Russian Invasion of Ukraine

[China]

 

[EmirOfShmo]

How Russia’s war in Ukraine helped the FBI crack one of the biggest cybercrime cases in years

 

Investigators nabbed a key figure behind malware program Raccoon Infostealer in the Netherlands after he fled the fighting in Ukraine

 

Three weeks after Russia started dropping bombs on Ukraine in late February, a talented young computer programmer named Mark Sokolovsky climbed into a Porsche Cayenne with his girlfriend to get away from the fighting.

The pair made their way through Poland and then Germany before stopping in the Netherlands, where they thought they were safe. Little did they know that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and investigators in Europe had been watching them all along.

Sokolovsky, 26, had been named late last year in a sealed criminal indictment in federal court in Texas that alleged he was a key figure behind a pervasive type of malware known as Raccoon Infostealer that prosecutors say has infected millions of computers around the world, stealing financial login credentials and money from an untold number of victims.     

Days after Sokolovsky crossed into the country, Dutch police arrested him in Amsterdam on charges of computer fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and identity theft. He faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted and remains in custody in the Netherlands while fighting an extradition proceeding that would send him to the U.S.

 

https://www.marke****ch.com/story/how-russias-war-in-ukraine-helped-the-fbi-crack-one-of-the-biggest-cyber-crime-cases-in-years-11667329599

 

[China]

Russia Says It Will Rejoin Deal Allowing Ukrainian Grain Shipments

 

Russia said on Wednesday that it was rejoining a deal that allows the shipment of grain from Ukrainian ports through the Black Sea, easing days of uncertainty over the fate of an agreement that had offered hope to countries facing severe food shortages — and appearing to restore one of the few areas of cooperation between the two countries.

 

Moscow had suspended its participation in the deal over the weekend after an attack on Russian naval ships in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol that it blamed on Ukraine, and claimed that the incident showed the sea corridor used to transport grain was unsafe for its own ships. There have been no reports of security incidents involving the hundreds of cargo vessels that have transited the sea under the July agreement, carrying more than 10 million tons of grain and other agricultural products to world markets, including at least 15 ships that departed Ukraine since Moscow withdrew from the agreement on Saturday.

 

Analysts said that Moscow was trying to use its participation in the agreement as leverage. On Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had received written guarantees from Ukraine that the waters and ports used by the grain ships would not be used “for military operations against the Russian Federation.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Russian Lawmaker Who Criticized Vladimir Putin's War In Ukraine Left Comatose After Incident Inside Parliament Building

 

A Russian lawmaker and alleged Vladimir Putin loyalist was left in a coma after suffering a series of mysterious head injuries in a parliament building, RadarOnline.com has learned.

 

 

71-year-old Anatoly Karpov was hospitalized late Saturday night after allegedly “suffering a fall.” He now reportedly resides in the neurology ward of a prestigious Moscow medical institution as his “serious” condition is monitored 24/7.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

[Gurgeh]

6 minutes ago, China said:

Russian Lawmaker Who Criticized Vladimir Putin's War In Ukraine Left Comatose After Incident Inside Parliament Building

...

71-year-old Anatoly Karpov was hospitalized late Saturday night after allegedly “suffering a fall.” He now reportedly resides in the neurology ward of a prestigious Moscow medical institution as his “serious” condition is monitored 24/7.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

 

I bet the "monitoring" involves moving his bed closer and closer to the nearest open window 

[gbear]

Was there a window in parliament  for him to fall through to get his head injuries? Did he fall far enough to bounce and get multiple injuries or wad his head closed in the window a few times?

 

Say, I a head has a window shut on it numerous times while partly out the window, does it still count as defenestration?

 

I am just trying to get the story to fit in Putin's normal modus operandi.

[China]

 

[China]

Sabotage of military helicopters deep inside Russia purportedly shown on video

 

Video has emerged purporting to show a man preparing and planting explosives on a Russian military helicopter at an airbase deep inside Russia.

 

Subsequent satellite imagery shows several damaged helicopters at the base in Pskov region in northern Russia. The base is about 35 kilometers from the border with Latvia, but nearly 1,000 kilometers from Ukraine.

 

The sabotage of the helicopters is the furthest from Ukrainian territory that an attack has been confirmed against a Russian military target since the conflict began.

 

The video shows an unidentified man placing something inside a helicopter. At one point he puts something to his ear, possibly a timer. At another moment, a Ka-52 attack helicopter is clearly visible.

 

The video is shot in daylight but the explosions did not occur until after nightfall, according to unofficial Russian media. CNN has geolocated the video to the Veretye base at Beredniki.

 

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence said Tuesday that a “powerful explosion occurred at the air base of the Russian Armed Forces “Veretier” on the night of October 31.”

 

While not claiming a Ukrainian sabotage unit carried out the attack, it said that “as a result of mining, two Russian attack (KA-52) helicopters and one MI-28N were completely destroyed. Two more were significantly damaged.”

 

A satellite image published Tuesday showed several damaged helicopters at the base, and one unofficial Russian media outlet reported explosions there.

 

The Telegram channel Baza said: “At around 10 pm [on October 31], the military personnel of the unit heard several explosions, and then saw the scattered wreckage of two helicopters. The explosion was so strong that the fragments of the fuselage scattered 200 meters around. The reason for the Ka-52 explosion is unknown.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Wildbunny]

3 hours ago, China said:

 

I really don't get that.

I mean, you're not exactly suffering any energy shortage, or anything related to it, it's even more of a blessing as you're selling yours due to this instead of Russia.

It's not on your soil. And the weapons are on lend and lease, so you're gonna make money out of all those help.

 

And politically, having Ukrainians punching Russians with US weapons is good also, and a great show of what you could sell to anybody.

 

No really, I don't get it, no matter how I look at it, it's a win-win for you...

 

[Larry]

31 minutes ago, Wildbunny said:

I really don't get that.

I mean, you're not exactly suffering any energy shortage, or anything related to it, it's even more of a blessing as you're selling yours due to this instead of Russia.

It's not on your soil. And the weapons are on lend and lease, so you're gonna make money out of all those help.

 

And politically, having Ukrainians punching Russians with US weapons is good also, and a great show of what you could sell to anybody.

 

No really, I don't get it, no matter how I look at it, it's a win-win for you...

 

 

It's something good that's happening, while a Democrat is President.  

 

Well, and Russia doesn't like it.  

[China]

 

[Gurgeh]

‘A joke that went out of control’: crowdfunding weapons for Ukraine’s war | Ukraine | The Guardian

 

"In just nine hours, the Prytula Foundation raised $5.5m from private donors to buy 50 FV103 Spartans used by the British Army...

 

"The British army has been using FV103 Spartans since 1978 but they are being phased out for newer designs. The 50 on sale are in private hands and each is said to have fewer than 10,000 miles on the clock. Prytula himself had visited the UK to check them out. A previous official donation of 35 Spartans by the British government had proven to be a great success on the battlefield. When approached by the Prytula Foundation about gaining more, the generals were said to have been keen.

 

“We are the first organisation that is going to actually procure them, not as a state, as a country, but as an NGO who would give them to the ministry of defence of Ukraine,” said Maksym Kostetsky, the transport direction coordinator at the Prytula Foundation.

[dunfer]

4 hours ago, Larry said:

 

It's something good that's happening, while a Democrat is President.  

 

Well, and Russia doesn't like it.  

Yeah i dont know. Ive always leaned conservative and think helping Ukraine is a good thing. Reagan,Bush, McCain...the guys I associate as republican would absolutely be against Putin, but Fox News personalities (and honestly most news channels nowadays) are basically like watching the "View" and riling up the elderly.

 

Still I do wonder what the endgame is? Will Putin give up and survive? Does a coup have to happen? Iran, NK and mabye even China seem to be getting a little frisky. Whats the endgame?

[China]

Ukraine government is seeking alternatives to Elon Musk’s Starlink, vice PM says

 

The Ukrainian government is looking for alternatives to Starlink, the satellite internet arm of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Thursday.

 

Musk’s continued support for Starlink in Ukraine was called into question last month when the billionaire said his space venture could no longer fund the operation in Ukraine “indefinitely.” He has since said he will continue to do so.

 

During a press conference Thursday at the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon, Portugal, Fedorov said that he hasn’t seen any issues with Musk’s financing of Starlink in Ukraine continuing. The operation is currently working fine, he said.

 

However, Fedorov, who is also Ukraine’s digital minister, said the government is searching for new satellite communication tools to support IT infrastructure in Ukraine, which has been disrupted by Russia’s invasion. Fedorov said he had recently received reports of a blackout in Ukraine, as Russia launched an assault on the country’s energy infrastructure.

 

“We’re also using other satellite communication tools,” said Fedorov. “We’re working with other operators, not only SpaceX.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Gurgeh]

22 hours ago, dunfer said:

Yeah i dont know. Ive always leaned conservative and think helping Ukraine is a good thing. Reagan,Bush, McCain...the guys I associate as republican would absolutely be against Putin, but Fox News personalities (and honestly most news channels nowadays) are basically like watching the "View" and riling up the elderly.

 

Still I do wonder what the endgame is? Will Putin give up and survive? Does a coup have to happen? Iran, NK and mabye even China seem to be getting a little frisky. Whats the endgame?

 

The first problem is Putin has already annexed four regions of Ukraine that he doesn't even have full control over, to go along with Crimea he annexed and got away with. It's very difficult to see how he can withdraw from territory that his government has now enshrined as part of Russia.

 

Then there's the small matter of his repeated rants that Ukraine as a country doesn't exist, that it's always been part of Russia, and that the whole of eastern Europe should be returned to returned to Russian domination because Russia is just the best thing ever.

 

Let's say the war stopped now, with each side keeping the territory it now holds. How long before Putin rebuilds his army and decides to grab the rest of "non-existent" Ukraine? Perhaps Moldova will be next, before it can join Nato and become a "threat." Perhaps it will be the rest of Georgia, finishing what Putin started in 2008, and scooping up many of the Russian "traitors" who have fled there to avoid his draft. Or maybe he decides to link up to Kaliningrad by rolling through the Baltic states, now that he sees all he has to do is wait until the West becomes bored and impatient and starts fretting over a sum of money that amounts to about 2% of the total US military budget.

 

So where does this end? A ceasefire that gets violated on a daily basis, but where that ceasefire line is remains to be seen, and as long as Putin is in charge, there'll be threats and trouble along it. The further east that line is, the better.

 

The Russians will pivot towards China, who'll build new pipelines transporting their gas to the east. Iran and North Korea will carry on being Iran and North Korea, doing whatever they can to annoy the West, although Iran has it's own internal problems right now. The Russians were already pals with Iran over Syria, while NK is a useful buffer for China, so no real change there.

[Wildbunny]

10 hours ago, Gurgeh said:

Let's say the war stopped now, with each side keeping the territory it now holds. How long before Putin rebuilds his army and decides to grab the rest of "non-existent" Ukraine? Perhaps Moldova will be next, before it can join Nato and become a "threat." Perhaps it will be the rest of Georgia, finishing what Putin started in 2008, and scooping up many of the Russian "traitors" who have fled there to avoid his draft. Or maybe he decides to link up to Kaliningrad by rolling through the Baltic states, now that he sees all he has to do is wait until the West becomes bored and impatient and starts fretting over a sum of money that amounts to about 2% of the total US military budget.

Considering how things are unfloding from all those dictatorial states, and even if our actual leaders deny it right now, we don't seem to have much choice here.

 

They'll keep on pushing through to see what we'll allow them to do or not. Everybody's playing with a red line that doesn't really exist to see if someone will cross that line. Those dictators are actually having fun altogether of us.

 

So we're stuck at a point where we either let them do whatever they please, or you kick their butts all the way to Mars. Otherwise, that's just procrastrination, and we'll have to face a bigger problem in the future.

If we don't get that, one day, they'll invade us.

 

And when I see Olag Scholz going to China for business as usual, man... Have those guys not learned a thing or two about geopolitics? Dumbasses...

[China]

Russia-Ukraine war live: Kherson looted ahead of expected battle for city; Russian conscripts receiving ‘little or no training’

 

Our correspondent Luke Harding, reporting from Kyiv, has written about how Moscow is deporting Kherson residents along with stolen art, tractors and cars as Ukraine’s forces close in.

 

“Things are disappearing in the Ukrainian city of Kherson at a rapid rate. Some are physical objects. Russian troops are taking away ambulances, tractors and stolen private cars. Cultural things are going too: archives, and paintings and sculptures from the art and local lore museums. Even the bones of Catherine the Great’s friend and lover, Grigory Potemkin, have been grubbed up from a crypt in St Catherine’s Cathedral and spirited away.”

 

The 300,000 troops Putin conscripted as part of the mobilisation drive are providing “little additional offensive combat capability” as the Russian military is struggling to train them, UK intelligence has reported. In its daily briefing, the UK Ministry of Defence said troops are being deployed with “little or no training”.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Nearly One Third of Moscow Officials Have Fled Russia

 

Nearly a third of Moscow officials in the mayor's office has reportedly fled Russia in the space of a month, joining a mass exodus of Russians who have sought to escape being drafted as part of President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilization order.

 

Male employees left en masse from some of the largest departments, including housing and communal services, health care and education, and IT specialists, local news outlet Nestka reported, citing sources familiar with the situation.

 

Many of these officials reportedly left without officially resigning and notifying relevant authorities, while others fled without taking their personal belongings.

 

"They leave, leaving things at the workplace, without washing their mug," a source told the news outlet.

 

Russian journalist Roman Super, citing Kremlin sources, said on his Telegram channel on October 14 that government employees began handing in their notices following the death of Aleksey Martynov, the head of a department within the Moscow city government.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Gurgeh]

More bizarre stuff

 

Medvedev says Russia is fighting a sacred battle against Satan | Reuters

 

Medvedev... said Moscow was fighting "crazy Nazi drug addicts" in Ukraine backed by Westerners who he said had "saliva running down their chins from degeneracy".

 

In a message marking Russia's Day of National Unity, Medvedev said the task of the fatherland was to "stop the supreme ruler of Hell, whatever name he uses - Satan, Lucifer or Iblis". Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said Russia had different weapons, including the ability to "send all our enemies to fiery Gehenna"...

 

Satan's weapons, Medvedev said, were "intricate lies. And our weapon is the truth. That is why our cause is right. That is why victory will be ours! Happy Holidays!"

 

*edit* I'll admit at first glance I read that as Ibis rather than Iblis, and wondered what he had got him so worked up about a hotel chain

 

 

Edited November 6, 2022 by Gurgeh

[CousinsCowgirl84]

Happy holidays?

[MrSilverMaC]

3 minutes ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

Happy holidays?

Defeating satan just in time for Christmas would be a hell of a present for baby Jesus.

[China]

Ukraine suffered a comms outage when 1,300 SpaceX satellite units went offline over funding issues

 

Ukraine’s fears that its troops  may lose access to Elon Musk’s crucial Starlink internet service deepened in the past week after 1,300 of the military’s satellite units went offline, according to two sources familiar with the outage.

 

The small, easy-to-use satellite dishes made by Musk’s private rocket company SpaceX have been universally hailed as a game-changing source of communication for Ukraine’s military, allowing it to fight and stay online even as cellular phone and internet networks have been destroyed in its war with Russia. 

 

But concerns have risen recently over the dependability of SpaceX after discussions about funding were revealed and outages were reported near the frontlines. 

 

CNN first reported that SpaceX sent a letter in September to the Pentagon claiming it had spent almost $100 million funding Starlink in Ukraine and that it could no longer continue to do so. The letter requested that the Defense Department  take over more of the funding  for Ukraine’s military, which it calculated would run tens of millions of dollars a month. 

 

Days after the CNN report, Musk appeared to reverse course, claiming that SpaceX had withdrawn the request. 

 

“The hell with it,” Musk tweeted, “we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”

 

Negotiations between SpaceX and the Defense Department continue despite Musk’s claim that SpaceX withdrepw its request, according to a senior defense official.

 

“Negotiations are very much underway. Everyone in our building knows we’re going to pay them,” the senior Pentagon official told CNN, adding that the department is eager to have commitments in writing “because we worry he’ll change his mind.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Putin signs law to mobilize Russian citizens convicted of serious crimes

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law to conscript citizens with unexpunged or outstanding convictions for murder, robbery, larceny, drug trafficking and other serious crimes under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to be called up for military service to mobilize.

 

This makes it possible to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people who have been sentenced to probation or have recently been released from colonies who were previously forbidden to serve.

 

The only group of criminals exempted from the decree are those who committed sex crimes against minors, treason, spying or terrorism. Also excluded are those convicted of the attempted assassination of a government official, hijacking an aircraft, extremist activity and illegal handling of nuclear materials and radioactive substances.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

You want war crimes?  Because this is how you get war crimes (at least more than you've had already). 

 

 

[Wildbunny]

Russia clearly don't know what a good soldier is.

 

Everybody keeps on referring to them as the second best army in the world, but besides their nukes, I'm not sure they are even top 5. They clearly lacks in strategic and tactical departments. As well as army hierarchy.

 

They're still playing it with flood of cannon fodder but still haven't figured out a way to win without that many casualties.

 

It's no surprise they're having so much trouble on the battlefield but also inside the country. All those dead guys for nothing are gonna bite them in the ass and more in a few year when they won't be able to reproduce the population... Something that has burden Putin since he took over.

[PokerPacker]

1 hour ago, Wildbunny said:

Russia clearly don't know what a good soldier is.

 

Everybody keeps on referring to them as the second best army in the world, but besides their nukes, I'm not sure they are even top 5. They clearly lacks in strategic and tactical departments. As well as army hierarchy.

 

They're still playing it with flood of cannon fodder but still haven't figured out a way to win without that many casualties.

 

It's no surprise they're having so much trouble on the battlefield but also inside the country. All those dead guys for nothing are gonna bite them in the ass and more in a few year when they won't be able to reproduce the population... Something that has burden Putin since he took over.

I'm not sure anyone's been referring to Russia as the second best army in the world since Spring.