cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/16299740

> MOSCOW, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Russian businessman Yury Antipov was questioned by police on Monday in a fraud case connected to the alleged illegal privatisation of metals assets... > > TASS had earlier said that Antipov had been detained on fraud charges... > > The move comes after Russian news agencies reported that a regional arbitration court in Sverdlovsk had ruled in favour of prosecutors seeking to nationalise three assets important to the defence industry that they said had been illegally privatised in the 1990s.

Day 537: Aug 14

Today there are a lot of updates from the Kherson region.

Here, after Ukrainians finally broke Russian resistance in front of Oleshky and established a powerful bridgehead, Ukrainians shifted their focus to the northern part of the region. The main goal of Ukrainian forces is to drive Russians away from the eastern bank of the river, gain as many footholds as possible, and set conditions for a much more comprehensive attack.

The first thing Ukrainians did was undermine Russian defensive capabilities on this section of the front line. Geolocated footage shows that there were huge explosions in Nova Kahovka. Later, Ukrainian military officials confirmed that Ukrainians had successfully destroyed a Russian command post. And this is extremely important because Russians are controlling from here the whole region.

Next, Ukrainians started targeting Russian reserves. By destroying Russian reserves, Ukrainians were making sure that Russians would not be able to react to unexpected developments and block Ukrainian advancement. Recently, Ukrainian reconnaissance drone operators detected that Russians were yet again using columns to move through the region. Ukrainians once again exploited this opportunity, tracked them down, and destroyed Russian reinforcements.

The next logical step became destroying Russian ammunition depots. The first target of the Ukrainian strike became an ammunition depot near Krynky. But the biggest strikes happened in Oleshky. Here Ukrainians destroyed 2 ammunition depots in just one strike. The explosion was much more powerful, indicating that Russians indeed lost tons of ammunition and equipment.

After that, Ukrainians evaluated the situation and identified a weak spot in the Russian defense, which turned out to be near Kozachi Laheri. Geolocated footage shows that Ukrainians tracked down and destroyed Russian reconnaissance teams that were operating in the region, significantly diminishing understanding of the situation in this sector. Ukrainian sources reported that Russians lost up to 17 troops killed in action, including a high-ranking officer.

In preparation for the ground operations, Ukrainians conducted intense artillery preparation on the Russian positions in and around the village, undermining the Russian defense. Finally, Ukrainians also unleashed their kamikaze drones to target whoever was still left in the trenches on the zero line.

Later at night, Ukrainians conducted an amphibious operation and assaulted Russian positions on the eastern bank of the river. Some sources reported that Ukrainians used 7 boats and 50 troops in total. This was enough to breach the primary line of defense and advance by up to 1 km within hours. Everything happened so quickly that the battalion commander did not understand where his forces disappeared. He went to check on them but got right into the Ukrainian trap. As it turned out, Ukrainians effectively jammed communication and swiftly captured not only Russian positions but also a lot of Russian soldiers, including the commander of the battalion.

Destroying a cathedral. At this point in the war it's clear they don't care about anything.

If they want to be fertilizer for polish farmers...

Zelensky commented on Putin's refusal to go to the BRICS summit

"A person with an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (The Hague) will not go to South Africa for the BRICS summit. Regardless of the fact that he still has the status of "president". This is how international law should work. Has he committed a crime? Start looking around. Limitation of any opportunities, fear of movement, self-isolation, reputational collapse. At the end, a mandatory bench of defendants..." - noted the adviser to the head of the OP Mykhailo Podolyak.

Having already transferred 10 Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, Poland may provide an additional 20 aircraft, Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Zvarych, said in an interview with Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform on July 19.

"Thus far, ten MiG-29s have been handed over, and there's a possibility that Poland will transfer the remainder – around 20 aircraft of this type that are still in service," Zvarych said.

However, he noted that Poland could only transfer these fighters after their replacements arrive from Warsaw’s allies. The process has already started, as Poland has received its first FA-50 jets from South Korea.

Zvarych also mentioned that Poland is among the 11 countries ready to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters – a process set to commence in August.

"We are in discussions with the Polish side about the specific timeline, quantity, and implementation of these agreements on training Ukrainian pilots in Poland," he added.

Poland and Slovakia were the first NATO countries to provide combat aircraft to Ukrainian defenders. Slovakia transferred four Soviet MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine on March 23. On April 17, it was reported that Slovakia had delivered all 13 promised MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine.

On May 8, Poland's Minister of Defense, Mariusz Blaszczak, announced that his country had already provided Ukraine with 10 MiG-29 fighters.

Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksiy Hromov, announced on June 15 that the MiG-29 aircraft Kyiv received from Poland and Slovakia were already in service.

10th June 2023. RFs now standing at approximately 234k+ Military Personnel Losses.

A down to earth and simplified look at the day-by-day happenings on the ground, on the Ukraïne Map. Including news, military personnel losses for Russia, aided by imagery - for Day 502.

July 8th 2023

6th June 2023. RFs now standing at approximately 232,000 Military Personnel Losses.

A down to earth and simplified look at the day-by-day happenings on the ground, on the Ukraïne Map. Including news, military personnel losses for Russia, aided by imagery - for Day 498.