Putin's Dirty Little War
"Ramzan Akhmatovich [Kadyrov] came to Mariupol to talk, raise the morale of the guys, provide additional technical equipment, adjust and finalize the strategy for the next couple of days in order to liberate Mariupol."Akmed Dudayev, Kadyrov spokesman"The invaders have already entered the city, but they have not yet achieved much success.""Every day there are battles for every street, for every house. We Ukrainians have been encircled, and it is difficult to fight off on all sides, but we are still holding on.""So planes fly from four in the morning, they fly from Rostov: two planes each. One bombs the infrastructure, and the second launches missiles at 'suspicious' houses. But my brother and I have not yet been hit.""We will fight to the last drop of blood. I believe in the help of Ukrainian forces from other directions. Our goal is to hold out -- the enemy will also soon have nothing to eat, and their equipment cannot last forever."Ukrainian soldier with the Azov regiment"I am telling them: guys, I understand everything, we will return.""But if you feel you need to be there, and you feel it is the right decision and you can survive, please do so.""I understand what it looks like for the military. ... I offered them a choice.""They replied: 'We cannot leave. The wounded are here. We will not leave the wounded."Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskii
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| Chechnya's regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov addresses servicemen attending a review of the Chechen Republic's troops and military hardware in Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic, Russia, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev) |
Ruslan Geremeyev, a Chechen warlord, has been dispatched by Moscow to bring an end to Mariupol and place it in Russian hands. This is the man who is a prime suspect in the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, the staunchest opponent of Vladimir Putin, who in 2015 was gunned down in Moscow, in public. Putin has sent his most reliably vicious thug to Mariupol, already reduced to rubble by Russian artillery.
Thousands killed in the city, hundreds of thousands fled. The corpse of a once-thriving city a mere month ago is now being fought over in street-to-street combat. Ukraine's remaining troops have dug in to conduct guerrilla warfare with the slightest chances of survival. Geremeyev has been dispatched front and centre in Moscow's propaganda campaign with a video showing this major in the Chechen Republic's North battalion hoisting the flag of Chechnya atop a Mariupol civic building still somewhat intact.
So pleased has Vladimir Putin been with Kadyrov's performance on the battlefield and as an assassin that he promoted him first to a major-general five days earlier, then promoted him again in short order to the rank of lieutenant-general. Under the vicious onslaught of the Russian troops under a Russian proxy commander it is anyone's guess how long Ukrainian troops inside Mariupol can hold out.
The Somali battalion is a military unit of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, the separatist region that Putin recognized as an independent state the day before he ordered the February 24 invasion of Ukraine. The battalion took the name 1st Separate Tank Battalion Somalia in the belief that their fighters were as fearless as Somalis.
Against Ukraine's refusal to surrender the city, the Kremlin is anxious to take possession of its ruins, to open a land corridor for Russia from the Crimea to the Donbas held by the separatists, freeing up Russian troops to advance north, encircling Ukrainian forces in the east. This while, on the battlefield Russian troops are exhausted with supplies fast running out, including food.
A senior Ukrainian official, hearing the propaganda that Russian troops had succeeded in seizing full control of Mariupol responded: "It has not fallen so far. Russia is presenting the situation this way but there remain a couple of positions where our forces are holding the defence of the city." Three of Mariupol's hospitals were destroyed, seven damaged altogether, while twenty-three schools and 28 children's nurseries have been wiped out.
"About 160,000 people are in Mariupol today, where it is impossible to live because there is no water, no electricity, no heat, no connection. It's really scary.""We need a complete evacuation from Mariupol. Our most important mission today is to save every life. There are 26 buses that have to go to Mariupol to evacuate but they haven't received permission to move.""And this game is played every day. A cynical game like, 'Yes, we are ready. You can drive there', but in fact it does not work. Our hero-drivers under fire are trying to reach the places where Mariupol residents can be picked up, and they are waiting with the hope that they will have such an opportunity. But the Russian Federation has been playing with us since Day 1."Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko
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| This satellite image shows fires in an industrial area in the western section of Mariupol on March 12. |
Labels: (Fascist) Azov Battalion, Chechens, Crimes Against Humanity, Mariupol, Russian Battle Fatigue, Russian Invasion of Ukraine, War Crimes
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, March 31, 2022
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