Fogbow

Treason, betrayal and grief in Ukrainian village devastated by Russian missile strike
Two brothers who grew up in village of Hroza have been charged with treason in wake of attack that killed 59 people

by Luke Harding and Phil Caller in Hroza
Thu 12 Oct 2023 16.14 CEST

The funeral procession began at midday. Four coffins were taken out of a cottage and loaded into the back of two white vans. The vehicles trundled along a dirt track. Mourners followed, 30 of them, a few clutching carnations. They walked past a grassy football pitch and a pair of chained-up goats before turning right along an avenue of poplars.

Their destination was the village cemetery in Hroza, a community of 300 people in the rustic north-east of Ukraine. Once, the cemetery was small. Over the past few days it had grown as gravediggers chopped down trees and dug fresh plots. They were still working as the cortege arrived, led by a priest, under a flawless blue sky.

The funerals were for four members of the same family: Anatoliy Kozyr, his daughter Olha, son Ihor and grandson Ivan. Ivan was eight. They were killed last week when Russia hit the cafe where they were sitting with an Iskander missile. Fifty-nine people died. Six were wounded. It was one of the worst episodes in Moscow’s bloody war. According to Kyiv’s SBU intelligence agency, it was also a story of treason and betrayal.

For seven months last year, Russian soldiers occupied Hroza. They moved into private houses, looted cars and demanded vodka. Most villagers resented their new foreign overlords. A few welcomed them. They included two brothers, Volodymyr and Dmytro Mamon, who grew up in the village and served as police officers. Both, it is alleged, defected to the Russian side.

When Ukraine seized back Kharkiv province last November, the brothers are said to have left with departing troops and escaped to Russia. According to the SBU, they began building a network of informants inside Ukraine. “Under the guise of friendly conversations and correspondence in chat groups, the traitors asked people for information about the deployment of Ukraine’s armed forces and group events in the region,” the SBU said on Wednesday.

In early October, the brothers allegedly began collecting information about a funeral. They learned that Andriyi Kozyr, a volunteer soldier killed last year in the south of the country, was going to be reburied in Hroza. This had not been possible when the Russians occupied the area. His 24-year-old son, Denys, brought his father’s body home from the city of Dnipro. “Volodymyr Mamon gave this information to the Russians,” the SBU alleges.

The ceremony took place last week. Afterwards, Denys, his 20-year-old wife, Nina, other relatives and friends gathered in the Sputnik cafe for a wake. At 1pm they sat down to lunch. Nine minutes later, the missile obliterated them. The SBU says Mamon knew that the locals who had tipped him off about the event would be inside the cafe. He understood they “would surely die”.

Chat messages released by the agency suggest Mamon held a grudge against one attender. In one, he asks to be reminded of the name of the cafe “back in the homeland”. In another, he writes: “Tell me when he is dead.”



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... ile-strike

BBC News

Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva detained in Kazan

Alsu Kurmasheva's detention comes after the arrest of Evan Gershkovich earlier this year.

Suranis wrote: ↑Thu Oct 19, 2023 5:37 pm That's actually really interesting. I would imagine the Russians might have been thinking of saying "they using Nazi Tanks therefore Ukranians = Nazis" But regardless its a very interesting find. Must have some history behind it.

Volkonski wrote: ↑Wed Oct 25, 2023 9:47 am On This Day In History
@onthisday@mastodon.social
Today in 1854, 169 years ago: The Battle of Balaclava takes place during the Crimean War. It is soon memorialized in verse as The Charge of the Light Brigade.

The White House on Thursday said Russia is executing soldiers who have failed to follow orders and threatening entire units with death if they retreat from Ukrainian artillery fire. It's a development that U.S. national security officials believe reflects Russia's morale problems 20 months into its grinding invasion of Ukraine, said White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

"It's reprehensible to think about that you would execute your own soldiers because they didn't want to follow orders and now threatening to execute entire units, it's barbaric," Kirby told reporters. "But I think it's a symptom of how poorly Russia's military leaders know they're doing and how bad they have handled this from a military perspective."

The White House has downgraded and released intelligence findings about Russian action over the course of the war. In the past, the administration has said it has acted to disclose the intelligence to highlight plans for Russian misinformation and other activity so allies remain clear-eyed about Moscow's intent and Russia thinks twice before carrying out an operation.

This latest unveiling of intelligence about Russia's struggles comes as President Biden is pressing the Republican-controlled House to go along with providing more funding for Ukraine as Kyiv tries to repel Russia in a war that has no end in sight.

Kirby pointed to the information as he renewed a plea for Congress to pass a nearly $106 billion supplemental funding request that Biden unveiled last week. The funding request includes more than $61 billion for Ukraine.

OK WOW. it looks like the russians have bit off far more then they can take with AVD. the ukr forces are counter attacking with one of the western trained corps with added troops.

UKR now outnumbers, and out shoots the russians in the area... they are attacking into the wounded russian flanks from what is being reported.. both from ukr and russian sides.

Ukraine war: Grenade birthday gift kills army chief Zaluzhny's aide

Published 4 hours ago
By Paul Kirby BBC News

A grenade given as a birthday present has blown up and killed a close aide of the head of Ukraine's armed forces Valery Zaluzhny.

Maj Hennadiy Chastyakov, 39, had returned to his flat with presents from his colleagues and was opening them with his son when the grenade exploded.

Maj Chastyakov was killed and his 13-year-old son left seriously wounded.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the boy had started turning the ring on the grenade.

"Then, the serviceman took the grenade from the child and pulled the ring, causing a tragic explosion."

Prosecutors clarified later that he had accidentally set off the grenade while trying to take it away from his son.

The blast has been described as a "tragic accident" and the minister appealed to the public to await the outcome of an official investigation. Police said the explosion in the family flat at Chaiky in the western outskirts of Kyiv had been "as a result of careless handling of ammunition".

But it soon emerged that another five grenades had been found in the flat. Mr Klymenko said that they had been a gift from a colleague in the army.

Two similar grenades were later found in a search of the colleague, described as a colonel in the army.

Pictures from the scene showed other grenades on the floor of the flat, along with other gift bags. Maj Chastyakov had apparently brought the grenades home in a bag with a bottle of whisky.

A source told Ukrainska Pravda that the bottle had been in a gift bag with grenade-shaped glasses and the explosion happened when he opened the bag. Other reports said that his colleague had handed over the bottle saying: "It's hard to surprise you: That's why I'm giving you combat grenades and a bottle of good whisky."

Gen Zaluzhny spoke of the unspeakable pain and heavy loss to the Ukrainian military and to him personally, describing Maj Chastyakov as a "reliable shoulder" since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.



https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67342367

Foggy wrote: ↑Tue Nov 07, 2023 11:37 am Well sure, live grenades and hard likker, that's what I always ask for on my birthday. Woo hoo!

I mean, Woo hoo boom!

Russians living in the capital, Moscow, are reportedly being advised to "turn to God" in the event of an attack on the city amid a lack of usable bomb shelters.

Local authorities are hiding the addresses of air-raid shelters from the public and are repairing them only for government officials and members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party, the "Mozhem Obyasnit" (We Can Explain) Russian Telegram news channel reported.

A year after the city's mayor issued an edict to make air-raid shelters available to the public, the majority of bomb shelters in Moscow are still unusable, with many long abandoned, while some have been rented out as commercial premises, Mozhem Obyasnit found.

Authorities in several Russian cities have canceled fireworks displays and pledged to send money to the front rather than purchase New Year decorations, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on Dec. 8.

Various officials have pledged to scale back traditional holiday festivities in order to purchase military equipment to supply Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Sochi Mayor Alexey Kopaygorodsky said funds allocated for fireworks would be redirected to the Russian military. He also called on local businesses and residents to follow suit.

"This will be the best gift for our fellow countrymen on the front lines," Kopaygorodsky said.

Andrey Kravchenko, the mayor of Novorossiysk, also announced that his city would cancel its New Year's Eve fireworks display and use the money saved to send equipment to the front. The mountain city of Nalchik pledged not to buy any new holiday decorations this year. City authorities plan to repurpose decorations from past years.

Similar plans are in place throughout Russia, including Volzhskiy in Volgograd Oblast, Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia-Alania, and the southern region Stavropol Krai.

Business Insider reported last year that many Russian cities canceled New Year festivities in order to redirect money to the military in the first year of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Officials in Moscow and St. Petersburg canceled holiday fireworks shows.