(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Over the past several hours Russia began tonight’s bombardment of Ukrainian civilian targets.

⚡️Russian drone attack on Kharkiv damages civilian infrastructure.

Russian drone attacks on the city of Kharkiv overnight on March 2 destroyed four cars and damaged the windows of at least ten residential buildings, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported.…

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 1, 2024

⚡️UPDATE: Russian drone attack on Odesa kills 1, injures 7.

A Russian drone attack on Odesa killed one person and injured at least seven others, Odesa Oblast Governor Oleh Kiper reported on March 2.https://t.co/TqMRCPTo6M

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 2, 2024

Police station, hospital, and kindergarten in Kostiantynivka were hit by S-300. Constant attacks have forced residents, whom I know, to flee. Will it become the next target for Russia's assault? pic.twitter.com/jqnEKqtuXW

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) March 1, 2024

From The Kyiv Independent:

A Russian drone attack on Kharkiv Oblast killed one man, local authorities reported on March 2.

The 76-year-old man died under the rubble of his house after a Russian drone struck his home in the Kupiansk district of Kharkiv Oblast at around 12:10 a.m. local time. Regional police also told local media that an elderly woman was evacuated from a nearby house.

Earlier tonight, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov announced that a drone attack on the city of Kharkiv, the regional capital, destroyed four cars and damaged the windows of at least ten residential buildings. No casualties have been reported in the city.

Due to its proximity to the Russian border, residents of Kharkiv Oblast have faced near-daily attacks since the start of the full-scale invasion. Part of the region was also occupied in early February 2022 before its liberation in early September.

More than 20,000 buildings have been destroyed in Kharkiv since Feb. 24, 2022, according to Ukrainian government figures.

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

This year, new fighter jets will be in our skies – address by the President of Ukraine

1 March 2024 – 17:24

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

Today we are in Kharkiv. The visit of Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands. Together we visited our warriors – the guys are recovering from their wounds. I had the honor to thank them and present them with state awards. I am grateful to every doctor, to all our medical workers who save lives. This is the most honorable job.

Together with Mark, we visited places in Kharkiv hit by Russian missiles. Ordinary residential buildings, the city’s infrastructure were destroyed… It is important to ensure greater security for Kharkiv. We are working with all leaders to bolster air defense both here and in other cities. The world has this potential, and we need sufficient joint determination to make Russian terror lose.

Today we have a new package of military support for our warriors from the Netherlands. By the way, the Netherlands is actively helping us with air defense, with the F-16 coalition. This year, new fighter jets will be in our skies, and we have to make this year an effective one in defending ourselves against Russian guided bombs, Russian aircraft, and their missiles.

Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk, and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov held a special military briefing for Mark Rutte on the situation at the front today, on our capabilities in active operations and defense in specific areas. Of course, we also talked about Kharkiv. I am grateful for the readiness of the Netherlands to continue its assistance.

We signed a bilateral security agreement between our countries – security commitments, security cooperation. This is the seventh such security agreement with our partners, and it is a strong agreement. There is a specific amount of military support per year – 2 billion euros. There are all the details of our joint work in the defense sector, in politics, and in achieving justice. The Netherlands stands for the establishment of a special tribunal for Russian aggression, supports our work both in Ukraine and with partners to bring all Russian war criminals to justice, and is in favor of strengthening sanctions against Russia for the war.

And this is a really powerful visit today. I am grateful to Mark personally and to all the people of the Netherlands for their support of Ukraine.

We have already prepared active international work for March: there will be more support, we are preparing new security agreements, new agreements on weapons for our troops.

The key point is that Russia must be losing, and our country must restore security together with our partners. We are doing everything for this. I thank everyone who helps!

Glory to Ukraine!

⚡️Zelensky: Kharkiv not safe enough for residents to return.

Kharkiv is not yet safe enough for residents to return to the city, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a press conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on March 1.https://t.co/aTY07VLBEp

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 1, 2024

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte visited Ukraine today. Here is the video of their joint press conference:

 

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, more than 20,000 buildings have been destroyed in Kharkiv. Schools, universities, residential houses, kindergartens, and churches. Russian shelling has inflicted devastation upon the city, but Kharkiv remains invincible. We… pic.twitter.com/ADtnDER0AS

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 1, 2024

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, more than 20,000 buildings have been destroyed in Kharkiv. Schools, universities, residential houses, kindergartens, and churches. Russian shelling has inflicted devastation upon the city, but Kharkiv remains invincible. We are working with partners to bring more protection to the people, the city, and the region.

Together with Dutch @MinPres Mark Rutte, we saw the buildings damaged by Russian shelling and honored the memory of children killed by Russian aggression.

I thank everyone who works, restores the destroyed, rescues, and helps people affected by enemy shelling. May the memory of all those whose lives have been taken by Russian terror be blessed.

France:

France is ordering 100 remotely operated munitions from Delair, which will arrive in Ukraine this summer.

Thank you, France!
Victory is certain when there is unity.
🇺🇦🤝🇫🇷 https://t.co/rgTKIk159y

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 1, 2024

The French are also taking Russia’s political warfare very, very seriously.

The French internal security service is investigating an attempt to destabilize the European Union elections by pro-Russians in France https://t.co/rek71mvfQF

— Patrick Tucker (@DefTechPat) March 1, 2024

Le Monde has the details:

France has been slow to understand that, in a war, propaganda is as dangerous as cannons. In autumn 2023, the directorate-general for internal security (DGSI) opened an investigation into suspicions of attempts to destabilise the European elections on 9 June. According to the elements gathered by The World, confirmed by a source within the Ministry of Interior’, they relate to the constitution of’a list in France serving the interests of Russia and being able to benefit from the support of Moscow. Other countries of the European Union (EU)’ would be targeted by similar threats aimed at weakening the anti-Moscow front born of the war in Ukraine. On January 3, Josep Borrell, the head of European diplomacy, warned that’en this election year, « l’Europe is in danger ».

For now, the investigations of the DGSI are only’administrative, but they have already been the subject of many technical and human monitoring. None of the persons among the alleged actors in this operation have been questioned and, according to our information, french counter-spies have not yet established formal links between the Russian regime and its French relays. Nevertheless, the main European intelligence services give enough credit to this threat to find themselves in mid-March to coordinate their efforts and respond to this vast concerted attack.

For months now, the DGSI has been monitoring the draft European list of a former French member of parliament National front (l’ancien nome du Rassemblement national, RN), Jean-Luc Schaffhauser, aided by pro-Russian figures close to the extreme right, such as military’ancien Pierre Plas, journalist Dimitri of Kochko or’ex-members of the RN as Guillaume Pradoura. M. Schaffhauser had been auditioned, in 2023, to the’ National Assembly by the committee of’ parliamentary inquiry on foreign interference in French political life. He had intervened in the obtaining, by the National Front, of two loans intended to finance the party of Marine Le Pen, in particular that issued, in 2014, by a Russian bank.

Member of’Opus Dei, M. Schaffhauser does not hide his dream of seeing extreme right’ parties come to power throughout the’UE. This former consultant for Dassault and Thales in Russia is working today’ to raise the funds necessary to finance his campaign. « I need 2.5 million’euros, he says. J’ai has taken over advisory missions on disputes between States, in particular with’Italy. I can’t call on a wealthy Russian for obvious reasons. I deny any form of foreign’interference in my political approach, J’agis in the interest of France. »

Who else do we know in Opus Dei? This guy!

The Germans seem to be suffering from serious strategic confusion:

The public discussions nowadays about Taurus that shouldn't be out in the open are just crazy 😂. Germany is reportedly considering using Taurus in a left-of-launch role to take out Russian missile launchers, possibly ones armed with nuclear warheads, in Kaliningrad. https://t.co/WkuxBYUg0X

— Fabian Hoffmann (@FRHoffmann1) March 1, 2024

Scholz: If we give the Taurus to Ukraine they could blow up legitimate Russian military targets in Russia, which could lead to a nuclear war.

Also Olaf Scholz: We’ll use the Taurus to preemptively take out nuclear tipped Russian missiles in Kaliningrad.

Olaf needs to sit down and have a hear to heart with Olaf and sort things out!

Lest they feel left out, The Insider reports that the Germans also have a Russian spy problem.

In the city of Lipetsk, 300 miles south of Moscow, stands a yellow chapel. Somewhat out of place next to a modern mirrored-window building, situated on the lip of a roundabout, the 200 year-old Church of Holy Transfiguration caters to the faithful of a large mining town that dates back to the era of Peter the Great. Inside, Father Konstantin Baiazov performs the customary rites and rituals for his flock. Dark and bearded, with a short, military-style buzz cut, the church’s archpriest’s routine is standard – services twice a day. Father Konstantin inherited the job — and the calling — from his own father, a revered Orthodox priest who, as local legend goes, had challenged the authority of the formidable KGB during Soviet times.

Konstantin, the father of three, used to travel abroad. He liked visiting Europe, and was particularly fond of Rome. However, he has not left Russia since September 2020. Since the fifth of that month, Father Baiazov’s official passport, numbered 763391844, has not belonged to a man of God. Rather, it belongs to someone who wears a different kind of white collar, looks a lot like him, and is the most wanted man in Europe.

For more than four years, Jan Marsalek, the former chief operating officer of the disgraced German financial services company Wirecard, has been living in Russia under this assumed identity, a year-long investigation by The Insider, Der Spiegel, ZDF, and Der Standard has uncovered. Wirecard, the German equivalent to PayPal was once a DAX-30 listed company, one of the wealthiest traded entities on the German stock exchange, with a valuation of $28 billion. Then came June 2020, when, in the midst of an audit, Wirecard could not locate €1.9 billion in assets it claimed were being held somewhere in the world – Russia, the United Arab Emirates or the Philippines. In fact, the money didn’t exist. Wirecard’s worth was predicated on commissions supposedly earned from three companies, Al Alam, Senjo and PayEasy, based in Dubai, Singapore and Manila, respectively. Wirecard money flowed into all three but the only documented flows in reverse existed in the German conglomerate’s imagination. Or, as the now imprisoned former CEO Markus Braun claims, it had been funneled away to a complex web of offshore accounts controlled by his then number two, Jan Marsalek.

Marsalek, the man responsible for overseeing the forging of company records, money-laundering, and extensive espionage and harassment campaigns against the journalists and speculators who exposed the enormity of Wirecard’s graft, fled in a sinuous route from Germany to Austria to Belarus to Moscow on June 19, 2020, at a moment when COVID-19 lockdowns made movement across borders more difficult than usual for ordinary citizens. But Marsalek is not only an internationally accused swindler. He is also an agent of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service, and he has been for the last decade. More recently, since his defection to Russia, he has also done jobs for the FSB.

The Insider’s investigation is based mainly on confidential documents, emails, and chat transcripts, as well mobile phone and travel data. Research into Marsalek’s past also included interviews conducted by our consortium partners with people close to the accused. Among these are his mother and his longtime recruiter-handler, whom Der Spiegel met up with in February at a five-star hotel in Dubai.

The never-before-told story of how the Austrian-born “whiz kid” was recruited to Russia’s largest and most notorious spy agency, the GRU, bears all the hallmarks of a genre-bending ham thriller. Sacha Baron Cohen as Bernie Madoff the Bond villain. It is a saga replete with honey traps, MiG fighter jets, erotic models, sinister ex-spooks, even more sinister mercenaries, counterfeit passports, fake priests taking Syphilis tests, and cheap disguises. More ominously, the story also involves surveillance and kidnapping plots, including surveillance targeting a member of the team that investigated Marsalek’s case, Christo Grozev.

On July 6, 2014, Zlobina turned 30. It was also the day Marsalek met his GRU handler.

Zlobina was waiting for her beau aboard a dingy Greek-flagged cutter, “Poseidon III,” in the Mediterranean waters off the coast of Nice. Marsalek arrived with a second man, who was carrying his suitcase. Marsalek climbed down a ladder into the vessel and gave Zlobina a perfunctory peck on the cheek. He was clearly angry, which was the point of this vignette, captured on marina security camera footage retrieved by Der Spiegel. The Poseidon III was a ruse, Natasha’s joke, and whether by accident or design, two years later, the Greek god of the ocean would furnish the codename used to refer to Wirecard in a bogus corporate merger scheme with a French merchant technology company, Ingenico. That scheme was designed — and then publicly leaked — to gin up Wirecard’s share prices.

Zlobina’s birthday gift to Marsalek — or maybe to herself — was an introduction aboard the yacht to a man named Stanislav Petlinsky. Zlobina introduced Marsalek to Petlinsky as “Stas, the general from GRU.” At the time, Petlinsky was dating Zlobina’s best friend, and she promised Marsalek that “Stas” would be a terrific addition to his thickening rolodex of influential Russian contacts.

So he would.

In the 90s, Petlinsky had been a supervising officer in the GRU Spetsnaz, or special forces, and fought in Chechnya. He spent that floating evening with Marsalek regaling him with his exploits — particularly as a marksman, as Marsalek expressed an interest in guns. Petlinsky’s exact rank and role in Russian intelligence — hinted at by the man himself to an intimate circle of contacts, either in truth or as provocatively sprinkled bits of disinformation aimed at burnishing his legend — is murky, but Western spy agencies do not doubt that his employer is the Russian state.

Among those Petlinsky has regaled is a reporter from Der Spiegel. That conversation occurred mere weeks ago at the Jumeirah al-Naseem beach resort in Dubai — amid a plentiful selection of champagne, Beluga caviar, and young Russian women.

Petlinsky is found sitting on the terrace overlooking the Persian Gulf. Not far from him is another Russian, Alexander Lebedev, the ex-KGB officer turned oligarch and publishing magnate who controls Britain’s Independent and Evening Standard newspapers. The two clearly know each other and nod a silent greeting.

Trim at 60, dressed in a gray pinstripe, black tee, and mirrored aviator sunglasses, Petlinsky confirms meeting Marsalek aboard the yacht in Nice in July 2014. “You know, I fell in love with him from the first moment,” he said. “He has such a beautiful mind. I always think so small, in dimensions of what’s possible,” he continues, echoing Marsalek’s own animadversions about his own father. “Jan always thinks big, very, very big.” Being chancellor of Germany? Too small for Marsalek. “But uniting China, Russia, and Europe as a counterbalance to the USA, that would interest him.”

Fancy toys and women aren’t Marsalek’s motivation, Petlinsky insists before describing the Austrian’s “beautiful mind” as being “a bit autistic.” While Marsalek’s acquaintances almost universally define him with the word “charisma,” Petlinsky says Marsalek’s weak point is dealing with people. “He lacks empathy,” the Russian spy says without noting that the trait is a telltale sign of the sociopath.

What about Marsalek’s espionage and Petlinsky’s responsibility for it? The Austrian is just playacting, Petlinsky maintains, inhabiting a theatrical role with no real-world legitimacy to it. Marsalek is “obsessed” with spycraft and all its mystique, something others also attest to. As for Petlinsky himself, he swears he’s merely a “security advisor” with a big portfolio in Africa, the kind of man who sometimes meets with Putin and chases down FSB agents. He offers a robust critique of the amateurish nature of the Khangoshvili assassination in Berlin — no small thing given that Putin has recently praised the killer Krasikov as a “patriot” in a much-discussed sit-down interview with Tucker Carlson. Petlinsky admits to introducing Marsalek to a host of colorful characters in Russia. He doesn’t want to talk about which ones were Russian intelligence officers, and he changes the subject.

But to his close circle of friends, Der Spiegel has learned, Petlinsky boasted about handing Marsalek off to the GRU after that first meeting in the South of France in 2014. Friends of Marsalek say the Wirecard fraudster’s life can be divided in two halves: “before Stas” and “after Stas.”

They traveled together, often as a trio, with Zlobina in tow. At one point, Petlinsky even told friends that he relocated his own mother, who suffered from health problems, to a clinic in Munich just to be closer to Marsalek, who built himself his own back office for Wirecard and other pursuits in a villa at Prinzregentenstraße 61, right in the center of the Bavarian capital. Johanna Singer, an employee of Wirecard (name has been changed on her request), recalled meeting Petlinsky at the gourmet Munich restaurant Tantris, where the GRU officer celebrated one of his birthdays with Marsalek, complete with a cake shaped in uncanny resemblance to the Soviet red star. One of the toniest areas of Munich, the high-ceilinged, white-columned digs cost 680,000 euro per year in rent, all paid for, of course, by Wirecard via its manifold holdings. A germaphobe in the mold of Donald Trump (the Wirecard executive somehow unsurprisingly owns a life-sized cut-out of the 45th U.S. President), Marsalek even had a field hospital built in the villa during the pandemic. The back office was conveniently situated directly across from the Russian consulate in Bavaria.

One trip Marsalek, Zlobina, and Petlinsky took was to Tunisia via private jet from Moscow in March 2016. The next month, they returned to Nice, the scene of Marsalek and Petlinsky’s meet-cute recruitment; then it was on to Tel Aviv. Stas pulled plenty of strings, as Russian border records demonstrate: much of his foreign travel is designated as “official visit to a diplomatic mission,” a category typically reserved for Russian Foreign Ministry officials.

Stas was also a connector.

A proud owner of a Harley Davidson himself, he introduced Marsalek to a heavy-set man fond of Hells Angels attire, whom Petlinsky referred to as “Vladimir, my mercenary.” Vladimir’s actual name is Anatoliy Karaziy. Like Petlinsky, Karaziy is a former GRU Spetsnaz officer, and the two are thought to have served together in Chechnya. At the very least, the mercenary part of the story proved true, as Karaziy belonged to a guns-for-hire outfit that gained in infamy after its debut on the battlefields of eastern Ukraine in 2014. It was called the Wagner Group, and it was founded by catering magnate and ex-con Yevgeny Prigozhin, a personal friend of Putin’s from their native St. Petersburg.

By 2017, Karaziy was the head of Wagner’s intelligence service. Travel data examined by The Insider confirms that on May 5, 2017, Karaziy flew from Moscow to Munich to meet with Petlinsky and Marsalek. From there, the three men flew to Beirut and then took a car into war-torn Syria, visiting the ancient city of Palmyra, which Russian forces backed by Wagner had recently captured from the terrorist group ISIS. The three men remained in Palmyra for a week, with Marsalek dressed as a soldier in aviator headgear, a flak jacket, and combat helmet (witnesses told Der Spiegel that Marsalek initially showed up dressed in brand-new state-of-the-art camouflage garb and military gear – a “shiny object in the desert” that would have attracted enemy fire within seconds; he was quickly given standard Russian attire to change into). He’s alleged to have shot live rounds at Islamist militants.

In Dubai Petlinsky suggested the rounds had come from a rocket launcher, and that Marsalek had even been given a tutorial in how to position himself properly in order to fire it. The visit to Syria, Petlinsky says, was “a dream of Jan’s that I made come true… Jan imagined a helicopter flight and loud music and Ray-Ban sunglasses. Of course, that didn’t happen. Too dangerous.”

Much, much, much more at the link including photos and screen shots of documents.

General (ret) Milley sat for an interview with The Financial Times.

We pivot to Ukraine and the opposition from Republicans in the House of Representatives to provide more money to help the country. He says the war has reached a “stalemate” and that US and European support is critical. Without that support, he warns, Russia will over time gain a strategic advantage that will be devastating. “It will be tragic, because at that point the Ukrainians will no longer be able to successfully defend themselves.”

He sees the debate in Congress as a test of whether you think US support for the rules-based international order is important. He sides with those who say that not backing Ukraine is “signalling a deathblow” to that order.

Does he think part of the problem is that Americans have just seen two decades of war — in Afghanistan and Iraq? “Absolutely. 100 per cent,” Milley says emphatically. “They’ve kind of had it with wars and forever wars.”

But he stresses that the US-led rules-based order with its network of alliances has helped prevent great power conflict. “Those rules have done a lot to make the United States a very rich, powerful, capable country.”

I quickly move to the proverbial elephant in the room — and increasingly in rooms around the world: Trump. Does Milley have a patriotic duty as a citizen to talk about things that happened when he worked with Trump? Milley is widely believed, for example, to have played a key role in making sure that Trump did not attack Iran in late 2020.

Milley used to carry a copy of the US constitution as a reminder that the military swears to defend the constitution — not the president. A reference to not taking an oath to a “wannabe dictator” in his retirement speech was widely interpreted as a jibe at Trump. But Milley pushes back at my line of questioning, saying that a retired general is never really a “private citizen”.

“I’ve fought for my freedom of speech. I’ve fought for the constitution,” he says. “There’s nothing technically illegal about speaking out . . . But I think it’s highly inappropriate for generals, retired or active, to opine on politics.”

Much more at the link!

Luke Harding is reporting on the conditions in the east of Ukraine. It’s grim. (emphasis mine)

The Russian war plane flew above Avdiivka, the Ukrainian city abandoned this month by Ukrainian forces. It looped above the new eastern frontline. And then it dropped a bomb, not far from where Maryna Haivoronska was standing in the village of Novoselivka Persha. “I saw the jet in the sky. It was 9.30am. The bomb landed 500 metres away from me. I threw myself to the ground. My legs are still trembling,” she said.

Since capturing Avdiivka Russian forces have been moving rapidly forward. Earlier this week they overran two settlements down the road from Novoselivka, where Haivoronska is the mayor. Their tactics are brutally effective. First, fighter jets carpet-bomb the area. Then, assault groups using armoured vehicles overwhelm Ukraine’s new and vulnerable positions.

Two years after the full-scale invasion, Russia is close to achieving a strategic breakthrough in the east. It is happening in a rustic landscape of brown fields, wispy yellow feather grass and pyramid-like slag heaps. Ukrainian forces clatter up and down in green Humvees along dusty country roads. But they have no answer to Russian planes, which patrol menacingly above them in an azure haze, leaving decorative curlicue trails.

Ukrainian troops have not given up. They have shot down 10 enemy Sukhoi jets in as many days. But overall they lack tactical-level air defences, which would allow them to chase away Russia’s marauding squadrons, as they move into position above the occupied city of Donetsk. The Ukrainians have little artillery. The Russians have lots. The sound of incoming Grad missiles can be heard every few minutes along the Ukrainian frontline: a terrible thunder clap.

The heavy glide bomb that fell on Novoselivka’s School Street wrecked a private two-storey house. Miraculously the family inside – Alyona Movchan and her two children – survived. The village has been hit before. In 2023 a rocket flattened the main square, destroying everything apart from a garish Soviet war memorial with a silver-painted sculpture of a wounded soldier. Two people were killed. Another died from a heart attack.

Locals say decisions being taken far away – or not, in the case of US Republicans blocking a crucial $61bn (£48bn) package to Ukraine – are existential for them. Their homes and communities are being swallowed up. “We are on our knees, begging the US and the UK for help,” Haivoronska told the Guardian. She added: “I’m from Avdiivka. I believed the city would hold. We lost it because our guys didn’t have planes or enough ammunition.”

Some residents are reluctant to leave, despite the fact the Russians are 10km away, and getting closer. The mayor said 18 people remained. There is no electricity or gas. The village shop – Natalie’s – shut this week. Its disco, kindergarten and surgery closed long ago. In the neighbouring village of Zhelanne 454 people hang on. On Tuesday humanitarian aid was given out at its school. Moscow has bombed the building three times, ripping off its southern facade.

“I have a bag packed. But where am I supposed to go?” 63-year-old Liubov Hryhorivna wondered. She explained: “I have no money. Our pensions are small. I love my country and I don’t want to leave.” What did she think of Vladimir Putin, who has vowed to ‘liberate’ the parts of Donetsk oblast not under Russian rule? “He started with Donetsk in 2014. Now he wants everything. His appetite has grown. He’s our enemy,” she said. Could Ukraine win? “I don’t know,” she replied.

Hryhorivna collected a gas stove, a solar-powered torch and a grey blanket. She said she was living in a flat belonging to her husband’s late parents, after a missile hit her own property, blowing out the windows. “I would like to stay alive so I can see my grandchildren,” she said. Of the 30 people who picked up supplies, one said he supported Russia. “I believe in peace,” Anatolii Anatoliiovych said, predicting: “Russia will win.”

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, this week convened an emergency summit in support of Ukraine, alarmed by the stalemate in the US Congress, where participants agreed more had to be done. The EU, however, has failed to make good on its pledge to give Kyiv a million artillery rounds. Deliveries of weapons – tanks, air defence systems and long-range artillery – have typically come too late, and only after indecision and government caution.

Ukrainian troops, meanwhile, have hastily constructed a new fortified line designed to thwart further Russian advances. It stretches between the villages of Tonenke, Orlivka, and Berdychi. There are trenches. And a body of water. But they offer less protection than the now abandoned concrete bunkers inside Avdiivka’s industrial zone and its sprawling coke factory. These helped Ukrainian combat units withstand Russia and its proxies for a decade. Would the new defences work?

“I’m optimistic,” Mykola Kovalenko, head of the Ocheretynsk military district, which includes Novoselivka, Zhelanne, and other villages west of Avdiivka, said. He explained: “I believe in our armed forces. Look how long they held Avdiivka. The problem on our side is a lack of weapons. Without air power Russia could not have taken the city. Their planes are terrible for us.” He stressed: “Our soldiers are heroes. To stop Russia and its power is not easy.”

Much more at the link.

The Avdiivka front:

Bradley targets Russian infantry at close range https://t.co/yVPTawGZkc pic.twitter.com/xOp5cS2mYF

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 1, 2024

Ukrainian precision strikes upon the now Russian-occupied coke plant near Avdiivka, using JDAMs. Ukrainians know exactly where to hit where it hurts there.

Source: Telegram / Karymat pic.twitter.com/Bxt5sRF6DU

— (((Tendar))) (@Tendar) March 1, 2024

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

First, some adjacent material from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Red Cat can't wait to attack the occupiers, so we need to hold him back.

📷: 56th Motorized Brigade pic.twitter.com/9VOJzPcyvy

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 1, 2024

Demining squad 😎 @SESU_UA pic.twitter.com/WHJOEtgOka

— Patron (@PatronDsns) February 29, 2024

Open thread!