Tag: ukraine

Half Of Crimea Goes Dark After Ukrainian Strike Hits Thermal Power Plant

Yet more drone attacks sent by Ukraine’s military has crippled much of the infrastructure of the Crimean peninsula. Reuters is confirming significant power outages, while some regional reports say as much as half of all Crimea is without power Tuesday.

One of the regional publications specified that “Yevpatoria, Saki, Krasnoperekopsk, Dzhankoy, and surrounding areas were left without electricity, reports the Ukrainian service of Radio Svoboda.”

“Preliminary, electricity supply is planned to be restored within 24 hours” – after several facilities in Crimea suffered direct hits by inbound drones. Fires have been witnessed at at railway and military facilities. Importantly, a large fire is being reported at a thermal power plant in Kerch, which left the greatest impact in terms of the widespread regional blackout:

Telegram channel “Crimean Wind” has written, “The CHP plant fire in Kerch is confirmed; the fire spread to a reservoir. The monitoring group, relying on satellite imagery, records a smoke plume about 47 kilometers long.”

According to more: “A strike on an oil depot, a TPP-Terminal, port infrastructure, and facilities in the area of Henichesk and the Arabat Spit is also reported.”

It was only two days ago, on June 21, that an oil depot in the Crimean city of Kerch was attacked, it is reportedly still burning, with reports of fires at the sprawling terminal complex’s Kavkaz port.

Life for millions in Crimea is already seriously strained, after those prior Sunday attacks resulted in the most severe fuel restrictions imposed on the population since the war began over four years ago.

Crimean Governor Sergey Aksyonov had previously confirmed the fuel crisis for the whole region, saying, “Today, June 21, starting from 09:00 am, fuel sales at Crimean petrol stations have been suspended” – though he added that fuel would only be sold to state enterprises.

He made clear in a Telegram post that starting Sunday morning local time gas stations across the peninsula would stop selling fuel to individuals and businesses. All cash, card and fuel coupons were immediately halted.

Relentless, nightly drone attacks making life harder on common Russians – in tandem to the Ukrainian population also having suffered immensely under Russia’s bombs and drones…

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NYT and Telegraph SURRENDER to the Truth, Report on Russian Siege of Konstantinovka and the Advance for the Final Donetsk Battle: The Kramatorsk-Slavyansk Fortress Belt

The end of the war in Donbas is near.

In the last few weeks, an Information Op was taking place in the western mainstream media, in which all voices chanted in unison that ‘finally, Ukraine is winning the war’.

But while there’s no denying the increased success of the Kiev regime’s long-range strikes, the fact of the matter in the ground is that, not only is Russia winning, but it is moving into the endgame in the vital Donbas region – the cradle of the war.

We have been reporting on the siege and encircling of Konstantinovka, and how this fortified bastion was the key for the final assault on the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration, the last region of Donetsk still held by Ukrainian forces.

But yesterday (22), with the usual delay, we watched several MSM outlets discreetly acknowledge the Russian advances and the oncoming endgame.

The British ‘Conservatives’ from The Telegraph, who are rabid Kiev regime fans, reported:

“Russian troops have infiltrated Ukraine’s fortress belt city of Konstantinovka, a crucial gateway to the rest of the Donbas. Ukrainian soldiers said the entire city, which is part of the country’s eastern defenses, was effectively in a ‘grey zone’, no longer controlled by either side. Russia’s defense ministry claimed its forces had intensified operations in the south-west of the city, surrounding Ukrainian units.”

So, while the posh hyphenated-name columnists laugh and laugh of ‘clueless Vladimir Putin’, they were forced to report the obvious truth.

With their tried and tested playbook, the Russian forces don’t smash head-on against the fortified city, but rather flank it in multiple prongs, encircle it, attack the supply lines, put the defenders into fire pockets, conquer it.

“Last month, reports citing Ukrainian intelligence claimed Russia’s top commanders had convinced Vladimir Putin they could seize Kramatorsk and Slovyansk, the towns at the center of the fortress, by the end of the year.

Such a breakthrough would bring the Kremlin closer to achieving one of its most significant remaining war aims: the conquest of the entire Donbas region.”

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Swiss Government Discusses Revoking Protections, Benefits For Military-Aged Ukrainians

During the opening years of the Russia-Ukraine war European states were quite welcoming to Ukrainian refugees and anyone fleeing the carnage and chaos, but now in the conflict’s fifth year the general sentiment among EU populations and governments is changing.

Switzerland, once hailed as Europe’s most neutral state – and among the most ‘welcoming’ countries for asylum seekers – is mulling a policy change which would exclude Ukrainian men of military age from protections granted to refugees.

The Swiss Federal Council announced in a statement Friday that it has begun consultations over the legal status of some 66,000 Ukrainian nationals who fled to Switzerland after the conflict erupted.

Welfare assistance and refugee protections are quite good in Switzerland, given individuals receive basic living items as well as government payouts, and can even freely travel in and out of the country.

For now, protections are expected to extend to Ukrainians in the country, but there’s new talk of revoking this status for men of military age at a moment the Ukrainian military continues to face a severe manpower shortage:

The government announced on Friday that, at a national asylum conference in November 2025, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), the cantons, cities and municipalities had been tasked with drawing up clear regulations for the future of S protection status.

The results of this deliberation are now set out in a concept paper entitled “The Future of S Status”. According to the government, it serves to prepare for three possible scenarios: the continuation of S status; its abolition in the event of a stable ceasefire; and a phasing out of S status in the event of a protracted conflict.

Specifically pertaining to men of fighting age, the government is considering “a possible future restriction for Ukrainian men subject to conscription,” a new statement reads.

“This is because the EU is currently considering an extension of temporary protection with a possible restriction for these men,” the country’s Federal Council has explained. A final decision could come by the end of the summer, but political pushback is said to be growing.

It should be remembered revocation of protected status is something the Zelensky government itself has long asked Western allies to do. It wants the rapid return of military-aged men, at a moment Ukrainian recruiters have resorted to harsh tactics cracking down on what are seen as draft dodgers.

EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner has also confirmed “This is also what the Ukrainians are asking us to do” – commenting on the question of no longer extending protections to Ukrainian men in EU states.

For now, no major policy shifts are expected, but as the war goes on and on, the tone of the conversation has shifted among many European officials. Washington in particular has emphasized that Ukraine’s populace must stand up for itself, and has even leaned heavily on Kiev to make the mandatory conscription age younger.

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UK to send Ukraine 150,000 drones

The UK will provide Ukraine with 150,000 UAVs by the end of the year, London announced on Thursday following one of Kiev’s largest drone attacks on Moscow since the start of the conflict.

The package, worth £752 million ($996 million), was announced by British Defense Secretary Dan Jarvis at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels. According to the British government, which has been among Kiev’s most active military supporters, the package will be funded through London’s £2.26 billion loan to Kiev, backed by proceeds from frozen Russian sovereign assets.

British officials presented the package, which includes drones, missiles and radars, as necessary military support for Kiev. Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged that London would continue backing Ukraine and putting pressure on Moscow. Russia has long argued that continued Western arms deliveries only prolong the conflict and undermine peace efforts.

The announcement came after Moscow and the surrounding region were hit by one of the largest Ukrainian drone raids in recent years. Russian air defenses intercepted 194 drones approaching the capital overnight, according to officials, but the attack still caused damage.

Local authorities reported that one drone struck the Moscow Oil Refinery in the Kapotnya district, triggering a fire, while debris damaged residential buildings, vehicles, and commercial sites, including several shopping centers.

Residents in several districts also reported black rain and soot falling from the sky after the refinery blaze, with the local authorities advising people to keep windows closed and limit time outdoors.

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Zelensky Gives Belarus 7-Day Ultimatum in Unexpected Threat

There continues to be growing confirmation that Zelensky has been waging his accelerated psyop campaign of empty strikes to conceal a worsening crisis in his own country. Today we were treated to footage which revealed how his latest magician’s parlor tricks work.

It turns out yesterday’s mass strikes on Moscow which were meant to coincide with the Euro Council meeting were pure Hollywood spectacle: the drones themselves were stuffed full of kerosene mixtures in the way Hollywood stages car explosions to look more “dramatic” by producing thick plumes of oily smoke.

What did you expect from the Kvartal 95 cartel? Smoke and mirrors—and latex—are their specialties.

It now makes perfect sense how Ukraine was able to fabricate such an eye-catching mise-en-scene, as each downed drone managed to pockmark the horizon with its own

In fact, much of Ukraine’s recent narratives have been rapidly falling apart. The Crimean “isolation” turned out to be a total bust, as even top Ukrainian accounts have outlined the steps Russia swiftly took to reverse any issues Ukrainian drone attacks have managed to temporarily cause.

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Ukraine Hits Moscow Oil Refinery Causing Black Skies, But Kremlin Continues Advancing In Donbass-Kostiantynivka Falls, Ukrainian Drones Specifically Targeting Civilians In Russia Areas

Ukraine scored a public relations and tactical win this morning with strikes on the Moscow oil refinery, hitting a storage tank and causing black smoke to drift over the entire city.

Oil-like residue is falling over Moscow and the surrounding region, leaving marks on cars, windowsills, benches, and other surfaces.

The development caused Ukrainian President Zelenskiy to declare, “If Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn too.If Putin does not want to end this war and wants to continue it, we will not sit quietly. We will respond.”

What Zelenskiy is not telling the world is that the city of Kostiantynivka in Donbass has recently fallen under the Russian advance. Russian forces are now focusing on Sloviansk, which once taken, will open the door to Kramatorsk in one or two months.

A situation is developing where a massive cauldron is forming, encircling thousands of Ukrainian troops and the Zelenskiy government will not order the withdrawal to save the soldiers.

“It is a deliberate slaughter of Ukrainian soldiers,” said a source in Kyiv. “It is intentionally losing a division.”

Russia has launched massive strikes on Kyiv as of late in response to Ukrainian attacks on civilian targets. Recently many attacks have been filmed of drones hitting civilian vehicles, such as buses and trucks carrying civilian personnel and cargo, raising Russian ire. One such video of a drone intentionally targeting a truck in the Belgorod region of Russia is below.

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Poland Suspends Transference of MIG Fighter Jets to Ukraine – The Stated Reason, and the Probable Unspoken One

Drone tech, or the worship of Nazi collaborators and war criminals?

After the war in Iran appears to have found its way towards a peace settlement, the eyes of the world again turn to the Black Sea, where the bloodiest European war since WWW2 continues unabated.

As the usual Euro-Globalists scramble to continue financing the Kiev regime’s war effort, one close ally is moving in the opposite direction.

Neighboring Poland has paused the transfer of promised MIG-29 Fighter Jets to Ukraine, to the dismay of Volodymyr Zelensky’s government and the MSM alike.

The stated reason for the pause was Kiev’s delay in sharing with of drone production technologies with the Polish.

This is a very believable reason – but for us following the Ukrainian bilateral relations, there is another very clear reason that is not being mentioned, as you can read in President Nawrocki Wants Zelensky Stripped of Top Polish Honor for Glorifying WW2 Nazi War Criminals.

​Zelensky has caused mass indignation in Poland by signing a decree recognizing a Ukrainian special forces unit’s ​contribution to the fight against Russian forces by naming it after the Ukrainian Insurgent ⁠Army (UPA).

The UPA was involved in ​the Volhynia massacres from 1943 to 1945, in which around 100,000 Poles were killed by Ukrainian nationalists.

Zelensky also transferred alleged WW2 war criminal Andriy Melnyk to a hero’s tomb in Kiev.

With all that, the relations soured considerably. Even Prime Minister Donald Tusk had to criticize the move.

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Russia Tells Banks to “Shoot Down Drones Yourself”

The line between civilian society and war is disappearing completely. That is the real story behind Russia now authorizing its central bank and Sberbank to operate anti-drone systems and arm personnel to defend financial infrastructure. A country’s banking system is no longer simply processing transactions or moving money. It is now becoming part of the battlefield itself.

Russia passed a new law allowing the central bank, Sberbank, and the Russian Cash Collection Association to deploy their own drone defense systems after repeated Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russian territory. Staff at these institutions can now reportedly be armed as well.

This is what happens when modern war evolves into economic warfare. I have warned repeatedly that World War III would not resemble World War II where armies simply lined up across borders. The entire economy becomes militarized. Banks, energy grids, payment systems, telecommunications, ports, railways, factories, and data centers all become targets because modern civilization itself depends on interconnected infrastructure.

Ukraine understands this perfectly. Their drone strategy has increasingly focused on striking oil facilities, energy infrastructure, logistics centers, and economic targets deep inside Russia because they know they cannot defeat Russia conventionally in a prolonged war of attrition.

What is extraordinary here is not merely the drone attacks themselves. It is the admission that the Russian state can no longer centrally defend everything. Moscow is effectively decentralizing air defense responsibilities and telling major corporations and financial institutions: defend yourselves. That is a major shift psychologically.

The Guardian even framed it bluntly: Russia is telling its banks to “shoot down drones yourself.”

This is precisely how long wars transform societies historically. Civilian infrastructure slowly merges with military infrastructure until there is barely any distinction left. During the later stages of major conflicts, factories become military targets, railroads become military targets, ports become military targets, and eventually financial institutions themselves become military targets because war is ultimately about resources and economic survival.

Sberbank is not some small regional bank. It is effectively intertwined with the Russian state itself. Sberbank controls roughly a third of Russian banking assets and acts as a pillar of the entire domestic financial system. The Russian central bank likewise sits at the core of wartime financing, sanctions management, currency stabilization, and capital controls.

Russia has pushed aggressively toward cashless payments, digital financial infrastructure, and central bank digital currency experimentation through the digital ruble system. But centralized digital systems become vulnerable during wartime because they create concentrated targets.

The more governments centralize financial systems digitally, the more vulnerable those systems become to cyberwarfare, EMP threats, sabotage, drone attacks, and infrastructure strikes. This is one reason governments are quietly preparing for a wartime financial environment globally.

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As Ukraine Runs Out Of Men, To Keep War Going, Zelenskiy To Create Mercenary Army – What Could Go Wrong?

As the number of fighting-age men dwindles in Ukraine, as the Christian ethnocide plays out, Ukraine is launching a major recruitment drive that will allow private companies to source, screen, and deliver foreign fighters to its armed forces, with the goal of filling 30 to 50 percent of its assault and infantry positions with non-Ukrainians. This will allow globalist forces to keep the war going at any cost.

There has also been talk of enabling mass migration of third world men into the area.

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men have deserted this year, and many of those have fled the country. Daily videos of violent bounty hunters clashing with civilians are appearing online as the war loses the support of more and more of the Ukrainian people.

Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced the target on Thursday, describing the initiative as a way to bolster combat units and preserve Ukrainian lives. Commander-in-Chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi echoed the statement, calling the plan “the first stage of a large-scale transformation” of the military.

Under the new system, private recruiting firms will handle the search, vetting, selection, and logistics for foreign volunteers. Companies will be compensated for each recruit who successfully signs a contract and joins a unit. Foreign fighters will serve under the same terms, pay, and conditions as Ukrainian personnel, without a separate foreign legion structure.“

We are opening the market for recruiting foreigners to strengthen combat units and save the lives of Ukrainian military personnel,” Fedorov said.

The recruitment effort forms the centerpiece of a broader military service overhaul announced by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the same day following a meeting with Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, Fedorov, and Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko, writes SOFX.

As part of the reforms, minimum pay for rear-area personnel will rise to 30,000 hryvnias (approximately $670) per month — double the previous floor. Frontline infantry will receive 300,000 hryvnias (roughly $6,700) for a month of service, which Fedorov described as the highest infantry compensation rate globally. With combat bonuses, total monthly pay for assault troops can exceed $10,000 (about 460,000 hryvnias).

New contracts will last 10 to 14 months for infantry and assault roles, and 24 months for specialized units such as drone operators, artillery crews, and electronic-warfare personnel. Each contract will be followed by a demobilization window exempting soldiers from further mobilization.

Fedorov indicated that the army plans to begin discharging its longest-serving and most combat-experienced troops before the end of 2026, balancing the arrival of foreign recruits with the release of exhausted Ukrainian personnel.

Ukraine’s military has faced significant manpower challenges. Many long-serving troops are battle-weary with no fixed end to their service, while recent mobilization efforts have struggled to attract motivated infantry. A 2025 attempt to recruit 18-to-24-year-olds with competitive pay and short contracts saw limited uptake for ground combat roles, succeeding mainly in high-demand technical specialties like drone units.

Foreign volunteers already play a substantial role in frontline infantry duties, particularly fighters from Latin America. Colombians form one of the largest foreign contingents, with many deployed after minimal training. The Atlantic Council has estimated that 300 to 550 Colombians have been killed in Ukraine — the highest toll among foreign nationalities — with most losses attributed to FPV and kamikaze drones targeting infantry positions.

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Russian Governors Rush To Deny Fuel Crisis As Rationing Spreads

Russia’s authorities and regional governors are racing to assure residents there are no fuel shortages amid an intensified Ukrainian drone campaign at Russian refineries and fuel supply roads.

Ukraine has stepped up attacks this month on key fuel supply routes in its territories occupied by Russia, including Crimea and Mariupol. Several Russian regions have been experiencing fuel shortages as Ukraine hits Russian oil refineries.

Last week, the Moscow Times reported that some gasoline stations in Moscow and regions in northern Russia have started to cap fuel purchases per driver, in a move to prevent panic buying.

Officials are playing down the fuel crisis.

Alexander Drozdenko, governor of the northwestern Leningrad region, said this week that “Supplies are being delivered according to plan, there are no shortages,” as carried by Bloomberg.

Some isolated complaints about fuel shortages “do not reflect the overall situation,” the regional official said.

Governors all across Russia are looking to play down the extent of the crisis.

Meanwhile, earlier this month Russia admitted for the first time that its crude oil production is falling.

Russia’s crude oil production has declined since the beginning of the year as a number of local refineries are under unscheduled repairs and maintenance, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said, in the first public acknowledgement from Moscow that its output is flailing.

“We have a number of refineries under unscheduled repairs. However, we are maximizing the use of the export infrastructure,” said Novak, who represents Russia at the OPEC+ meetings and at discussions about the alliance’s output.

Russia is preparing to sharply reduce crude oil exports this month as mounting refinery disruptions, fuel shortages, and Ukraine’s bombing campaign force Moscow to divert more barrels into the domestic market.

Exports from Russia’s western ports of Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiysk are expected to fall to roughly 1.7 million barrels per day in June from 2.5 million bpd in May, according to Reuters calculations based on preliminary industry and trading data.

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