Having neutralized all active opponents of the war inside the country, the Russian authorities have taken up those who simply donʼt support Putin enough, writes The Wall Street Journal. Physicist Dmytro Kolker, economist Volodymyr Mau, hockey player Ivan Fedotov are among the recently repressed. The first had several complex illnesses and died due to detention by security forces. The second, in the past rector of the leading university in Russia, who trained personnel for key state authorities, turned out to be too liberal. He did not speak openly against the war, but he did not support Putinʼs actions either. As noted in the publication, this is already too disloyal behavior for the director of the university. Now Mau has been removed from office, accused of embezzling state property. Ivan Fedotov has an anti-war stance and planned to leave Russia. Instead, he was forcibly mobilized into the army. As noted in the WSJ, this is how the authorities signal to the Russians: even if you simply do not support our actions, if you do not obey us, we will release you, deprive you of your freedom, and we can even kill you, regardless of your status.
Modern Russian drones are full of Western components ― in particular, those released after the beginning of Russiaʼs large-scale aggression against Ukraine. The Insider writes about this, referring to the study of the Orlan-10 drone shot down by the Ukrainians. It turned out that its engine was made in Japan, and the mobile phone detection module was made in the USA. The heat-sensitive element on the video camera is of French origin and manufactured quite recently. Components of other Russian drones are also of Austrian, German, Taiwanese, and Dutch origin, the publication writes with reference to an unnamed Ukrainian officer who researches the technical equipment of the Russian army. His goal now is to contact all the manufacturers of these weapons and the services of various states that can influence these manufacturers so that they do not cooperate with the aggressor country. Although the interlocutor of the publication admits that it is not an easy task to deprive the Russians of Western components, because Moscow has a long practice of circumventing sanctions and obtaining the desired components in a "gray" way.
"Yard By Yard, The Ukrainians Appear To Be Pushing Toward Kherson" ― thatʼs the title of a Forbes article about the recent successes of the Ukrainian army on the southern front. The author is skeptical about Fridayʼs reports that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have surrounded several thousand occupiers in the area of the village of Vysokopillya, but he does not doubt that Ukrainians pose an increasing threat to Russians in Kherson oblast in general. Proof of this is the successful capture of the crossing over the Ingulets River in the area of the village of Davydiv Brid, and the successful strikes on warehouses in Nova Kakhovka. Attacks on objects in the city, located on the left bank of the Dnipro River, show that the Ukrainian troops are already close enough to get there. And taking into account the recent partial destruction with the help of the HIMARS system of the Antonivsky bridge ― one of the main sources of supply of Russian ammunition and soldiers to the temporarily occupied regional center ― the situation for the Kremlin becomes even more threatening. "If I were a Russian soldier in Kherson, I would be pretty scared now," the article quotes Mike Martin, a military researcher from Kingʼs College London. Yes, Ukraine has now concentrated its largest and best forces in the east, yes, Russian attacks are causing losses to Ukrainians and the superiority in forces is not obvious at the moment. "But I will keep a close eye on Kherson in the next 10 days, expecting big news," concludes Martin.