German intelligence has intercepted radio transmissions in which Russian forces discussed carrying out indiscriminate killings north of Kyiv, the capital, according to two officials briefed on an intelligence report.
It could not be confirmed whether the radio transmissions collected by German intelligence were from Bucha or another place near the capital, one of the officials said.
I’m glad they have this - the more evidence the better.
Not to sound defeatist, but will this really matter? Putin’s never going to trial, nor are his military bosses. Not unless he throws them under the bus.
Ukrainian Military Intelligence reported increasing Russian censorship in an effort to combat growing morale problems among Russian troops. Ukraine’s GUR reported that Russian officers are intensifying censorship of their troops and restricting access to the internet due to low morale.[1] The GUR claimed that Russian commanders complain about increasing Ukrainian influence over the information consumed by Russian soldiers. The GUR claimed to have intercepted an extract from an order issued by the Deputy Commander of the Western Military District for military and political work, which blamed low Russian morale on the internet and social media. The document reportedly instructs Russian officers to either ban or severely censor all messages received by personnel, as well as access to the internet. Draconian measures to restrict access to information among Russian personnel will likely further exacerbate low morale and desertion rates.
I really hope this is true. Russia richly deserves payback for all the media manipulation they’ve done over the years.
Somewhat random, but I’m curious what the feasibility would be to 3D print some full sized tank shells? The specific thought would be to cause Russian defenses to waste ammo firing on dummies, in an attack. Though, I could also see applications for defense and generating red herrings.
Obviously, any success would be matched by the opposite side trying to do the same.
The thing is, the Ukrainians are fighting an existential threat to a nation of 40+ million, and if only 1/2 or 1/3 of that number of citizens fights that’s still larger than any army on Earth. Versus the Russian army which, although large, is “only” about 3.5 million including reserves. The Russians are outnumbered more than 10:1, maybe as many as 20:1. The Russians have fewer people to lose.
I’ll note that such calculus is absolutely horrific, but that’s war for you.
The Ukrainians are fighting because they don’t have anything to lose. There are some, ineffectual thus far, protests against the war as it is in Russia. If they try to mobilize even a fraction of their 145M population, some of them will calculate that they have less to lose from working against the regime than to be sent to their deaths.
One of the two sides is REALLY facing an existential threat. And it’s not the one that keeps whining about how anything and everything that doesn’t go theor way is one.
