversed.”

“Well, any war, when did it start? What you need to do is look at the history, and you can say, ‘Well, it started on this day.’ You could say it started in 2008… This war is basically about the action and reaction of NATO pushing right up to the Russian border, which they promised they wouldn’t do when [Mikhail] Gorbachev negotiated the withdrawal of the USSR from the whole of Eastern Europe.”

“What about our role as liberators?” Smerconish countered.

“We have no role as liberators,” Waters replied, and the two men proceeded to go back and forth debating World War II history. “I would suggest to you, Michael, that you go away and read a bit more, and then try and figure out what the United States would do if the Chinese were putting nuclear-armed missiles into Mexico and Canada?”

From there, they got into it over the Chinese, Taiwan, and who in the world is more of a global threat. The conversation gets pretty heated, but they still seem to like each other by the end. Check it out below.

Just in case if it would be removed from u-tube...
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/videos/politics/2022/08/06/smr-roger-waters.cnn

https://youtu.be/megyZ_G3YO8

Watch this video till the end. Luckily - no casualties!💤

Recently we have been writing about Graham Phillips who is a journalist and documentary filmmaker.
Phillips has covered the Russian invasion of Ukraine from the Russian side, initially from the Chernihiv area of Ukraine, then from Mariupol, then from Donetsk, and onto the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic on his YouTube channel.
In July 2022, the UK Government imposed sanctions on him.

CNN aired a report showing people from Zaporozhye visiting their parents and grandparents in Kherson, a Russian-controlled territory.

That's that they just go with cats, children, trunks and suitcases appears to be suspicious. That's because they don't go to visit their parents. They go to stay.

However, CNN would not be CNN, if they would not explain the lack of the reverse traffic by bad Russians blocking people on the Russian controlled territory...

People are naturally moving to the safety, not to where Western propaganda wants them to.

#TransFormator 💤

The Kiev regime demands to check Amnesty International's communications with the Kremlin.

A similar proposal was made by the assistant to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Mikhail Podolyak.

They are going to check the organization for receiving "benefits" from Russia.

Representatives of Amnesty International have published a report that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are deploying military equipment in schools and hospitals.

If human rights defenders criticize Ukraine, it means that these are some wrong human rights defenders.

SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service of Russian Federation): Ukrainian authorities began selling off the country, giving priority to Poland

SVR: Poland establishes control over the most promising sectors of the Ukrainian economy

MOSCOW, August 8 - RIA Novosti. Available intelligence confirms that the current Ukrainian authorities have begun to gradually give neighboring Poland control over sectors of the national economy, the website of the Foreign Intelligence Service reported.
"The information received by the Service testifies to the gradual implementation by Warsaw of its far-reaching plans for Ukraine. It is becoming increasingly clear that we are talking not only about the possibility of introducing "Polish peacekeeping forces" into the western regions of this country, but also about establishing control over the most promising industries economy of a neighboring state," the publication says.

Intelligence officials note that we are talking primarily about the agricultural sector. Thus, Polish companies, taking advantage of the difficult situation of Ukrainian agricultural producers, "including in terms of storing the harvested crop," buy their products at low prices. In some cases, this makes the bankruptcy of enterprises inevitable. Then it is supposed to buy assets and land at bargain prices.

"This can be illustrated, for example, by the facts of the purchase of a new crop of barley at $30 per ton, which is almost five times cheaper than the real cost of this product," the Foreign Intelligence Service said.
The intelligence service indicated that in parallel with this, the Polish side is investing in the creation of a transport and logistics infrastructure for the unhindered export of food to markets, where prices are much higher.
"The implementation of these aspirations of Warsaw is facilitated by the new legal framework created by Kyiv - the law on special guarantees for Polish citizens adopted by the Verkhovna Rada at the end of July this year and the law on privatization, which allows the sale of Ukrainian industrial enterprises with a 50 percent discount," the Foreign Intelligence Service stressed.

The intelligence service stated that the Kyiv authorities have already essentially begun to sell the country.

The Ukrainian authorities are consistently moving towards creating special conditions for Poland. So, at the end of July, the deputies of the Rada adopted a bill that equalizes the rights of Polish citizens with Ukrainians. After the adoption of the law, the Poles will be able to legally stay in Ukraine without special permits for a year and a half and enjoy all the rights and freedoms of a citizen of the country during this period. In particular, they will be able to work without obtaining a permit, become tax residents, receive education, receive medical treatment, and qualify for social benefits.

The national battalion "Kraken" has lost its combat capability due to Russian strikes

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the national battalion "Kraken" has lost its combat capability due to airborne strikes

MOSCOW, August 8 - RIA Novosti. The Ukrainian neo-Nazi formation "Kraken" has lost its combat capability as a result of strikes by the Russian military, the Ministry of Defense said.
"In the Kharkiv direction, as a result of the destruction of the points of temporary deployment of Ukrainian nationalists by pinpoint strikes of the Russian Aerospace Forces and missile forces, mass losses and desertion of mercenaries, the Kraken national formation lost its combat capability," the report says.
To make up for losses, the commanders of the Kraken are trying to force the inhabitants of Kharkov to join it, but to no avail, the military department added.
The Russian military constantly strikes at the places of deployment of the Kraken. So, on July 31, it was reported that the losses of militants hiding on the territory of the Morozov Mechanical College in Kharkov amounted to about 350 people.