Back Story Newsletter
Good Morning,
Russian Retreat
It’s astounding that 7 months into Russian leader Putin’s bizarre attack on a sovereign nation his forces are scattered, and in tatters in Eastern Ukraine.
The sad faces on Russian TV lamenting retreats, and commentators even calling for Russian Commanders to “have the decency shoot themselves” because they withdrew in the face of overwhelming firepower against them, is shocking. They of course give little credit to the Ukrainian army claiming they are fighting NATO.
How can Putin can formally announce annexations of four regions in Ukraine, while his forces are running from them, which clearly shows his detachment from whats happening on the ground. It’s a charade spun by an increasingly desperate and detached Kremlin leadership with zero credibility.
The Ukrainians have retaken thousands of square miles of territory, and as Russian combat lines appear to have collapsed in places, the Ukraine army is advancing as quickly as possible before winter comes. Advances are startling in the north, south and along the Dnipro river even in the last 24 hours.
It seems ridiculous to hear a Russian war correspondent in Donetsk saying “we are waiting for the new reinforcements, but we have to give them time to get ready”. He’s referring of course Putin’s mobilization of 300 thousand men who can’t fight as well as the regular forces that have been defeated already in Ukraine.
Some estimates found that as many as 700 thousand Russians, or 1 out of every 200 Russians have left the country in the space of less than two weeks since the order of “partial mobilization” of troops to reinforce his faltering invasion.
Over the weekend Russia lost a key city and transportation hub of Lyman. In the south extraordinary advances in the last 24 hours confirmed 1/3 of the territory Russia used to control along the key river Dnipro, specifically on western bank has fallen.
Russian forces are badly supplied and potentially cut off in areas with losses in the south and north and east you can only call Putin’s annexation claims what they are - a charade.
Russia’s military spending is set to increase by 679 billion rubles ($10 billion) the Gazeta.ru news website reported Tuesday. Notably there is a big increase in police budget spending too as authorities fear more unrest in Russia as people oppose Putin’s war and that may boil over into street protests.
Yesterday the White House announced four more mobile rocket launchers will be sent to Ukraine as part of a $625 million military aid package.
I believe Putin won’t blink. He will keep pouring whatever soldiers he has into the breach despite huge losses. He will deny losses and claim victories even if they don’t exist. But when the Crimea itself (illegally annexed in 2014) comes under attack he will be desperate indeed and cornered, and it’s difficult to know what comes next.
Other News…
-Elon Musk proposed buying Twitter at the price he originally offered $54.20 a share
-The U.S. has accused N. Korea of creating a regional crisis after it fired a missile over Japan and is planning a new nuclear test launch. “The North Koreans like to test, and they test you by these maybe incremental, sometimes large, leaps like missile launches to see how you respond,” said David Stilwell, former assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs during the Trump administration
-America’s debt is now over $31 trillion dollars! It’s a grim milestone as interest rates rise and payments by the U.S. Government will be a trillion dollars a year just to service the debt
-One month into her job as Britain’s new Prime Minister, the ‘stumbling out of her depth’ Liz Truss will address her Conservative Party conference saying her cuts to taxes will stimulate the economy in the long run. In the short term the British pound has plunged and the Bank of England forced to announce prime rate hikes to stem inflation, and in-turn has hammered mortgage holders. There is huge discontent in Conservative party ranks by MP’s who say Truss is worse than the ousted Boris Johnson and already calls are growing for her to step down.
Have a good day everyone.
Dana Lewis