The head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, regularly participates in military operations.
Day: May 23, 2024
AP: Russian missiles slammed into Ukraine’s second-largest city in the northeast of the country and killed at least six civilians early Thursday, officials said, as Kyiv’s army labored to hold off an intense cross-border offensive by the Kremlin’s larger and better-equipped forces.
At least 16 people were injured as…
Mr. Trump is a Russian asset. pic.twitter.com/jJ0MqsS7uq
— KT “Special CIA Operation” (@KremlinTrolls) May 23, 2024
Looks like @SecBlinken is leading the way in trying to convince the White House to lift the US ban on Ukraine using US supplied weapons to attack 🇷🇺 military targets in Russia https://t.co/bxF6ucgohG
— KT “Special CIA Operation” (@KremlinTrolls) May 23, 2024
While they were in #Iran for Raisi’s funeral, Resistance Axis leaders held a meeting with #IRGCterrorists top brass.https://t.co/4AtHmTmUOI pic.twitter.com/YfdADBCPVV
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) May 23, 2024
Germany’s Plan to Strengthen Ukraine’s Air Defenses Stalls – Politico Reports
Despite a German plan to protect #Ukraine against #missileattack, partner nations hesitate to send needed batteries to Ukraine, largely due to the high cost of #Patriot systems.https://t.co/BRHyvJ4AM5
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) May 23, 2024
It is likely that Gerasimov will not hold his position for long. And the scheme of his removal will be identical to that of Shoigu.
First, criminal cases against his deputies (which is already happening) and his inner circle and then “honorable retirement”.What will happen… https://t.co/ndtYduue27 pic.twitter.com/rw6bd7QR9f
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) May 23, 2024
Анри де Тулуз-Лотрек. «Ла Гулю, танцующая с Валентином Бескостным». 1895 г. Музей Орсе. Париж. Франция. pic.twitter.com/DMPP6nBGel
— Художники и Поэты (@Xudozhnikipoeti) May 23, 2024
The deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and head of its Main Directorate of Communications Vadim Shamarin has been detained on charges of “large-scale bribery”, Russian business news outlet RBC reported on Thursday morning.
Russian business daily Kommersant first reported Shamarin’s detention, citing a source in the country’s law enforcement agencies who said that his home had been searched on Wednesday, after which he had been detained for questioning by the Russian Investigative Committee’s Main Military Investigative Department on potential fraud charges.
Citing a military court, RBC later reported that Shamarin had been arrested on Wednesday and would be remanded in custody for two months.
Shamarin is the latest member of Russia’s military elite to be targeted in purges that began with the arrest on bribery charges of Deputy Defence Minister Timur Ivanov in April. Several weeks later, two other high-ranking officials, Lieutenant General Yury Kuznetsov and Major General Ivan Popov, were also arrested on the same charges.
All four men face up to 15 years behind bars if found guilty.
Shamarin is not the first deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff to be arrested on corruption charges. His predecessor Khalil Arslanov was also arrested on charges of accepting multimillion-euro bribes in 2020, Kommersant noted.
The pro-war Telegram channel Rybar said that Shamarin had a reputation for “window dressing, falsifying reports about how good everything is, and making unfounded organisational decisions that harmed the organisation of communication within the troops”, adding that his detention was part of an “audit” rather than a “witch hunt” in Russia’s Defence Ministry.
Political commentator Farida Rustamova described Shamarin as the “highest-ranking detainee” in Russia’s military leadership since Ivanov and recalled a meeting between military officials earlier in May in which Vladimir Putin had said that the General Staff was “operating successfully”, with “no changes envisaged”.