Putin Recognizes Donbass Republics, Sends Russian Military to 'Denazify' Ukraine

[Ben]

Ordinary Ukrainians are good folks, its the Kiev regime who are Nazis, Lukashenko says

The leader of Belarus found it necessary to congratulate the Ukrainian people on Independence Day

tass.com

Maybe it's an effect of translation into English, but this quote from Lukashenko struck me as one of the most down to earth and sensible things I've read about this whole crazy situation today.

"As for me, I have a very good attitude towards Ukrainians, there is nothing bad about them… They are not Nazis at all," BelTA agency quoted him as saying. "The Nazis are the ones who are at the top of the hierarchy, starting from those who smoke, drink, snort up and then utter a lot of nonsense on TV or on the Internet. Indeed, ordinary folks are good people, they are our kind of people."

That is why, in his words, he found it necessary to congratulate the Ukrainian people on Independence Day and found the reaction of Ukrainian politicians quite strange. "Some were infuriated <…>, but I paid no attention to that," Lukashenko said.

He noted that the United States has promised more military assistance to Ukraine to the tune of $3 billion "so that Ukrainians could continue to die."

 

[Possibility of Being]

На Запорожской АЭС нашли большие запасы ядерного топлива

На Запорожской АЭС нашли большие запасы ядерного топлива. Крупнейшая АЭС в Европе располагает 30 тоннами плутония и 40 тоннами урана

aussiedlerbote.de

transl:

25 May 2022
The largest nuclear power plant in Europe has 30 tonnes of plutonium and 40 tonnes of enriched uranium.

Almost three months after the seizure, large amounts of nuclear fuel have been found at a nuclear power plant in Zaporozhye, Ukraine. The information was published by The Wall Street Journal journalist Lawrence Norman. In his Twitter account, the American referred to a statement made by IAEA head Rafael Grossi at the forum in Davos. The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency expressed concern about the fate of the stockpile. 30 tons of plutonium and 40 tons of enriched uranium - a colossal figure even for the largest nuclear power plant on the continent.

Russian experts link the presence of such a large amount of nuclear fuel at Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant with the plans of Ukraine to create nuclear weapons. For example, Serhiy Kondratyev of the Institute of Energy and Finance stresses that the situation casts doubt on the competence of the IAEA. According to the expert, such volumes of "enriched uranium and plutonium fall under the treaties on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons". However, Kondratyev says there is a lack of information - even the exact degree of uranium enrichment is unknown. [...]

Where could such a large amount of nuclear fuel have come from?

According to Serhiy Kondratyev, the Ukrainian Enerhoatom, as well as nuclear fuel suppliers, know the exact answer to this question. In recent years Westinghouse has been doing this. The expert insists that Russian TVEL always takes back spent nuclear fuel from foreign customers. The Americans most likely have not done this and this has led to the accumulation of excessive amounts of radioactive materials. Kondratyev is sure that the whole process took "a long time, not one or two months".

Other experts agree that such an amount of radioactive materials is really enough to make a "dirty bomb". A full-fledged nuclear weapon can only be created if there is a sufficient level of enrichment, and there is no information about this from the Energodar plant. The level of enrichment of weapon-grade uranium exceeds 80 per cent, and 5 is sufficient for power units. In addition, Ukraine was planning to build a special facility to store spent nuclear fuel in the Chernobyl zone. Thus, so far, there are more questions than answers in this story.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1529362297033981952

Asked for a direct link, Lawrence Norman replied:

Assume World Economic Forum Davos site has video. But here's quote. "We are trying to go back to your nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia, which is the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe, 6 nuclear reactors, 30,000 kilograms of plutonium, 40,000 Kgs of enriched uranium."-1-

"...So we hope to go there to be able to prevent that either, there is a problem or (that) we end up finding that there are a few hundred kilograms of nuclear weapon grade material going missing. This is what keeps us awake at night at the moment."

The possible use of Chernobyl zone was mentioned by SouthFront as posted here back in March.

IAEA mission scheduled to visit Zaporizhzhya NPP next week - Ukrainian energy minister's advisor

interfax.com

MOSCOW. Aug 26 (Interfax) - A mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is scheduled to visit to Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) next week, Ukrainian media quoted the Ukrainian energy minister's advisor Lana Zerkal as saying on Radio NV early on Friday morning.

"An IAEA mission's visit is scheduled for next week, and all logistic routes, i.e. how they will get there, are being sorted out now," Zerkal said.

The goal of the mission is to assess the situation at the Zaporizhzhya NPP, she said.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said on Thursday that an IAEA mission could visit the Zaporizhzhya NPP in coming days, as the sides are very close to reaching a final and complete agreement on such a visit.

"I'm determined to personally lead an IAEA mission to the plant in the next few days to help stabilize the nuclear safety and security situation there," Grossi said.

Not holding my breath but hope the Russians are well prepared for what can be a biased mission.


In the meantime...
Four Ukrainian artillery rounds struck the spent fuel storage area, Energodar officials say

See also:
What is Westinghouse Doing in Ukraine?

 

[Aeneas]

Good research PoB about the nuclear angle. The connection to the Trump raid could be valid
I also hope the Russians are well prepared for the visit by the IAEA who will likely do everything possible to cloud, hide, eliminate anything which will shine light on Western nefarious activities regarding nuclear fuels, weapons grade plutonium, Westinghouse's role etc.

Interestingly, yesterday, Medvedev mentioned the issue of Ukraine wanting nuclear weapons. The following is from the ASB military news Telegram channel:

Before we got nuked off of Twitter, we published a short analysis on the reasons for triggering Russia’s offensive on Ukraine.

We stated that one of the most obvious triggers of the Russian Armed Forces offensive on Ukraine was the statement by Volodymyr Zelenskyy about Ukraine thinking of restoring its status as a nuclear power.

Twitter community absolutely ridiculed that analysis.

We took the “L” and moved on.

6 months later, here’s the Deputy Head of the Security Council of the Russian Federation:

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev on said Friday:

“Zelensky, a few months before the start of the special military operation, said ‘we don’t rule out the resumption of work to create Ukraine's nuclear weapon capability.’ — Apparently, he wanted to scare us, but ended up creating an even more difficult atmosphere, which ultimately forced the Russian Federation to start the special military operation," said Medvedev.

t.me/asbmil

 

[thorbiorn]

In the NATO land subregion of Denmark, a former employee of the security service, wrote an opinion piece, where he wonders why the local government is following a policy on Ukraine without giving adequate reasons. He does not answer the question, but he probably lets the cat out of the bag anyway.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Jacob Skaarenborg
Former employee of the Defence Intelligence service
The Danish government owes answers to why Denmark engages in Ukraine
Just like with Afghanistan and Iraq, I miss a political statement about what the goal of the war is. And so I miss a discussion to weigh the instinctive support for Ukraine against the economic problems and the threat of global nuclear war, we face

DEBATE
24. August 2022
This is an opinion piece. The post is the expression of the writers own position. Read more here

As an enthusiastic part of the crew on the American led chariot, I was even in the wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, and has maybe just become a lot more cautious.

I am also [cautious] in relation to the Danish engagement in Ukraine, for I miss like in Afghanistan and Iraq a clear political statement about what the goal is and an understanding of the realism of this goal.

We have thrown our support behind the policy, the Americans has led to Russia in Ukraine.

The Russians have complained since the first NATO enlargement, and the perception has been that NATO's activities were aimed at them. As the saying goes, Perception is reality.

The excess of the stated Russian red lines and their arguments to attack the Ukraine is no justification for the use of military power, but the devil's lawyer could probably find parallels to (and inspiration for) our military activities in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Kosovo, Syria, Somalia, and so on.

The price is high. 400 million USD to Ukrainians and the rise in the prices of common food and energy. Famine is expected in several places, and then there is the perhaps worst of all: We have moved closer to an apocalyptic nuclear war than we were during the cold war.

It is cynical realpolitik to calculate, what we get out of it, when there is a situation like the one in Ukraine, but it is likely not completely unimportant?

So where is the political debate, weighing the instinctive support for Ukraine against the economic problems, the famine, and the increased threat of global nuclear ragnarok and ties it all together with the realism of our ill-defined objective?

Is the goal that the Russians must leave all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea? Then it is time to come to a reconsideration, for it will probably not happen.

Is the goal just that it should be as expensive as possible for the Russians to force the Ukrainians to the negotiating table, then we should perhaps consider our moral standing. It is not us who die on the battlefield.

Jacob Skaarenborg is a trained historian and geographer, and have been employed for 26 years by the Danish Defence Intelligence service.

Is that as far as it goes in many a European NATO country? - in the best of cases, sporadic and carefully formulated calls for debate? The calls are mostly ignored, but for how long?
Pepe Escobar, wrote an article, that laid out the situation and some options in: All the way to Odessa -- Sott.net. Somewhere, he says:

It may be eons away, but inevitably the average Italian, German or Frenchman will connect the dots and realize it is their own "leaders" - national nullities and mostly unelected Eurocrats - who are paving their road to poverty.

 

[thorbiorn]

Steady losses of material

Saturday, July 30, left compared with August 13 right

And now on August 27, or two weeks later the picture is that Ukraine keeps loosing equipment in pretty much all areas, where there is something to lose:

Material for Ukraine is being sourced from other countries. Someone was even was partially successful in organizing planes from Kazakhstan, according to this Tweet:

An agreement was reached with Kazspetsexport on the purchase of Kazakh Su-27,aircraft engines and Mi-24 helicopters through an allegedly Bulgarian gasket company owned by Ukrainians. According to the documents ,it was supposed to be delivered to the US,but in fact to be in Ukraine

Energodar Nuclear Power Plant keeps getting hit
Intel Slava Z had:

Ukrainian troops launched 20 artillery strikes on Energodar on Saturday morning, five of them on the territory of the nuclear power plant, city officials report

Other details from the Russian MoD

Over the past 24 hours, artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shelled the territory of the station three times, fired 17 shells, 4 hit the roof of special building No. 1, where 168 assemblies with American nuclear fuel from Westinghouse are stored. 10 shells exploded 30 meters from the dry storage of spent nuclear fuel and 3 - exploded in the area of special building No. 2, which houses the fresh nuclear fuel storage unit of the TVEL company and the storage of solid radioactive waste.
The shelling of the station was carried out from the area of the settlement. Manganese of the Dnepropetrovsk region. During the counter-battery fight, an American M777 howitzer was identified and destroyed.
The radiation situation at the Zaporozhye NPP remains normal. Control of the technical condition of the nuclear power plant and ensuring its operation is carried out by regular technical personnel

In the map below, the place from where the shells were fired is located directly opposite the power plant, 10-15 km away.

 

[Pierre]

In this video (9:27), rural Russians name a country they don't like and they give the reason(s) why. The 3 countries most often cited are the USA, Ukraine and Poland. Notice that 13 Russians accepted to answer while 60 refused to answer:

 

[Abats]

It looks like the waves that a rocket emits when taking off but I'm not sure, it could be a superweapon ? could it be the same waves as those seen with the portal located in the middle east?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1563481832611803136

 

[youlik]

It looks like the waves that a rocket emits when taking off but I'm not sure, it could be a superweapon ? could it be the same waves as those seen with the portal located in the middle east?

Sorry, I don't read Twitter. Maybe it's about the same thing.

There is an unusual phenomenon in the sky over Donetsk. Eyewitnesses describe it as "waves in the clouds."

voenhronika.ru - Военная хроника

Reinforcements have gone. The offensive may be activated.

2022-08-28

Echelons with artillery, air defense and tanks moved towards Ukraine
Residents of the Rostov region and Crimea report echelons with military equipment moving towards Ukraine.

The defense of the Russian borders will be further strengthened at the expense of various types of air defense, self-propelled artillery installations and dozens of tanks that have moved in the direction of the border with Ukraine, probably to further strengthen it. This is evidenced by numerous video frames published by the publication "Mogilev.Online", where you can see that we are talking about huge railway trains carrying out the transportation of Buk complexes, modern T-80 and T-90M tanks, self-propelled artillery installations, etc.

To date, it is known about at least three trains with military equipment, which completely refutes the information from Kiev and Western countries that Russia is experiencing some difficulties with the availability of military equipment.

"The video footage completely refutes the claims of the West. The military equipment necessary to protect the borders is available to Russia in sufficient quantities, moreover, we are talking not only about the equipment that has been used since the USSR, but also about quite modern," the analyst of Avia.pro notes.

A little earlier, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation confirmed the fact that the conduct of ITS is taking place in accordance with the established plans.

В сторону Украины выдвинулись эшелоны с артиллерией, ПВО и танками

Here, in my opinion, the guys (Rybar and Beregini) take a lot on themselves, but nevertheless the job is done. Putin's recent meeting with Tokayev in Sochi obviously had a much greater impact on the situation.

Rybar's team congratulates the Beregini hacker group on a powerful joint victory: Kazakhstan officially announced the suspension of the export of military weapons abroad until the end of 2023 after the scandal we arranged. Thanks to our joint work, it was possible to prove that the Kazakhs are actively supplying weapons to Ukraine, supporting open aggression against their own CSTO ally. The Government of Kazakhstan had to announce a complete suspension of arms exports abroad in order to offset the consequences of the scandal. (Rybar)

ЖЕСТКОЕ ВИДЕО боевых действий с Украины. Последние новости на этот час (22 видео)

Kazakhstan will suspend the export of military products until the end of August 2023

This was announced on Saturday, August 27, by the press service of the government.
"Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov held a meeting of the Commission on defense industry issues. The participants considered the proposal of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development to suspend the export of weapons, military equipment and military products until the end of August 2023," the report says (quoted by TASS).

The participants of the meeting supported this decision. Recently, on August 22, a meeting of the Security Council was held under the chairmanship of the Head of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev – it considered issues of production, procurement and export of military products.

Earlier, Readovka wrote that Vladimir Putin and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met in Sochi. There were intentions to give "additional dynamics" to the cooperation of states.

Казахстан приостановит экспорт военной продукции до конца августа 2023 года

 

[youlik]

Impressive maneuverability

Su-25 directly over the highway.

voenhronika.ru - Военная хроника

 

[loreta]

Sheikh Imran Hosein talks about the assassination of the daughter of Alexander Dugin

 

[thorbiorn]

It looks like the waves that a rocket emits when taking off but I'm not sure, it could be a superweapon ? could it be the same waves as those seen with the portal located in the middle east?

The video is from https://t.me/itsdonetsk/27927 uploaded August 27, at 8:29 am.
The VK post https://vk.com/wall-23502694_16096839 was uploaded at 8:59 am.
The video was taken in Волноваха, (Volnovakha) probably below a structure that has been exposed to fire. Volnovakha is located about 55 km southwest of Donetsk, the same distance north of Mariupol, and 185 km east of the Energodar Nuclear Power Plant

 

[thorbiorn]

Mirotvorets
In this article 'Peacemaker' of death: This Ukrainian website threatens hundreds of thousands with extrajudicial killings — some are Americans -- Sott.net they say:

But so far, calls for the closure of Mirotvorets have, in fact, been limited to a chorus of journalists, human rights defenders, and parliamentarians, who lack the power to make legally binding decisions with respect to Ukraine. This issue is not included among the list of requirements put forth by the Council of Europe or the European Commission that Kiev must fulfill in order to implement the EU Association Agreement. Allocation of European and American assistance to Ukraine for carrying out reforms has not been made contingent on closing down Mirotvorets, nor have measures been taken to pressure the Kiev authorities to respect privacy and the presumption of innocence.

With the Western authorities turning a blind eye, the Ukrainian government has been able to ignore the activities of the scandalous site and dismiss demands from international human rights defenders by coming up with various pretenses. For example, in response to demands by the UN for it to be shut down, Dmitry Razumkov, the ex-speaker of Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, said that the Rada does not have the authority to close media outlets.

The article claimed that Darya Dugina is now on the list as liquidated. I verified the information, and found that the data for her to come on the list allegedly originally came from NATO on July 6th 2022, so not so long ago.

One politician, Marie Krarup,, asked for a meeting with the Danish minister of foreign affairs regarding what he would do about the situation that a few Danes had been placed on the Mirotvorets list. From the commission there were apparently only the person who posed the question, and the chairman, who had to be there. This is apparently not a usual situation with so few people present, but nobody else seemed to care, or properly speaking, this is how the members of the parliament show their support for the actions in Ukraine. The meeting was one hour long, where the FM weaved his way in and out of the crux of the matter.

I checked the list, and they keep adding people every day, claiming they are war criminals, listing them with phone, birthday, etc

Russia at the United Nations wrote about the shelling at the NPP

We circulated among #UNSC members a letter regarding presentation by the @mod_russia
on the shelling by the #AFU of the Zaporozhye #NPP on August 25. Radiation level at the power units is being monitored and remains within normal range.

From the MoD channel.

️Kiev regime continues provocations to threaten a man-made nuclear disaster at Zaporozhye NPP.

Over the past 24 hours, 2 AFU artillery attacks on the territory of the nuclear power plant have been recorded.

A total of 9 shells have been fired, 3 of which landed near Special Building No 2, where TVEL's fresh nuclear fuel and solid radioactive waste are stored. As a result of the shells hitting the nuclear power plant area, pipeline line was hit by shrapnel.

As a result of the second shelling, one shell landed near Unit 6 and five other shells fell in front of Unit 6 pumping station, which provides cooling for this reactor.

Ukrainian artillery shelling of the nuclear power plant was carried out from Marganets area in Dniepropetrovsk Region.

In counter-battery warfare, AFU units shelling NPP have been suppressed by return fire.

Currently, a full-time technical staff monitors the technical condition of the nuclear plant and ensures its operation.

The radiation situation in the nuclear power plant area remains normal.

 

[Possibility of Being]

To be expected, true or not. There may be more info in German media.

(Translated from Russian)
Austrian media report death of suspect murder of Daria Dugina

28 August 2022, 16:25

Ukrainian citizen Natalia Vovk, suspected of murder of journalist Daria Dugina, was found murdered in her rented flat, Exxpress media report, citing unnamed sources.

Exxpress did not name the city where Vovk might have been killed, but said that the woman was found dead in a rented flat. According to journalists, the deceased had 17 stab wounds and carried a note in her hand.

The publication cites a blurred photograph from the scene. It also said that no traces of Vovk's daughter were found.

UPDATE
(transl)

Austrian Interior Ministry has not confirmed report of Natalya Vovk's death
28 August 2022, 18:31

The Austrian Interior Ministry does not confirm the information spread in messengers and social networks about the alleged murder of Ukrainian citizen Natalya Vovk.

"We can report that such a case is not known in Austria. Therefore, we cannot confirm the veracity of this information," the agency said in response to a TASS reporter's request.

 

[Possibility of Being]

Good research PoB about the nuclear angle. The connection to the Trump raid could be valid

Thanks, and as for the connection - I just don't know, maybe we'll see.

This is off topic, but if anyone is interested, I've found a loooong article published back in 2014 by FLB.ru about the story behind Ukraine's cooperation with Westinghouse Electric. Filled with scams and subsequent serious problems; who knows what else was there that was not revealed (or was not on the table back then yet).

One quote:

In April 2014. Ukraine renewed a contract frozen two years ago with the U.S. company Westinghouse that provides for the supply until 2020 of appropriate amounts of TVS-W fuel for three nuclear units of "Soviet-designed" nuclear power plants. The Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of the interim Ukrainian government, Yuriy Prodan, said that fuel qualification has now been completed and despite certain problems with the licensing authority - "everything will be fine".

However, in order to renew the frozen contract with Westinghouse, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, known for his deep US ties, had to sack Olena Mykolaychuk, chairman of the State Nuclear Regulatory Committee of Ukraine, and Mykhailo Gashev, chief state inspector for nuclear and radiation safety at the State Nuclear Regulatory Committee. Olena Mykolaychuk has been responsibly and expertly opposing the use of US fuel at Ukrainian nuclear plants all these years, while Mykhailo Gashev has submitted a negative opinion on Westinghouse's fuel.

I'm attaching its DeepL translation with another (short) article about a suspicious suicide of Serhiy Klimov, the head of nuclear safety department in ZNPP back in 2018

STRANGE SUICIDE AT ZAPORIZHZHYA NPP

Serhiy Klimov, head of the nuclear safety department at Zaporizhzhya NPP, has committed suicide by stabbing himself in the heart?

 

[thorbiorn]

There was this from the VK RT livestream which shows how attached they are to their own kind of subservience to Deep State politics, because the Europeans are essentially asked to give up a large % of their wealth to inflation, without getting more freedom in return.

RT has a TV ad saying Social Networks switched us off? Okay then! Switch to Telegram, Rumble, Odysee, Gab.

On RT Live there was an interview. Here is a link:
Pretexts & subtexts? Foad Izadi, Professor of Political Communications at the University of Tehran

An old Russian saying has it that once you have a reason, finding a pretext is a matter of time, including a pretext for war. The animosity between Russia and the United States has been building for a number of years, in fact one could argue it never disappeared, only diminished, with the end of the Cold War. How far can the current war over Ukraine take it? To discuss this, Oksana is joined by Foad Izadi, Professor of Political Communications at the University of Tehran.

WATCH:
https://www.rt.com/shows/worlds-apart-oksana-boyko/

The Professor has many valid points about the situation. He looks at the benefits the sanctions against Iran since 1979 have brought and it amounts to a high degree of self-sufficiency.