Mark Krutov
@kromark
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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Views of my own. RT = interesting. Read the whole threads before replying. Email krotovm @rferl .org for inquiries.
Prague, Czech Republic
Joined February 2010
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🧵/link in last tweet. "C’mon there, rape Ukrainian women and don’t tell me anything. Just don’t forget about contraception!". People were shocked with this conversation between Russian soldier and his wife, tapped by SBU in Kherson region. Together with
@cxemu
we found them.
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Our brave colleague, brilliant journalist, kindest and most helpful person in the whole world, Vira Hyrich, appears to be the only casualty of the yesterday Russian strike which hit residential building in the center of Kyiv. R.I.P. We will continue our work for you.
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🧵See the nickname on that door? This is the door in the basement of local school in Yahidne, Chernihiv region, Ukraine. 300+ locals were kept there by Russian soldiers in inhuman conditions for 26 days. This tag allowed me to find the woman who left it and she told me her story.
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His wife Olga, who "authorized" her husband to rape Ukrainian women, also was born in Orel. They are raising a 4-years old son. If you’re ok with living on the stolen land, then why not to authorize your husband to "steal" and rape people, really.
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🧵/ link in the last tweet. A tapped call reveals the high-ranked Russian officer, commander of the 27th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade Sergey Safonov, stabbed to death an elderly Ukrainian woman when retreating from the Kharkiv region. His comrade also shot her husband.
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🧵 Here's a video of a Russian soldier who was mobilized recently. He was sent to the "1st tank regiment" (probably 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division) and says they will be sent to Kherson in 2 days without any basic training. I found his VK and reached out to him.
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More than 80 Russians were killed during Ukrainian HIMARS strike on a school in occupied Lantrativka, Luhansk oblast of Ukraine. Not mobiks, but civilian contractors, who came there to dig trenches and build fortifications.🧵about our new OSINT investigation with
@pustota
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The guy who called his wife and received the "clearance" to rape Ukrainian women is Roman Bykovsky. Born in Orel, served in National Guard troops, famous Dzerzhinsky Division. Then signed a contract with 108th Air Assault Regiment, based in Novorossiysk.
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I called both of them, they confirmed their names, voices match with those on the tapped conversation. Hope Roman didn’t have much time to realize "permission" granted by his wife. She told me he’s recovering from the wounds in Sevastopol hospital.
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This conversation may have been just a stupid joke, but mass rape by Russian soldiers in Ukraine are real. There are multiple horrible reports about them, including Kherson region, partly occupied by Russia.
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🧵/ link in the last tweet. More than 100 Russian conscripts from Bryansk allegedly refused to go to Ukraine from their base in Soloti, Belgorod region. Photos and even live video streams by soldiers from there allow to suggest why: no training, old equipment, total mess.
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From our sources we got their phone numbers. Both of them used those numbers to register on VKontakte social network.
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Ukrainian strike on Volnovakha hits Russian military training base.
Russian-occupied Volnovakha has been hit by what looks and sounds like HIMARS missiles. I have also already geolocated the exact coordinates of the impacts:
47°34'51"N 37°31'02"E
I think another Russian logistics base has been incinerated.
#Ukraine
#Donetsk
#Volnovakha
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🧵 Russian tourists reveal S-400 air defense systems positioned near Yevpatoria. AD is active nearly every day in this area according to local authorities. Geolocation 45.180317, 33.232232
Russian AD position somewhere around the Yevpatoria salt lake
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🧵/ Back In 1998 a journalist from St. Petersburg discovered that Vladimir Putin should have not been appointed as a head of Russian security service (FSB) – internal rules said one should have at least Lieutenant general rank for that.
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This Regiment in known for its role in Crimea annexation, so Roman paid them back for stealing the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 – shortly before signing the contract he moved his family to Feodosia where they settled in.
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– Whose tank is this?
– It's a howitzer, baby.
– Whose howitzer is this?
– It's Zed's.
– Who's Zed?
– Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead.
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🧵/ Link in the last post. There are increasing reports in Russia about conscripts being sent to Kursk for reinforcement after the Russian army failed to push back Ukrainian forces there. Together with
@pustota
, we decided to take a deeper look into this issue.
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Read the full story here in Russian:
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🧵/ link in the last tweet. How high resolution panoramic photo of recent Putin’s speech in Moscow, during Crimea annexation celebration, allowed us to track one of his guards.
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Both DNR and LNR leaders filmed their "evacuation videos" on February 16th, as Telegram metadata shows. Denis Pushilin even says "today, on February 18th..." . Everything that happens today is clearly and undoubtfully staged.
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🧵/ link in the last post. We decided to take a close look at the alleged Putin's yacht, Scheherazade, in the port of Carrara. Literally close. We hired a boat from the same marina. What happened next included drone wars, fire drills, and dealing with the police (successfully).
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Scoop: the Sevastopol Black Sea fleet headquarters strike was a false flag Russian operation designed to conceal the dry dock with smoke, obstructing Western intelligence from monitoring activities near Minsk landing ship and Rostov-na-Donu submarine through satellites.
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🧵/ link in the last tweet. Russian 64th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade became infamous for the war crimes committed by its soldiers in Bucha. I’ve learned that after heavy fighting on the Izyum and Slavyansk axes, the brigade nearly ceased to exist.
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1/9 Quick🧵about the possible Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with Western rocket systems after the U.S. authorized Kyiv on May 31st to do so in order to prevent Russian strikes and assaults on Kharkiv Oblast 🔽.
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Geolocation: 47.33773588744056, -122.28440077292318
A Russian woman living in the U.S. wrote “Bakhmut is ours, thank you Wagner” on her garage in order to upset the Ukrainian neighbors that live on the same street as her.
The Ukrainians tell her “how can you write that after so many children killed?”
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🧵Russian diplomats expelled from the EU after the start of the war were transferred to the RU embassy in Serbia. Solely with the help of OSINT, we found out their links to FSB 16th Center, accused of hacking U.S. nuclear companies, and to Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service ⬇️
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Russian Telegram channels spread what they say is German AfD party 'social advertising', mocking the govt support for Ukraine. The problem is that Russian professional film actors are filmed in it, like this guy, Igor Alexeev ()
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There were 2 drones which flew from different directions. 1st one caused some fire, second one didn't. Check the clock: 1st one is 2.27, 2nd one 2.43. The video with the people climbing the dome is indeed the 2nd drone (no fire caused).
This should be the second of two alleged drones. You can see people climbing the dome and running around with flashlights near the tower gates. Additionally, there must have been something that prompted the person who filmed this to start recording.
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🧵Russian MoD finally approves the wording of the stamp which is being stamped on military IDs of "refuseniks", soldiers who refuse to take part in a "special military operation in Ukraine". My source sent me a photo of his friend’s military ID with exactly the same stamp.
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Nearly all Russian soldiers who kept them in the basement were from Tuva, republic in south-central Siberia, one of the poorest and least-developed regions of Russia. Ukrainian authorities claim they collected evidence to charge at least 9 of them.
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🧵The full version of the Berdyansk airbase explosions video after the Ukrainian ATACMS attack is not only interesting for what is seen in it, but for what is heard as well. Here's nearly the whole script ⬇️
More detailed version of the video of the Berdiansk airbase area
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Soldiers from the 1st Motor Rifle Regiment, part of elite Russian unit, 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division (Kalininets, Moscow region), were based in Izyum and massively asked their commander for dismissal on August 30th. Everyone there knew what's going to happen.
«По причину моральний усталости»
Командир взводу, його заступники і командири відділень із пгт Калинець Московської області різко захотіли додому 30 серпня. Видно, погода у славному місті Ізюм
Знайшов 10 таких рапортів. Акуратно складені. Автори вже упетляли
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They were kept in this basement from March 4rd till March 31rd. See the names right and left of the "calendar"? On the right are those who died in the basement itself, on the left – those who were killed by Russians or died "upstairs" during the shelling.
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Evgeniya is the name of the woman. By the time Russians came in she lived in Yahidne with her family, including grandfather who recently had a stroke and was unable to move. They all survived, but 10 people in the basement died from hunger, lack of fresh air and medications.
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1/2 The Russian Ministry of Defense published a video () with Sergei Shoigu to show that he's alive and well after Prigozhin's mutiny attempt. The MoD doesn't claim when exactly it was filmed, but for some reason, they blurred Nikiforov's watch in it.
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Here's full translation of his address. 1/2: "Hi everyone, the first tank regiment is here. We were officially told that there would be no training before we will be sent to the war zone. The regiment’s commanders confirmed this. On September 29 we’re will be sent to Kherson".
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1/5 Finally, the aftermath of the Ukrainian UAV strike on the Kushchyovskaya air base in Krasnodar Oblast, as seen in a HR
@planet
image from May 23rd. 1 Su-27 is destroyed. 1 Su-34 is also heavily damaged. The Su-30 near the destroyed Su-27 might be damaged as well.
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1/5 Employees of Gazprom, Russian energy giant, are being forced to chip in at least RUB 1000 (17 US dollars) each to buy medications for Russian soldiers wounded in Ukraine – due to the "catastrophic lack of supplies in hospitals".
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And please read full story here (use google translate). Things like that should never happen again.
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🧵/ link in the last tweet. It looks like Ukraine has finally hit the S-400 positions, which were revealed earlier last year by tourists taking photos near the beach close to the city of Yevpatoria. Images by
@planet
, taken today VS Aug. 28.
🧵 Russian tourists reveal S-400 air defense systems positioned near Yevpatoria. AD is active nearly every day in this area according to local authorities. Geolocation 45.180317, 33.232232
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In an weird twist this guy, whose name I think now can be revealed (Sergey Surkov) drops with yet another complaints and allegations against their commanders and organizers of the Russian mobilization. Says they're "somewhere in Belgorod region".
🧵 Here's a video of a Russian soldier who was mobilized recently. He was sent to the "1st tank regiment" (probably 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division) and says they will be sent to Kherson in 2 days without any basic training. I found his VK and reached out to him.
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🧵/ link in the last tweet. Many of you have seen these Russian fortification lines on satellite images and maps. Thanks to Russian soldiers taking selfies there, together with
@pustota
, we can now show you how they look from the ground.
While Ukraine's offensive in Zaporizhia is starting to ramp up, Russia has spent the last 2 months fortifying defensive lines across the entire oblast.
Ive made an interactive map that shows the most recent satellite imagery and these lines.
Download below
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The problem is that this woman says she hided in another place, not the bombed theatre, her father fought for "Somalia" battalion in "DNR", and her husband is a fan of "Z".
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1/2 Sahy, the occupied part of Kherson oblast. A driver desperately tries to evade a Ukrainian FPV drone, driving for nearly a minute, aware he's being followed. Eventually, he makes a wrong decision, attempting a slow 2-step U-turn. The car is hit immediately. Drone view below⬇️
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🧵/ link in the last tweet. Together with
@cxemu
and
@KOvsianyi
we found a photo and a video of a Russian soldiers and equipment being evacuated from the right bank of Dnipro river to Nova Kakhovka by ferry. Ferries go unloaded to the right bank at least since Oct. 8th.
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Translation, 2/2: "Think for yourself, decide for yourself what to do with it in the future. There was no shooting training, no theoretical training, nothing".
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🧵/ link in the last post. Have you ever wondered why Russian artillery systems are named after flowers? Here’s the 2S3 'Akatsiya' ('Akacia') self-propelled gun after what is claimed to be a Chinese-made munition explosion inside the barrel.
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🧵Together with
@pustota
we checked several videos of Russian POWs, where soldiers or authors of the videos claim that they were recently and/or forcibly mobilized. We found that in some cases it’s not true: some may pretend to be conscripts, expecting better treatment.
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When Russians had to retreat from Chernihiv, many of those kept in this "basement of death" were able to walk out for the first tome in 26 days – just to find their houses destroyed and totally looted.
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Russia claims this DJI Agras T-30 drone, which is on exhibit at Army-2022 expo, was captured in Mariupol and is a part of "Ukrainian chemical weapons laboratory". In fact it’s an agricultural drone, bunch of them were stolen by Russians in Kherson back in may.
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The guy was living and working in Moscow. He doesn't seem to be anti-Western or "patriotic". He even reposted this meme which says "Patriotism is a good explainer why should we live worse than others".
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I found Vkontakte account of this man. Yesterday he posted a photo of himself in the barracks.
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🧵/ link in the last post. We found a TikTok videos posted by a Russian woman who identified the American serviceman Gordon Black as her “husband.” He adored Trump, called NATO 'aggressive', finally lost his love and went to Russia to get her back. What could have gone wrong?
A court in the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok has ordered the arrest of U.S. Staff Sergeant Gordon Black and sent him to pretrial detention until at least July 2, court spokeswoman Elena Oleneva said on May 7.
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🧵/ link in the last thread. I spoke with yet another soldier from 64th Motor Rifle Brigade. Petr Danilov is suspected by Ukraine of committing atrocities in Bucha. He claims he was not there and describes the scale of catastrophe the Russian army experienced near Kyiv.
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Russian soldiers provided their prisoners with the minimum amounts of food and water. The first elderly man in the basement died a week after it all started. "He just didn’t wake up when we tried to give him some food", – says Valeriya.
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Some of them have recent posts on VK like nothing happened (). None of them replied to my messages: why keep 300 civilians together? They all had their own houses with basements, where they used to hide from shelling before.
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Russia moved all of its Tu-22 strategic bombers away from the Soltsy airfield after it was attacked by a quad-copter carrying an IED. This attack, likely launched by saboteurs from Russian soil, resulted in the complete destruction of a Tu-22M3 aircraft. Images by
@planet
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1/4 🌉The Russian army constructed a 4th pontoon bridge across the Seym River in the Kursk oblast, near Zvannoye, 1.8 kilometers from the damaged main bridge (51.382030, 34.528200
@GeoConfirmed
). It can be seen on
@planet
satellite image taken yesterday, on Aug. 26th
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🧵/ link in the last tweet. During the two raids on the gas rig(s) in the Black Sea, Ukrainian SOF may have captured one of the components of the Russian R-330M1P 'Diabazol' automated jamming complex.
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Soldiers didn't allow to bury all the bodies immediately after the death. They only allowed to bring them to this boiler room, giving their clearance when at least 5 bodies were "accumulated" there.
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Russian-appointed deputy head of Kherson Oblast Kirill Stremousov entirely removed driver's safety belt from his car. Smart decision, Kirill, I'm pretty sure Ukrainians support this modification!
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Bonus post: one of the funniest video I've seen: a Russian journalist saying that all HIMARS rockets were downed by air defense, while speaking with a ruined building in the background.
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🧵I created an interactive Google Map showing all 15 vehicles (14 trucks and 1 rescue 'Bukhanka') from the Russian military convoy destroyed by Ukraine last night near Rylsk, Kursk Oblast. Multiple dead bodies can be seen inside the trucks.
#Октябрьское (), Рыльский р-н, КурНР, да и с начинкой, вроде, неплохо получилось, прям по классике
#всрф #потерьнет
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Answering a comment which said "how unexpectedly!" he describes how he ended up there: "Yes, I didn't expect it too. Was sleeping after the night shift. They woke me up and gave me a subpoena [to show up in the Military reg. office]
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A new batch of cold-war era T62-M tanks (MY1983) for newly mobilized Russian soldiers is on its way to Ukraine. Photo taken on Sep. 11 in Millerovo, Rostov region (source ).
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Quick 🧵/ Igor Igorevich Stepanov, 56 years old, former marine, was killed in Ukraine. What’s interesting is the fact that he was recently recruited by "Wagner PMC" and this fact was publicly revealed by local media in Volokonovka, Belgorod region, where he lived ⬇️.
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Aftermath of the 2 Ukrainian strikes on Belbek airfield over 2 consecutive nights, as seen in a HR satellite image by
@planet
from May 16. At least several MiG-31s appear to be destroyed + a fuel depot (according to Wikimapia). Another scorch mark is visible at 44.6857, 33.5590.
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I asked him if he can elaborate on his complaints. He answered "Can't talk now, things have changed drastically, hopefully for the better".
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This division struggled a heavy defeat in Izum during UA counter offensive. It's soldiers asked their commanders to let them quit fighting even before Russia retreated from the area.
Soldiers from the 1st Motor Rifle Regiment, part of elite Russian unit, 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division (Kalininets, Moscow region), were based in Izyum and massively asked their commander for dismissal on August 30th. Everyone there knew what's going to happen.
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I'm pretty sure the video was indeed filmed in Kalininets, Moscow region, which hosts 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division (big boards design, buildings coloring) 55.547195, 36.967826 +/- 80 m
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Thread: few quick takes from our latest investigation on Russian military buildup near Ukraine. We chatted with several wifes/mothers/soldiers on the trains – but didn't pretend to change our identity. Even after learning we are journalists, some people continued to chat.
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1/3 I spoke with a whistleblower, a former engineer from the 'Iskra' factory in Perm, which is the developer and manufacturer of engines for Russian missile complexes, including those used by the strategic forces. ⬇️
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🧵/ link in the last tweet. T-62s were too modern for you to see in Ukraine? Now Russia is moving its T-54/55 tanks to the front line, as
@CITeam_en
finds out from the photos obtained from their source.
@planet
satellite imagery corroborates this claim.
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Quick🧵There's actually a change on the ZNPP satellite imagery taken on July 5th and published by
@planet
: new objects appeared on the 4th power unit's roof since July 3rd.
NEW: Here's the latest
@planet
50cm imagery of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant taken this morning (05 July).
I don't see any immediate evidence for unusual objects on the reactor roofs, but others can squint as well and see if they spot anything...
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The video was posted on and being reposted by pro-Wagner channels, which matches Prigozhin's "Fire Shojgu" narrative (). Also some Wagner patches are visible on it. Nearly all "poor mobiks" on the video wear balaclavas
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One of the soldiers reached out to journalists with his complaints (). He says commanders told them they will be sent in a few days "to retake Lyman", while only one man from the previous group of 100 mobilized soldiers sent to Ukraine returned.
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In my previous life sometimes I watched videos by this Ukrainian YouTube channel, which is usually doing car test drives. Now the guy is "unboxing" Russian "Strelets-M" reconnaissance, control and communications system, left by some unlucky lieutenant.
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1/4 Aftermath of the Ukrainian drone strike on the Rosneft oil depot in Razdorovo, Smolensk Oblast, on Apr. 24th, as seen in a
@planet
satellite image captured this morning, on April 27th.
Ukrainian drones attacked a fuel depot in the settlement of Razdorovo, Smolensk Oblast of Russia, early this morning.
A fire broke out at a facility as a result.
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All the hangars seem to be occupied with planes, including some that were damaged, which means they didn't have time to evacuate them.
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My geolocation matches the public info: it's a parade ground of the unit 23626, the 1st tank regiment. Back in may
@agents_media
reported conscripts were sent to Ukraine from there and upon return they didn't get their combat payments.
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I managed to save this photo of the second train explosion in Buryatia from VK before they were deleted. The timestamp clearly indicates this is the 2nd explosion, not the one reported yesterday. However, it's also evident that this is not the bridge as Ukrainian sources claim.
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The strike on Sevastopol Shipyard can be confirmed through the
@NASAEarthData
Global Fire Map, which detected fires at 1 AM GMT. And no, there was no nuclear retaliation from Russia.
A # of Russian Telegram channels posted videos of explosions and a fire reportedly at the 13th Ship Repair Plant in Sevastopol, possibly from a missile strike.
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1/2 On Monday, Aug. 8th, Russian journo published the photos of "Wagner PMC" headquarters in Popasna, including the sign with the building address: "Mironivska, 12". "Putin's cook" Prigozhin can be seen on the pics. Today this building (48.616, 38.360) was hit by Ukrainian strike
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The Russian army has constructed yet another pontoon bridge across the Seym River in Kursk Oblast, in Karyzh, right next to the permanent bridge. A new
@planet
sat image taken Aug. 25th also reveals new damage to the Karyzh bridge, making it unusable even for any heavy equipment.
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After this fruitful conversation she deleted some of her messages and closed her VK, as well as did her husband, and said she will report me to FSB ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Barracks photo from his VK matches the photo of barracks of this unit posted earlier on VK. (By yet another newly mobilized Muscovite, 39 years old)
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Quick 🧵on Russian Iskander-M TELs allegedly hit by ATACMS in Crimea. I admit I was too skeptical about TELs placed there, they can be clearly seen on Apr. 20th
@planet
satellite imagery.
Low resolution satellite imagery shows large scorch marks at location where large fire was spotted in FIRMS data.
According to local Russian Telegram channels, Iskander TELs were destroyed during a strike in Crimea on May the 4th.
45.44425522, 33.71956784
@GeoConfirmed
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Today our colleagues from
@cxemu
investigative project published their OTG report about volunteers from the city of Izyum, who buried the bodies of local civilians and Ukrainian soldiers killed during the Russian occupation.
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This check also allowed me to reveal some interesting stories and stats. The first man on the memorial wall is Nikita Akimov. He was recognized by Bucha residents as one of the most sadistic soldiers among those who tortured them. Rest (not) in peace.
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Russian army recently established a new field camp near Voronezh, where they accumulated troops year ago prior to the invasion. Here's the
@planet
photos of the site taken on Jan. 25, Jan. 30, Feb. 1 and Feb 7th.
Deja vu:
Sentinel imagery shows that a probable field camp has been established at the Pogonovo Training Ground near Voronezh.
Optical imagery from February 7th.
Looking at the SAR imagery, activity began in late January and I suspect expansion of the camp continues.
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Valery is smart enough to always keep geo turned on while taking photos, so we can track all his route there, from Ruzayevka (Penza region) to Samara (15 motor rifle brigade grounds) and then to Belgorod by plane.
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