“Ukrainian military forces were successful in destroying a Chechen special forces column of 56 tanks near the capital of Kyiv on Saturday, Ukrainian news agency The Kyiv Independent reported.
According to the report, which the outlet said was confirmed by the Ukrainian President’s Office, the attack killed top Chechen general Magomed Tushayev, head of the 141 motorized regiment of the Chechnya National Guard.
The report was not independently verified.
The Chechen special forces, referred to as “Kadyrovites,” after Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, were reportedly deployed by Russia to “capture and kill” Ukrainian leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to the Daily Mail.
The Daily Mail report claimed that every soldier in the Chechen force was given a deck of cards displaying pictures of Ukrainian officials the Kremlin had deemed high valuable targets, a tool infamously deployed by the United States while hunting down targets in Iraq.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_of_the_Chechen_Republic_of_Ichkeria
Truth is of course the first casualty of war. The Ukie Press seems to me to be pouring out a great deal of claims about Russian defeats, all brown up by an increasingly hysterical western press, but I suspect little if any of this is true. The proof is in the pudding as they say, and that truth is that the Russian troops has been advancing very rapidly and what is interesting, is that they have been doing this using their second tier of troops and holding back all their best troops and equipment; note that most of the tanks they are using are pretty ancient, many of the 1990s. Their tactic has been to surround towns and then slowly take them whilst trying to avoid civilian deaths, so far evidently very successfully. This is very different from ‘Shock and Awe’ American-style and may be a new style of warfare. We will see.
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/war-propaganda-about-ukraine-becoming?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMTYyOTIzMiwicG9zdF9pZCI6NDk0MDI2MjgsIl8iOiJZemI0MCIsImlhdCI6MTY0NTk5NDE0MSwiZXhwIjoxNjQ1OTk3NzQxLCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMTI4NjYyIiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.438oZ0X4cvMzTO-EycfxsOOUb6h7RY1Rpwub0N5l9TY&utm_source=url
“Again, no matter how certain one is about their moral conclusions about this war, these are urgent questions that are not resolved or even necessarily informed by the moral and emotional investment in a particular narrative. Yet when one is trapped inside a system of a complete consensus upheld by a ceaseless wave of reinforcing propaganda, and when any questioning or dissent at all is tantamount to treason or “siding with the enemy,” there is no space for such discussions to occur, especially within our minds. When one is coerced — through emotional tactics and societal inventive — to adhere only to one script, nothing that is outside of that script can be entertained. And that is all by design. “
Chechen special forces driving tanks ? APCs maybe.
zmajcek
Yes. To civilians every armored vehicle is a tank.
There are several reports of this incident so it would seem to be a reliable account, but I’ve seen photos of other incidents claiming they’ve been taken since the war broke out that are in fact archival, and thus misleading to say the least. So what news sources can we trust? With so much censorship being imposed, not to mention the expected propaganda being broadcast, it’s hard to learn what is truly happening. This Tw1tter account is posting maps of Russian troop progress, but I don’t know if it’s a reliable source:
https://twitter.com/Suriyakmaps
It’ll be interesting to learn, and hopefully we WILL learn, the outcome of the Putin-Zelenskyy meeting reported by Sky News:
https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-and-russia-set-to-hold-negotiations-at-belarusian-ukrainian-border-says-office-of-president-zelenskyy-12553294
recommended:
Some livestream from a source on the ground..
basic points:
Advance of russian forces is clear, western media/social media information seems completely different from realities in the ground.
Karkhov, second largest city is cutoff, and in process of being taken over, same might happen to third biggest city.
Russian troops involved in these offensive seem to be the less equiped, younger, second tier units. Top units and equipment seems to be on reserve as per observations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mbgjjEnbKc&t=3018s
There’s a US Defense Threat Reduction Agency-funded biolaboratory in Kharkov (one of 11 such biolabs scattered throughout Ukraine). (Source: Kees van der Pijl, “States of Emergency”.)
I wonder what the Russians will be able to reveal from such labs.
edit:
Start at minute 50
Evidently reports of the deaths of the Snake Island defenders may have been greatly exaggerated:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-war-snake-island-soldiers-b2024289.html
‘However, on Saturday the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGSU) said: “We [have a] strong belief that all Ukrainian defenders of Zmiinyi (Snake) Island may be alive.’
Suzanne,
That’s good news. It would be nice if those 13 border guards could enjoy some accolades after this is over. Their heroism lies in telling the Russian warship to GFY, not in their dying.
There was a similar incident where a Georgian ship was asked to give a Russian warship fuel. The Georgian captain told them to GFY and row back to shore. Seems running out of fuel is getting to be a habit with Russians.
I quite agree — and should have written as much when I originally posted.
Could this not be Isralei disinfo?
I really doubt Zelensky is the “deck of cards” of the Chechens, while, at the same time, we have the Russians negotiating meetings with him…
It would seem this could be disinfo on behalf of the jewish oligarchs who manage Zelensky on risk of losing their grip on Ukrainian government as a resukt of Russian operation..
I read also that the Ukrainian Embassy in Israel made a call to all Israelis willing to join the fight in Ukraine.
Marlene
I am very tired of your empty headed BS. Goodbye.
In trying to find out what’s really going on I came across this. Sorry I can’t verify its accuracy or trustworthiness but here’s another account with what seems like a lot more reportage from the front lines than what our MSM is providing:
https://twitter.com/Caucasuswar
Col. Lang, let me know if you prefer I didn’t post links such as this.
Also, yesterday my husband was tuned into CNN all day long and at one point while walking through the room I actually saw women commentators giggling and gushing like fangirls over Zelenskyy and events taking place. Considering the seriousness of the matter and that lives are being lost, this seemed beyond inappropriate. Maybe I missed something…
Just read reports of Putin firing Gerasimov. I read that as an additional sign that Russia’s progress in the war is not going according to plan.
Putin needs a fall guy so no blame attaches to him personally. The rest of the Kremlin know better.
Where did you read these reports TTG?
Scott,
I first saw it from A Vindemann who probably got it from Bill Neely, a former NBC and ITN correspondent. He may have gotten the info from Sofiya Fedyna, “People’s Deputy of Ukraine, Ukrainian singer, ATO / OOS VOLUNTEER, TV presenter, Doctor of Philosophy” out of Kyiv. She reported the firing to have occurred on 26 Feb. However Gerasimov was shown in a meeting with Putin today. So the news appears to be a shit house rumor. Neely has since retracted his report although the rumor is already all over the world.
Interesting back story: BBC’s Russian Service claims Chechen forces were briefed in on the invasion back in early February. Perhaps even before some participating Russian generals were informed? Supposedly “they got messages between Kadyrov and deputy head of Chechen Rosgvardiya. Both knew about invasion well in advance” Article below you can translate it with google:
https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-60528746
Truth or lies? Or an exaggeration? I don’t know but tend to think it may have some validity since the Chechen unit was one of the first to arrive on the outskirts Kiev other than paratroopers and Spetznatz. If it is true then certainly US and/or UK intel assets knew it also. Which may explain previous questions regarding Russian COMSEC. – i.e. the Chechens blew it.
You have to wonder whether Erdogan is now cursing himself for providing Ukraine Bayraktryar combat UAVs that were used to take out that entire column of Chechen troops.
If true then there is both the opportunity for advancement for other officers and the elimination of a potential problem for whomever is going to succeed Putin in the future.
Note the V marking
https://mobile.twitter.com/200_zoka/status/1498002858733719558/video/1