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[brewer bob]

Russia has rerouted internet traffic in Kherson:

Russia reroutes internet traffic in Kherson - NetBlocks

Russia has rerouted internet traffic in the Ukrainian region of Kherson through Russian communications infrastructure, according to the internet service disruption monitor NetBlocks.

The London-based organisation said it had tracked a near-total internet blackout across Kherson on Saturday.

It said this affected various Ukrainian providers.

But after connection was restored, various metrics showed traffic was going through Russia.

"Connectivity on the network has been routed via Russia’s internet instead of Ukrainian telecoms infrastructure and is hence likely now subject to Russian internet regulations, surveillance, and censorship," NetBlocks said on its website.

Russia claims it has taken full control of Kherson region.

[Strongpoint]

I would also like more sources, but the claim is that Russian soldiers switched sides and are now fighting FOR Ukraine Against Russia.

But it's entirely possible those particular Russians were always soldiers for Ukraine. Or the Ukrainian Military did a lousy patch and repair job on their captured Russian stuff

Ukraine has formations made of foreign volunteers. The largest one is Belarusian. We also have Chechen and Georgian units. We seem to have English-speaking unit(s) but those guys are top-level pros and not much know about them because of OPSEC.

And we have a Russian unit that uses a white-blue-white flag. Majority of those are Russian citizens (sometimes former) who lived in Ukraine for years. There are also rumors that a platoon of the Russian army (~80 soldiers) switched sides early in the war and they are now part of this unit but I have never seen any reliable information confirming that.

[brewer bob]

According to CNN, US and Western officials believe Putin may declare officially war against Ukraine.

[brewer bob]

Meduza put up an article where regular Russians are asked about the war and what they feel/think about it. The interviews are not intended to be representative, but the article gives an idea of what's going on in peoples' heads.

For more than two months now, many Russians have openly supported the Kremlin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine — choosing to close their eyes to executions and rapes, the shelling of peaceful cities, unthinkable destruction, and millions of people losing their homes. Journalist Shura Burtin spent several weeks talking to Russian citizens about their thoughts and feelings about the war. For Meduza, Burtin recounts how fear and a sense of humiliation defeated Russians’ humanity.

[MaxTheFox]

Yeah I was just thinking of the Germans in 1939. Brainwashed. TBH, more people than the article suggests oppose the war, from people I talked to about it IRL it's 50/50. But I might be biased, I don't interact with very many Z-ombies.

[martinuzz]

The new list of sanctions being made by the EU will include personal sanctions against the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, patriarch Kirill. His foreign assets will be frozen and he will be banned from entering the EU.

[Starver]

Russia has directly and officially denied that it will declare war on May 9th, via Dmitry Peskov of the Kremlin.

(I leave the logical commentary to this statsment to your own heads, given the thread, but worth reporting.)


Meanwhile, there's more economic sanctions going in. Attempts to stop using the 'Friendship pipeline' oil in the east of eastern Germany, without shutting down the local economy as far away as Berlin, and more pressure for a total ban on imports of this kind, for the EU.

UK is also banning "management services" being sold to Russia. A big thing, such intangibles are one of the modern-day 'exports' that we've been counting on to counter other trade-withdrawals over the years, and beyond the EU.

[brewer bob]

The Guardian reports that Russians say they have practiced simulated nuclear-capable missile strikes in Kaliningrad.

Russia practises nuclear-capable missile strikes, ministry says

Russia has said its forces practised simulated nuclear-capable missile strikes in the western enclave of Kaliningrad, sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania along the Baltic Coast.

Russia practised simulated “electronic launches” of nuclear-capable Iskander mobile ballistic missile systems on Wednesday, the defence ministry said in a statement.

The Russian forces practised single and multiple strikes at targets imitating launchers of missile systems, airfields, protected infrastructure, military equipment and command posts of a mock enemy, AFP cited the statement as saying.

After performing the “electronic” launches, the military personnel carried out a manoeuvre to change their position in order to avoid “a possible retaliatory strike,” the defence ministry added.

The combat units also practised “actions in conditions of radiation and chemical contamination”.

The drills reportedly involved more than 100 servicemen.

Russia placed nuclear forces on high alert shortly after Putin sent troops to Ukraine on 24 February and the Russian President has hinted at deploying tactical nuclear weapons, warning of a “lightning fast” retaliation if the west directly intervenes in the Ukraine conflict.

Russia’s state television has attempted to make nuclear weapons use more palatable to the public, according to some who spoke to AFP.

“For two weeks now, we have been hearing from our television screens that nuclear silos should be opened,” Russian newspaper editor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov said.

[brewer bob]

A member of Pussy Riot who was under house arrest managed to escape from Russia after her sentence was ordered to be carried out at a penal colony.

Masha Alekhina, a member of Pussy Riot, escaped from Russia by disguising herself as a food courier, the New York Times reports.

Alekhina has been put under house arrest, but as the Kremlin sought to crack down on critics of the Ukraine war, her sentence was ordered to be carred out at a penal colony.

The Times reports:

She decided it was time to leave Russia — at least temporarily — and disguised herself as a food courier to evade the Moscow police who had been staking out the friend’s apartment where she was staying. She left her cellphone behind as a decoy and to avoid being tracked.

A friend drove her to the border with Belarus, and it took her a week to cross into Lithuania. In a studio apartment in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, she agreed to an interview to describe a dissident’s harrowing escape from Mr. Putin’s Russia.

“I was happy that I made it, because it was an unpredictable and big” kiss-off to the Russian authorities, Ms. Alyokhina said, using a less polite term. “I still don’t understand completely what I’ve done,” she admitted, dressed in black except for a fanny pack with a rainbow belt.

Her lawyer told the TASS news agency, “ I don’t know how she managed to do this, given the close surveillance that law enforcement agencies organized for her.” Thousands have fled Russia since the war began, as Russian president Vladimir Putin moved to crack down increasingly on those speaking out against the invasion.

[Sirus]

Do you have a link to this story? I searched the Guardian's website and I'm not seeing anything more recent than March.

[brewer bob]

Do you have a link to this story? I searched the Guardian's website and I'm not seeing anything more recent than March.

It was in the live updates.

Not sure if this link will work (I've have had problems linking to live updates, so I tend to just copy-paste the text).

[martinuzz]

Link to the NYTimes article

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/10/world/europe/pussy-riot-russia-escape.html

[Sirus]

Cheers, thanks for the link brewer bob.

martinuzz, I tried yours but the Times doesn't want me reading without signing up, sorry.

[EuchreJack]

I have the same issue with the Times.

[Cthulhu]

You can sometimes see paywalled stuff via archive.org

I don't really buy nuclear talk.  He wants to talk a big game but he's defined a clear redline and NATO is respecting it.  A nuclear strike on Kyiv would've worked back at the start of the war when they were still scary, to force fast capitulation, I don't know if it'd have that effect now.

Though at the same time probably worth considering that Putin doesn't seem to be operating on cost-benefit analysis.  I'm a fan of taking people at their word and Putin's made it clear his problem is with the existence of Ukrainian nationality as a concept.  That's emotional/deontological thinking, not instrumental, and that changes things a bit.  That kind of thinking got us 20 years of misery in Afghanistan. 

That's also why I don't buy this thing I keep seeing from Chomsky and friends, the "US is using Ukrainians as cannon fodder" thing.  What's the alternative? Cause it's not giving up, we all saw the plan for an occupied Ukraine and it's tantamount to genocide.  The systematic eradication of "Ukraine" as anything more than a section of western Russia.  Irrespective of America's involvement (Of course America's primarily happy to see Russia bleed over this, and yes that's not a good motivation) I don't see an alternative, you can't bow to a program like Russia's, it's a non-starter.  But that's Chomsky, he's got some really good ideas and thoughts on things but he's always had a giant blind spot for non-western imperialism.  And other similarly dumb people.

The snake island stuff has been interesting, the Spetsnaz chopper that got blowed up, the way the troops were all fanned out and prone around it makes me think snake island is a complete shitshow right now.  Along with Ukrainian jets flying right the hell over it on bombing runs and the big Z somebody's painted on the island, it looks like they're completely out of contact with the mainland and nobody has any idea what's going on.  Maybe they'll get their own go fuck yourself warship moment soon.