⚔ SITREP ⚔ 26 JUNE

◾️ The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are trying to advance in the Donetsk, Krasnoliman and Yuzhno-Donetsk directions (DPR, ex-Ukraine);

◾️ Russian Forces (RF) repelled 7 AFU attacks during the defense of Donetsk;

◾️ RF destroyed an AFU communication center and an ammunition warehouse in Avdeevka, DPR;

◾️ In Orekhovo, Zaporozhye region (ex-Ukraine) RF threw back the attacking AFU motorized infantry platoon back to their original positions;

◾️ Russian troops destroyed up to 325 AFU military personnel in in the Donetsk area over the course of the day;

◾️ RF destroyed an AFU ammunition depot of the 60th mechanized brigade in the Kharkov region (ex-Ukraine);

◾️ AFU losses in Yuzhno-Donetsk, DPR amounted to 115 servicemen and their Bradley infantry fighting vehicles;

◾️ RF hit the command post of the AFU 10th Mountain Assault Brigade near the settlement of Vyemka, DPR;

◾️ Russian troops destroyed more than 100 AFU military personnel and 2 self-propelled Gvozdika ("Carnation") guns in Krasnoliman, DPR.

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⚡️🗣 "I do not rule out that Western intelligence services assisted in the attempted rebellion - the rebellion was inspired by the West and counted on Prigozhin's political ambitions" - head of the Russian National Guard, Zolotov.

The National Guard is a division of the Armed Forces, mandated with overseeing public order.

UPDATE: Heavy weapons, tanks will now be introduced into the National Guard - this issue was discussed with the President.

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⚡️🐒 Lavrov compares Western leaders to monkeys.

At the Russian-Chinese conference, Lavrov quoted the Chinese poet Li Bai: "the cries of monkeys do not stop, but the boat has already passed ten thousand mountains."

🗣 “This is how the Russian-Chinese tandem is, in spite of everything, it overcomes obstacles and moves along the path,” he said.

🗣 "I am grateful to the Chinese partners for their balanced approach. For understanding the root causes [on Ukraine]: the long-term, deliberate ignorance by the West of our security interests."

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WHITE HOUSE PUSHES FOR DECADES OF MISERY: as Biden is urged to send banned cluster munitions to Kiev to help in the offensive - Foreign Policy.

Proponents of sending these munitions point to the wear and tear of Western artillery and the depletion of shell stocks. Cluster munitions are spent more slowly.

They are designed to destroy tanks by breaking into smaller munitions, which can remain on the battlefield for many years, long after a conflict. Each projectile scatters about 88 bombs.

There are 100+ signatories to the international Convention on the Prohibition of Cluster Munitions - however, Russia, Ukraine, and the US are not party to it.

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Putin First @IntelRepublic

Putin asks for a minute of silence for the Russian pilots who died in the stand off with Wagner PMC over the weekend.

⚡️US would like to see the Wagner PMC disbanded and cease operations around the world - State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

Of course you would @IntelRepublic

⚡️ Pro-Western PM of Moldova launches procedure to withdraw from the Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

CIS is a regional intergovernmental organization formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, comprising 9 former Soviet Republics.

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WAS PRIGOZHIN WORKING ALONE? Russia's political scientist Rostislav Ischenko (right) says it's unlikely.

🗣"The fact is that this kind of rebellion is not organized ..with 10, 20, 30 thousand armed fighters. You simply would not have enough control not only over the country, but even just the Capital. Not to mention the long road from Rostov to Moscow."

Accordingly, Prigozhin would have counted on some kind of support from within - from within the Capital.

🗣"If I understand this, then the secret services understand it. And they will investigate. To the people who helped, incited and organized all this - no amnesty was promised to them."

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Putin First @IntelRepublic

Putin tells soldiers that by sticking to the oath they took to Russia, they helped prevent a major civil catastrophe during the Wagner PMC rebellion this weekend.

ART OF WAR? Former Chief of Staff of the British Army, Lord Richard Dannatt says that moving Wagner to Belarus could be a move to attack Ukraine from the north.

🗣"I would definitely make sure that I have good control of the situation in the direction from Belarus to Kiev... We don't know how many troops Prigozhin (Wagner PMC Chief) has at his disposal, but that flank needs to be watched very carefully."

This past weekend, Wagner PMC allegedly went rogue and turned its forces toward Moscow. They stopped in Rostov, Southwest Russia, for several hours as negotiations took place between Prigozhin, Russia's authorities and President Lukashenko of Belarus.

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