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Russia’s Lancet Drone Is Hampering Ukraine’s Counteroffensive, Smashing Western Gear and Exposing Poor Air Defenses

In recent weeks Ukraine has been pushing hard to retake ground from Russia, as part of a sweeping counteroffensive.

The full picture is still emerging, but in places it has been a bruising experience.

Russian officials have gleefully shared videos of piled-up wreckage, and often cited as the cause the Russian-made Lancet drone.

The Lancet is a loitering munition made by a subsection of Russia’s Kalashnikov arms manufacturer. It’s new — first used in 2019 — and meant for precision strikes.

James Patton Rogers, a drone expert at the Cornell Tech Policy Institute and the University of Southern Denmark, said that the type being fielded by Russia in Ukraine is the Lancet-3, an upgraded version. (Read more from “Russia’s Lancet Drone Is Hampering Ukraine’s Counteroffensive, Smashing Western Gear and Exposing Poor Air Defenses” HERE)

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Foreign Legion Fighter Reports Massive Casualties Among Ukrainian Troops

A Taiwanese volunteer soldier in Ukraine’s foreign legion on Sunday (June 4) uploaded a detailed account of the realities of fighting in the Russo-Ukrainian War.

The Taiwanese soldier, who goes by the handle “I don’t know Mount Lushan” (不識廬山), has recently returned from duty in Ukraine and Sunday uploaded an extremely detailed thread with advice to would-be volunteers considering joining the fight. Topics he covered were the expenses, physical demands, necessary language skills, combat training needed, and the mentality one should possess. . .

The volunteer advised that the lack of sleep and intense physical exertion caused by long missions are taxing. Worse, the soldier warned that the life and death situations on the battlefield, shellshock from constant bombardments, and death of team members can easily “destroy a person’s mind.”

He said that even experienced soldiers can panic and lose their judgment and ability to fight due to fear. The veteran noted that his unit had a casualty rate of 50% and 20% of his teammates were killed in action.

According to the volunteer, his platoon was “annihilated twice” and he was the only member to come out unscathed. Furthermore, he observed that his unit did not fight in the “deadliest war zone.” (Read more from “Foreign Legion Fighter Reports Massive Casualties Among Ukrainian Troops” HERE)

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White House Sounds the Alarm on ‘Full-Scale Defense Partnership’ Between Russia and Iran

Russia is providing billions of dollars in military aircraft and equipment in exchange for imports, as well as, ultimately, assistance with building attack drones for use in Ukraine, the White House said in a declassified intelligence report given to news outlets Friday.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby confirmed that Iran dug in supply lines to transfer the one-way attack drones to Russia through the Caspian sea, which are then provided to Russian forces to attack Ukrainian cities over long distances, according to The Associated Press. Iran has also agreed to provide materials for constructing a drone factory, and as repayment, Iran hopes to acquire Russian warplanes and air defense systems, The Washington Post reported.

“This is a full-scale defense partnership that is harmful to Ukraine, to Iran’s neighbors, and to the international community,” Kirby said, according to the AP.

The White House released satellite imagery of photos taken in April where the factory “will probably be built” in Russia’s Alabuga special economic zone, about 100 miles east of Moscow, according to the AP. U.S. intelligence said the plant could be operational next year. (Read more from “White House Sounds the Alarm on ‘Full-Scale Defense Partnership’ Between Russia and Iran” HERE)

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Some Nations Could Send Troops to Defend Ukraine, Says Ex-NATO Chief

Some NATO countries that share a border with Russia might send troops to Ukraine on their own if alliance members, including the U.S., fail to provide “tangible security guarantees” at the upcoming summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, former NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

Suppose NATO members can’t agree on a clear path forward for Ukraine. In that case, there is a “clear possibility” that some countries might take action to support Kyiv, including putting “boots on the ground,” Mr. Rasmussen said in remarks published in The Guardian newspaper.

“I think the Poles would seriously consider going in to assemble a ‘coalition of the willing’ if Ukraine doesn’t get anything in Vilnius,” Mr. Rasmussen said. “We shouldn’t underestimate the Polish feelings. The Poles feel that for too long western Europe did not listen to their warnings against the true Russian mentality.”

Current NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said all member states agree that Ukraine will eventually join the alliance. During a recent meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Oslo, Norway, Mr. Stoltenberg said the most important task at hand is to ensure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign and independent state.

“We don’t know when the war ends. But we must ensure that, when it does, we have credible arrangements in place to guarantee Ukraine’s security in the future and to break Russia’s cycle of aggression,” Mr. Stoltenberg said. (Read more from “Some Nations Could Send Troops to Defend Ukraine, Says Ex-NATO Chief” HERE)

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Biden Blamed Russia for Nord Stream Pipeline Attack Despite CIA Being Briefed Earlier on a Ukrainian Plot

President Joe Biden blamed Russia for the attack of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline last September, despite his administration receiving intelligence three months earlier that Ukrainian forces planned to conduct such an attack.

On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported, based on Pentagon documents allegedly leaked onto Discord, that a European nation briefed the Biden administration that “the Ukrainian military had planned a covert attack on the undersea network using a small team of divers who reported directly to the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces.”

The Post reported, “Details about the plan, which have not been previously reported, were collected by a European intelligence service and shared with the CIA in June 2022. They provide some of the most specific evidence to date linking the government of Ukraine to the eventual attack in the Baltic Sea, which U.S. and Western officials have called a brazen and dangerous act of sabotage on Europe’s energy infrastructure.” . . .

Biden’s comments suggests that he either did not receive word of the briefing — alarming given he is president and his policy of supporting Ukraine for “as long as it takes” — or that he knew of the intelligence and may have deliberately misled Americans. (Read more from “Biden Blamed Russia for Nord Stream Pipeline Attack Despite CIA Being Briefed Earlier on a Ukrainian Plot” HERE)

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Kremlin: Putin Open to Peace Talks to End Ukraine War, but Only if West Offers Concessions

Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to negotiations to end his country’s war in Ukraine, Kremlin officials said Saturday, though the prospects for talks remain dim amid Moscow’s insistence that any resolution includes recognition of its territorial claims in Ukraine‘s eastern Donbas region.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media over the weekend that Mr. Putin seeks a “peaceful” resolution to the conflict but signaled that any ceasefire hinges on the West offering significant concessions to Russia.

Such a scenario so far has been a non-starter for Ukraine, the U.S. and NATO.

“President Putin has been, is, and will be open to any contact in order to attain our objectives by other means than the special military operation. If it is possible, it would be preferable,” Mr. Peskov told Russia‘s Rossiya-1 TV station on Saturday.

His comments come amid continued fighting in eastern Ukraine, particularly in and around Bakhmut, which Russian troops say they control even as Ukrainian military officials say fighting continues on the outskirts of the city. (Read more from “Kremlin: Putin Open to Peace Talks to End Ukraine War, but Only if West Offers Concessions” HERE)

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UK Endorses Ukraine’s Right to Attack Russian Territory Despite US Anxiety

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly affirmed Ukraine’s right to attack “legitimate military targets” in Russia, in contrast with American unease about such operations on the day of an apparent drone attack near Moscow.

“It’s important to remember that Ukraine does have the legitimate right to defend itself,” Cleverly told reporters while traveling in Estonia. “It has a legitimate right to do so within its own borders, of course, but it does also have the right to project force beyond its borders to undermine Russia’s ability to project force into Ukraine itself.”

That general endorsement came as Russian media buzzed with the shock of an apparent kamikaze drone attack that “caused minor damage to several buildings,” according to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. Cleverly emphasized that he could not comment on the drone incident — “I don’t have details, and I am not going to speculate about the nature of the drone attacks in Moscow,” he said — but his supportive tone contrasted with the response from President Joe Biden’s administration.

“As general matter, we do not support attacks inside of Russia,” a State Department spokesperson said Tuesday. “We have been focused on providing Ukraine with the equipment and training they need to retake their own sovereign territory, and that’s exactly what we’ve done.” (Read more from “UK Endorses Ukraine’s Right to Attack Russian Territory Despite US Anxiety” HERE)

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Head of Russian State Media Calls for Senator to Be Assassinated

The head of a Russian state broadcaster absurdly threatened Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in the wake of the Republican’s recent meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In a video from their May 26 meeting, Graham is heard telling the Ukrainian leader U.S. aid to support Ukraine was the “best money we’ve ever spent.”

“If [Lindsey] Graham really said that the money for the killing of Russians is the best money the U.S. ever spent — I hope that in our country, the sons or grandchildren of Sudoplatov [the lieutenant] are alive, Sudoplatov’s pupils, or the descendants of his pupils,” Margarita Simonyan said, according to a translated video posted by Russian Media Monitor.

“It’s not even hard. We have his address. We have his telephone number,” Simonyan said. (Read more from “Head of Russian State Media Calls for Senator to Be Assassinated” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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Russian Lawmaker Threatens Missile Strikes on Alaska

By New York Post. A Russian lawmaker suggested the country launch a pre-emptive missile attack on Alaska in a television segment that surfaced just as Senator Lindsey Graham appeared to say Russian deaths from United States’ funding to Ukraine was “the best money we’ve ever spent.”

Duma Deputy Andrey Gurulyov said there were missiles stationed near the US “quite capable of scouring Alaska to the ground,” and that Russia should move with them instead of waiting for aggression from its enemies to attack.

Gurulyov’s comments came during an appearance on a state-run Russian news show hosted by Olga Skabeyeva, a commentator so known for her gleeful propaganda she’s earned the nickname the “Iron Doll of Putin TV.”

On the show, Gurulyov — who has previously suggested Britain be wiped “off the face of the Earth,” according to Newsweek — said Russia needed “not for us to respond to the threats we are confronted with, but for them to rush around with no idea what to do next.”

“We have a strategic nuclear force that holds America’s territory. Let me remind you, there’s Alaska across the strait,” he said, before listing off a number of different types of missiles Russia had at the ready. “It doesn’t take much, a couple of brigades will suffice,” he added. (Read more from “Russian Lawmaker Threatens Missile Strikes on Alaska” HERE)

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Russian Lawmaker Threatens Alaska With Missile Strikes

By Newsweek. Russia State Duma Deputy Andrey Gurulyov recently threatened to attack Alaska with an array of different missile strikes. . .

“There are our operational Iskander missiles, ballistic, cruise missiles are quite capable of scouring Alaska to the ground,” Gurulyov said. “It doesn’t take much, a couple of brigades will suffice.”

When another commentator chimed in and asked why Russia would attack Alaska, Skabeyeva responded by saying “to make them feel scared.”

The comments by Gurulyov and Skabeyeva come amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, which has lasted over a year with intense fighting between the two nations in several different parts of Ukraine. (Read more from “Russian Lawmaker Threatens Alaska With Missile Strikes” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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US Officials Believe Ukraine Orchestrated Kremlin ‘Assassination Attempt’ Attack

A drone attack on the Kremlin earlier this month was most likely orchestrated by Ukraine, which has conducted a series of attacks on Russian targets, U.S. officials said.

Russia has claimed Ukrainian forces attempted to kill President Vladimir Putin in the failed attack on May 3.

Two drones were used in the “assassination attempt” at the president’s residence within the Kremlin compound, but were disabled by Russian defense systems, Russia said.

One drone caused a fire and the second drone exploded. They cause little damage and no one was injured.

U.S. intelligence agencies don’t know which unit carried out the attack, and it was unclear if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine or his top officials were aware of the operation, The New York Times reported. (Read more from “US Officials Believe Ukraine Orchestrated Kremlin ‘Assassination Attempt’ Attack” HERE)

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