The Guardian - Tom Ambrose (now); Martin Belam and Samantha Lock (earlier)Wed 27 Jul 2022 16.54 BST

Kyiv’s forces seek to disrupt a major Russian supply route through Antonivskiy bridge in bid to retake Kherson. Ukraine attacks key Russian held bridge in Kherson

Peter Beaumont

Peter Beaumont in Kyiv has filed this report on a night when it appears that Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian-occupied Kherson:

A key Russian held bridge into the occupied southern city of Kherson was hit with a barrage of rocket fire by Ukrainian forces who appeared to be stepping up operations to isolate the city.

Video and witness accounts showed up to 18 detonations on the Antonivskiy bridge over the Dnipro river, one of the main Russian resupply routes into Kherson, with Russian anti-missile air defenses apparently failing to intercept the strikes.

Ukraine’s armed forces published a one-minute clip on Telegram purportedly showing the rocket fire just after 1 am on Wednesday. “The moment of the flight over the Antonivskiy bridge,” the force said.

In another series of videos posted to Telegram where loud explosions could be heard, the military added: “Explosions in the Antonivskiy bridge area.”

The bridge has come under repeated attack in the past week as Ukraine has tried to cut off the handful of routes Russia can use to move heavy weapons in and around Kherson, including a road over the dam at nearby Nova Khakovka.

Read more here: Ukraine steps up attacks on Russian-occupied KhersonUkraine steps up attacks on Russian-occupied KhersonRead more

• Updated at 07.25 BST10h ago07.19

Here is another, unverified, clip that is doing the rounds on social media which is claimed to show the strikes on the vital road bridge in Kherson.

• This is Martin Belam picking up the live blog in London. You can contact me on martin.belam@theguardian.com
• 10h ago06.54

First Russian train reaches Kaliningrad, governor says

The first train with sanctioned goods has arrived from Russia to Kaliningrad via Lithuania in the first such trip since the European Union said Lithuania must allow Russian goods across its territory, according to the regional governor.

Russian news agency Tass cited regional governor Anton Alikhanov as saying:

It is indeed the first train to have arrived after the EU decision ... [it is] quite an important achievement.”

The train reportedly consisted of 60 freight cars with cement.

Wedged between Lithuania and fellow EU and Nato member Poland, Russia’s heavily militarised exclave of Kaliningrad depends on mainland Russia for a sizeable portion of its supplies. But these must transit through Lithuanian territory.

The region has found itself increasingly isolated since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February.

• 10h ago06.35

40,000 Russian soldiers killed since the invasion began - Zelensky

Russia has lost almost 40,000 soldiers since launching its invasion on Ukraine on 24 February, President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed.

The Ukrainian president made the observations - which are not possible to independently confirm - during his latest national address.

For four months, the Russian state has not provided to its citizens any information - even censored - about the losses of the occupation contingent.

Total silence. Nothing was published or said in numerous interviews and speeches at the political and military levels.

However, this number is already almost 40,000 - that is how many killed people the Russian army has lost since February 24. And tens of thousands more were wounded and maimed.”

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11h ago06.16

Russian officials appear to have confirmed the latest strike on the Antonivskiy bridge in Russian-occupied Kherson.

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-installed regional authority in Kherson, spoke with Russian media this morning, confirming the bridge was shelled, however,claims it is still standing.

“There were hits [after the attack of the Ukrainian troops] on the Antonivskiy bridge, we blocked traffic. We will repair it,” Stremousov told RIA Novosti.

Stremousov added that Ukraine used various artillery systems and the number of missiles “exceeded ten”.

• 11h ago06.09

Russia using gas prices to terrorize Europe: Zelensky

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said Russia was deliberately cutting supplies of natural gas to impose a “price terror” against Europe while calling for more sanctions against Moscow.

Using Gazprom, Moscow is doing all it can to make this coming winter as harsh as possible for the European countries. Terror must be answered - impose sanctions.”

Meanwhile, a deal agreed by EU states to curb their gas use should yield enough gas savings to last through an average winter, if Russia were to fully cut supplies in July, the bloc’s energy chief Kadri Simson said.

The Kremlin said a repaired gas turbine for Nord Stream 1, Russia’s biggest gas pipeline to Europe, had not yet arrived after maintenance in Canada, and that a second turbine was showing defects.

Russian gas giant Gazprom has sharply increased pressure on the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline that delivers Russian gas to Europe without prior notice, the Ukrainian state pipeline operator company said.

Such pressure spikes could lead to emergencies including pipeline ruptures, according to the Ukrainian company.

• 11h ago05.53

EU to ration gas over supply fears

Jennifer Rankin

The EU has been forced to water down its plan to ration gas this winter in an attempt to avoid an energy crisis generated by further Russian cuts to supply.

Energy ministers from the 27 member states, except Hungary, backed a voluntary 15% reduction in gas usage over the winter, a target that could become mandatory if the Kremlin ordered a complete shutdown of gas to Europe.

After days of fraught negotiations, ministers agreed on opt-outs for island nations and possible exclusions for countries little connected to the European gas network, which will blunt the overall effect in the event of a full-blown gas crisis.

The deal came less than 24 hours after Russia’s state-controlled energy firm, Gazprom, announced a steep reduction in gas supplies through the critical Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Wednesday. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said there was “no justifiable technical reason” for the cut.

She has accused the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, of attempting to blackmail European countries for supporting Ukraine. Russia has cut or reduced supplies to a dozen EU countries.

“The announcement by Gazprom that it is further cutting gas deliveries to Europe through Nord Stream 1, for no justifiable technical reason, further illustrates the unreliable nature of Russia as an energy supplier,” Von der Leyen said. “Thanks to today’s decision, we are now ready to address our energy security at a European scale, as a union.”

EU officials hailed the agreement as a milestone for a united energy policy that recalled the leap in integration on health taken during the Covid pandemic.EU agrees to plan to ration gas use over Russia supply fears

• 11h ago05.38

Kharkiv hit by a Russian rocket, mayor says

Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv has reportedly has been hit by Russian rocket attack, according to the city’s mayor.

“At 4.25 am, the Kharkiv Industrial District was shelled. Two S-300 missiles arrived,” Ihor Terekhov wrote on his Telegram channel.

“Rescuers are already on the spot, sorting out the debris. According to them, there are no victims, but this is only preliminary information so far. I would like it to be like that,” he added.

Ukraine’s general staff of the armed forces also issued an update this morning, saying Russia carried out an attack “with the use of barrel and jet artillery” in the areas of Kharkiv, Chuguyiv, Shevelivka, Krasnopillya and others.W ith the help of water obstacles, pontoon transfers are trying to improve the logistics of its units.

• 11h ago05.32

Ukraine shells Kherson's Antonivskiy bridge - reports

In the Russian-occupied region of Kherson in southern Ukraine, there are multiple, yet unconfirmed, reports of Ukrainian forces conducting new strikes on the strategic Antonivskiy bridge across the Dnieper River.

“Explosions in the Antonivskiy Bridge area,” Ukraine’s armed forces said in a Telegram update just before midnight alongside a video purportedly showing a barrage of strikes.

Kyiv Independent defense reporter, Illia Ponomarenko, tweeted late Tuesday night: “Reportedly, we have another heavy Ukrainian strike upon the Antonivskiy Bridge, the key Russian supply line in occupied Kherson.”

Senior presidential advisor, Anton Herashchenko, cited Ukraine’s armed forces in an update posted just after 6 am this morning.

Himars dealt another powerful blow to one of the two bridges across the Dnieper, which are used by the invaders for a massive transfer of troops. Let’s hope that this time the Antonivskiy bridge will not withstand the power of the Himars missile attack.”

Ukrainian forces can target bridges leading into Kherson.

The Antonivskiy Bridge is the main supply route for Russian troops and if damaged, Moscow’s forces would potentially be trapped in Kherson with little ammunition and little supplies - part of Ukraine’s plan to re-take the city.

Kherson, captured in early March, has long been a focus for the Ukrainians, with the defenders making limited gains in the countryside between Mykolaiv and the target city since April. But, apparently helped by the longer-range weapons, with an effective firing distance of up to 50 miles (80km), the Ukrainians are growing more confident.

The city is accessed by four key bridges. Ukraine’s goal appears is not want to destroy the bridges as food supplies are still needed to cross into the city but rather to damage them to the point where the Russians cannot transport heavy equipment across them.

Can Ukrainian forces recapture Kherson from Russia?

• Updated at 05.33 BST11h ago05.30

Summary and welcome

Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

I’m Samantha Lock and I will be bringing you all the latest developments for the next short while.

In a breaking new development this morning, Ukrainian officials are reporting that Ukraine’s armed forces have delivered a series of powerful blows to the strategic Antonivskiy bridge in the Russian-occupied region of Kherson in an attempt to disrupt Russia’s main supply route.

It is 8 am in Kyiv and here is where things stand:

• The strategic Antonivskiy bridge in the Russian-occupied region of Kherson has reportedly been struck by Ukrainian forces hoping to disrupt Russia’s main supply route into the southern Ukrainian city. Multiple, yet unconfirmed, suggest Ukrainian forces conducted new strikes late on Tuesday night. “Explosions in the Antonivskiy Bridge area,” Ukraine’s armed forces said in a Telegram update just before midnight alongside a video purportedly showing the strikes.
• Russian forces continued to strike civilian infrastructure in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and the surrounding region in the country’s northeast. Regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said the strikes on the city resumed around dawn Tuesday. “The Russians deliberately target civilian infrastructure objects hospitals, schools, movie theatres. Everything is being fired at, even queues for humanitarian aid,” Syniehubov told Ukrainian television.
• Russia’s defense ministry plans to hold strategic military exercises in the east of the country from 30 August to 5 September. Interfax reported that the militaries of unspecified other countries will be taking part in the regular ‘Vostok’ exercises, citing the defense ministry.
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will hold a one-day visit to the Russian resort of Sochi on 5 August, his office announced. It is anticipated that he will meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
• The EU has been forced to water down its plan to ration gas this winter in an attempt to avoid an energy crisis generated by further Russian cuts to supply. Energy ministers from the 27 member states, except Hungary, backed a voluntary 15% reduction in gas usage over the winter. Ministers agreed on opt-outs for island nations and possible exclusions for countries little connected to the European gas network.
• Zelenskiy has accused Russia of deliberately cutting supplies of natural gas to impose a “price terror” against Europe. “Using Gazprom, Moscow is doing all it can to make this coming winter as harsh as possible for the European countries. Terror must be answered - impose sanctions,” he said in a late-night video address.
• A joint coordination centre (JCC) for Ukrainian grain exports under a UN-brokered deal will be opened in a ceremony in Istanbul on Wednesday, Turkey’s defense ministry said. Ukraine, Russia, Turkey ,and the United Nations signed the accord last week to resume Ukraine’s grain exports.
• Insurance uncertainty poses the biggest obstacle to grain ships leaving Ukraine’s Black Sea ports this week, exporters say. Questions remain over whether insurance companies will be willing to insure the vessels as they navigate the mined waters, while buyers are hesitant to make new orders given the risk of Russian attacks.
• The first train with sanctioned goods has arrived from Russia to Kaliningrad via Lithuania in the first such trip since the EU said Lithuania must allow Russian goods across its territory. Russian news agency Tass cited regional governor Anton Alikhanov as saying: “It is indeed the first train to have arrived after the EU decision ... [it is] quite an important achievement.” The train reportedly consisted of 60 freight cars with cement.
• Russia will pull out of the International Space Station (ISS) after 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost, the country’s space chief said. Yuri Borisov said Russia would fulfill its obligations to its partners on the ISS before leaving the project. “The decision to leave the station after 2024 has been made,” Borisov said, to which Putin responded: “Good.”
• Ukraine aims to strike a deal for a $15-$20bn program with the International Monetary Fund before year-end to help shore up its war-torn economy, the country’s central bank governor, Kyrylo Shevchenko, told Reuters.
• The Russian economy appears to be doing better than expected despite western sanctions. On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund upgraded Russia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimate for this year by 2.5%, although its economy is still expected to contract by 6%. “That’s still a fairly sizeable recession in Russia in 2022,” IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told AFP, adding that rising energy prices are “providing an enormous amount of revenues to the Russian economy”.
• Boris Johnson compared Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s leadership of Ukraine to the war-time exploits of Sir Winston Churchill. The British prime minister said he believed “Churchill would have cheered and probably have wept too” when the Ukrainian president insisted he needed “ammunition, not a ride” out of Kyiv when Russia invaded in February.
• A British citizen who videoes blogs pro-Kremlin material from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine has been added to a UK government sanctions list. Graham Phillips – the first UK citizen to be added to the growing sanctions list – has been accused of being a conduit for pro-Russian propaganda, receiving medals from the Russian state for his reporting.

• © 2022 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (Modern)

Russia Unveils Large-Scale Military Exercises In East, Signaling Force Strength 'Unaffected' By Ukraine

ZeroHedge-BY TYLER DURDEN - WEDNESDAY, JUL 27, 2022 -

Russia has announced its plans to hold large-scale military exercises in a far eastern district next month. As Reuters comments of the planned drills, they will be held "thousands of miles from the war it is waging in Ukraine."

A Tuesday defense ministry statement said the military's ability to conduct major drills remained unaffected by the "special operation" in neighboring Ukraine, a war which is now six months in.

Describing that the armed forces haven't had to cancel or cut its routine drills, the MoD statement said, "We draw your attention to the fact that only a part of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is involved in the special military operation (in Ukraine), the number of which is quite sufficient to fulfill all the tasks set by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief."

Reuters observes the statement:

The "Vostok" (East) exercises will take place from Aug. 30 to Sept. 5. They appear intended to send a message that Russia, despite the costly five-month war in Ukraine, remains focused on the defense of its entire territory and capable in military terms of sustaining "business as usual".

NATO has defined and described the Vostok drills as "part of a system of strategic exercises that the Russian Armed Forces have been developing since 2009. It is one of the four named annual strategic exercises conducted on a rotating basis among four of Russia’s five military districts."

"These visible events represent a small fraction of what is a whole-of-government and nationwide Russian effort to develop the ability to conduct large-scale conflict on short notice against a major military power and to influence potential adversaries," NATO's website details further.

In 2018, the eastern war games were used to highlight the growing relationship between the Russian and Chinese militaries, causing deep alarm in the West, given the PLA army's growing participation. Very likely Vostok 2022 will include the participation of China and Mongolia, just as in the past.

Meanwhile, a slew of mainstream media articles have of late sought to highlight morale and troop shortage problems as Russian forces attempt to establish control over the whole of Donbas, in eastern Ukraine. Moscow has disputed these accounts, however, saying the opposite is true and that it remains the Ukrainian side that is collapsing.

Editors Commentary:

*Follow the WEF trail to Switzerland to discover the Khazarian Mafia hiding behind Klaus Schwab and his cohorts. The US and its people have nothing to do with the disasters caused to the ordinary people of the Earth.

The Khazarians have once again constructed an intricate web, whose aim is to destroy the world's economy by setting people up against each other, blocking each other's supply chains, and leaving just death and ruins.

What everybody must be aware of is that this is not a war to prevent Putin from occupying Ukraine, but an attempt by the evil Khazarian Jews/WEF/NATO to control yet another country in their growing New World Order. They are simply using Ukraine as a battlefield. Their plan is to destroy totally the world's economy and turn the population into slaves.

Like the Freemasons, they have also life-threatening rules in their membership, one being REVENGE, 10 times harder than was ever perpetrated on them.

Russia in particular, in the past, has expelled the Khazars several times. I have all of 7 detailed articles in book format on the Khazarian Jews if anybody is interested in further information.

Putin, and earlier also Trump, are the ONLY Presidents who have enough guts to see what they are attempting to do to the world population and have sufficient courage to do something about it.

HUMAN SYNTHESIS

COPYRIGHTS

Copy & Paste the link above for Yandex translation to Norwegian.

WHO and WHAT is behind it all? : >

The bottom line is for the people to regain their original, moral principles, which have intentionally been watered out over the past generations by our press, TV, and other media owned by the Illuminati/Bilderberger Group, corrupting our morals by making misbehavior acceptable to our society. Only in this way shall we conquer this oncoming wave of evil.

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HUMAN SYNTHESIS