[WonderMomma]

1. "A new episode in the "Wagner PMC against Russian ministry of defense" show. Here, mercenaries of the PMC complain they don't receive state awards."

2. "Russian prime minister: Thousands of defensive structures near Russian borders ready. Funds for drone detection and counteraction allocated. "

3. "Putin makes a joke. It's...well, see for yourselves.

He also boasts that almost all the ethnic groups in Russia participate in the "special military operation". He forgets to mention that Russia's ethnic minorities (e.g. Buryats) die in much larger numbers than the "title nation"."

4. "Putin cited some "statistics" that the level of "national consolidation" in Russia has reached unbelievable heights.

He looks tired. Did the dictator lose sleep worrying about the health of his dictator friend, Lukashenko?"

[WonderMomma]

"The German company Hensoldt signed a contract to supply Ukraine with 6 more TRML-4D air surveillance radars worth €100 million, the company's press service said.

Ukraine already uses them as part of the IRIS-T SLM air defense system, and Germany has promised to supply 2 more separate radars."



"Kremlin prepares to declare Prigozhin a traitor - ISW

Analysts believe that the administration of the President of the Russian Federation is preparing an information operation to publicly discredit Prigozhin. But as long as Prigozhin is in command of Wagner's forces in the Donbas, his removal would undermine the position of the Russians in Bakhmut, a risk Putin is unlikely to take.

The reasons why they want to “remove” Prigozhin: his public attacks on the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, blackmail to leave Bakhmut, the recent WP leak about Prigozhin’s alleged contacts with the GUR."



VIDEO: "Responding to today's Russian MoD's announcement of VDV taking "more favourable positions" in Bakhmut area, Prigozhin said that this maneuver should be called something different."

[WonderMomma]

"Ecocide is another challenge that Ukraine is facing due to the aggression of the russian federation, said Yevheniia Kravchuk, the Deputy Head of the Humanitarian Committee, at a panel discussion on legal protection of the environment in times of peace and war in Reykjavík:

It is not for nothing that the President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has singled out the issue of ecocide as a separate point in the peace formula.

The scale of the devastating consequences is estimated at 2 trillion hryvnias. For clarity:

➡️Ukraine is one of the most mined countries in the world;
➡️Thousands of hectares of land have been contaminated with munitions remnants;
➡️More than 2 million hectares of forest have been destroyed;
➡️600 species of animals and 750 species of plants are threatened with extinction;
➡️russians have occupied 10 national parks in Ukraine, 8 nature reserves and 2 biosphere reserves.

russia's nuclear terror is another major threat to the environment of Ukraine and the entire European continent."

[WonderMomma]

NO MEDIA:
"Politico, citing three American and Ukrainian officials, writes that the US president will announce new military aid to Ukraine worth $375 million. This will happen after Joe Biden meets with Volodymyr Zelensky in Hiroshima at the G7 summit."


Source quote:
"I am not hinting at anything, but Ukrainian airborne brigades are undergoing enhanced training."

[WonderMomma]

"Military instructors from Poland, UK, Lithuania and Canada salute to Ukrainian Defenders returning home from training in Poland."

[WonderMomma]

Originally Posted by WonderMomma ↗

"Portugal will join the so-called coalition of fighter jets, help train Ukrainian pilots and mechanics, Kuleba said after a meeting with Portuguese Foreign and Defense Ministers."
Attachment 1181302


"Denmark will train Ukrainian pilots, does not exclude the provision of F-16 - Acting Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen

According to him, the final format of training for Ukrainians will be finalized over the next month and discussed during a meeting of defense ministers from a number of countries in Warsaw in the near future.

Poulsen also confirmed that Denmark is still open to discussing the possible transfer of F-16 fighters to Ukraine, but this issue is not yet on the table."
Attachment 1181303


"France ready to train Ukrainian pilots right away

France is ready to train pilots immediately with the coordination of other European states and the US, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday evening, noting it could be the precursor to the delivery of planes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was on a trip to Europe last weekend, where he reiterated his request for fighter planes to be sent to the country.

France wants to “help Ukraine to resist, to organise, at the moment it chooses, a counter-offensive” against Russia, said Macron, confirming that France would deliver to Ukraine new ammunition and train battalions that will be engaged in this counter-offensive.

Macron also announced that the French army was ready to train Ukrainian pilots.

He added that such training is possible “starting from now” and can be done jointly with other European countries and perhaps with the Americans.

“There is no taboo”, Macron explained that talking about deliveries of fighter planes now “would be a theoretical debate”.

He also recalled France’s stance, which is clear about not delivering weapons “that can reach Russian soil” and that do not weaken France’s ability to defend itself.

Speaking of tank deliveries, Macron said: “We were the ones who triggered a wider movement”."
Attachment 1181319

"F-16, Tornado AMX, MiG-29, Su-25: list of states that have transferred or plan to transfer aircraft to Ukraine — infographic"

[WonderMomma]

M270 charging process. There are more than 20 HIMARS, M270 and MARS multiple rocket launcher systems in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Eight more M270's will be handed over from Norway in the near future.

[WonderMomma]

Zelenskyy has arrived in Japan. It's said that he flew to Saudi Arabia first before making his way to Japan for the G7 summit. I'm sure there will be more media coming throughout the day on this.

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by WonderMomma ↗

"In recent weeks, the Armed Forces of Ukraine shot down at least one Russian fighter jet with the help of the Patriot air defense system, which was conducting a combat sortie, preparing to launch missiles towards Ukraine, - CNN"
Attachment 1181233


"Every month, Russia produces 25 Caliber missiles, 2 Dagger missiles, 35 Kh-101 cruise missiles, 5 9M723 Iskander-M ballistic missiles, - GUR MO. This suggests that the aggressor, despite the sanction, arranged the purchase and supply of microelectronic parts for production."
Attachment 1181234

As the war in Ukraine continues into its second year, Moscow has intensified its campaign to strike Ukrainian targets with strategic bombers, lethal drones, and cruise missiles.

To cut off Russia’s access to the critical components required to manufacture these weapons, the United States and its partners have imposed a wide array of sanctions against Russia’s defense industrial base.

Despite Western sanctions, foreign-made technology continues to find its way into Russia’s war machine. Russia’s most consequential partner, China, has extended a critical helping hand to an increasingly isolated Russia, funneling over $500 million worth of microelectronic components needed to manufacture military gear into Russia’s defense industrial base in 2022 alone.

While China’s support for Russia is widely reported, Hong Kong’s substantial contributions to Russia’s war efforts are less known. Recent reports have identified Hong Kong as a prominent node in Russia’s illicit procurement network, acting as a transshipment hub for diverting Western-made microelectronic components to companies affiliated with the Russian military.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Hong Kong has doubled its integrated circuits exports to around $400 million worth of semiconductors in 2022, second only to China and far exceeding any third country in the volume of semiconductor trade with Russia.

Many of these transactions violate U.S. export control regulations against Russia, and multiple individuals and entities operating from Hong Kong have been sanctioned for their involvement in the Russian military’s procurement network.

Hong Kong’s complicity in sanctions busting is not merely a byproduct of being one of the busiest shipping hubs in the world; it is a direct consequence of Hong Kong’s increased subservience to China, now that Beijing has wiped out the last vestiges of autonomy in the special administrative region.

In today’s Hong Kong, the government follows Beijing’s orders in virtually all matters of governance, particularly for issues with geopolitical salience.

High levels of semiconductor trade between Hong Kong and Russia, as well as the Hong Kong government’s public scorn for Western sanctions, have made Hong Kong’s allegiance clear: it sits firmly in the camp of an emerging China-Russia axis.

Numerous reports indicate that despite sweeping Western sanctions, Russia’s defense industrial base has successfully established alternative routes to import dual-use components needed for manufacturing military equipment.

Lacking scalable domestic substitutes, Russia relies on foreign-made microelectronic components to produce a range of military gear, including weapons like drones and cruise missiles.

Examining Russian weapons captured in Ukraine, the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) discovered in August 2022 that the majority of microchip components in Russian systems originated from the United States, East Asia, and Western Europe.

Tracing the supply chain of microelectronics, RUSI concluded that “third-country transshipment hubs and clandestine networks operated by Russia’s special services are now working to build new routes to secure access to Western microelectronics.”

A leader in low-end microchip manufacturing and the world’s top chip importer, China is now the foremost supplier of semiconductors to Russia. In 2022, as Western countries restricted technology supply, Russia’s semiconductor imports from China skyrocketed, jumping from $200 million in 2021 to well over $500 million in 2022, according to Russian customs data analyzed by the Free Russia Foundation.

Importantly, the Sino-Russian technology trade involves not only Chinese-made components but also products manufactured by top U.S. chipmakers such as Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, and Texas Instruments. Nikkei Asia recently reported that exports of U.S. chips from Hong Kong and China to Russia increased tenfold between 2021 and 2022, reaching about $570 million worth.

By one figure, China and Hong Kong together accounted for nearly 90 percent of global chip exports to Russia in the period between March and December 2022.12

China’s support to Russia’s war effort is unsurprising. The two countries are aligned in their ambition to undermine the U.S.-led international order. Before the war, Beijing and Moscow declared that the countries’ friendship had “no limits,” and a Chinese top diplomat has recently reaffirmed that Sino-Russian relations are “reaching new milestones.”

The summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, held in March 2023, further consolidated the importance of this strategic partnership. Less examined is Hong Kong’s role in Russia’s technology supply chain.

While most countries have begun to recognize Hong Kong’s loss of autonomy following the passage of the Hong Kong national security law in 2020, the city is still often treated as separate from China in economic and trade data.

This is as much a matter of convention as an acknowledgement of Hong Kong’s unique function to China: the former British colony is highly integrated into the global economy, serving as China’s window to the world. Hong Kong’s connectivity with the world has allowed unscrupulous actors to hide their footprints amid the busy international flows.

Its prominence in Russia’s technology supply chain exemplifies this point. Researchers and journalists have found that some Hong Kong–based companies have diverted significant quantities of Western-made electronic components to Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

Macro-level data bear out Hong Kong’s importance to Russia’s defense-industrial base (although export statistics vary depending on the source). The Free Russia Foundation found that Hong Kong doubled its semiconductors and integrated circuits exports to around $400 million in 2022, putting it second only to China’s $500-million-plus exports.

China and Hong Kong far exceed any third country in the volume of microchips trade with Russia.

[ljubodrag]

Great news, everybody. More videos coming up later.