Russian-Ukrainian War: Live Thread

[Harvey]

https://twitter.com/mazzenilsson/status/1671552056455229443

Today Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made an announcement that has not yet been carried in Western media but which is of the most grave nature.

According to the latest intelligence reports, Russia believes that the Ukrainian armed forces now intend to cover their failed counter-offensive in the Donbas by using US-supplied Himars multiple launch artillery and UK-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles, possibly in the longer range domestic version, to attack the Crimea.

If this happens, says Shoigu, Russia will consider both the United States and Britain to have fully entered the war as co-belligerents. And Russia will immediately respond to any such attack on its territory by destroying “the decision making centers” of the Kiev regime. This is a fairly transparent threat to “neutralize” their government apparatus and personnel, logically including President Zelensky.

The statement by Shoigu leaves little doubt that we are entering the final phase of the Ukraine war as a war limited to the geography of Ukraine, and are possibly heading into a wider war with unforeseeable consequences both for Europeans and (finally) for the Americans.

[Belligerent Savant]

.

Nothing to see here -- move along.

https://www.ft.com/content/3d6041fb-574 ... 1742aa52a2

BlackRock and JPMorgan help set up Ukraine reconstruction bank

JUNE 19 2023

Fund aims to attract billions of dollars in private investment to assist rebuilding projects in war-torn country

BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase are helping the Ukrainian government set up a reconstruction bank to steer public seed capital into rebuilding projects that can attract hundreds of billions of dollars in private investment.

The Ukraine Development Fund remains in the planning stages and is not expected to fully launch until the end of hostilities with Russia. But investors will have a preview this week at a London conference co-hosted by the British and Ukrainian governments.

“So many of today’s long-term challenges are best addressed through blended finance and this is one. You need these vehicles to mobilise capital at scale,” said BlackRock vice-chair Philipp Hildebrand, who will be discussing the work on Wednesday.

The World Bank estimated in March that Ukraine would need $411bn to rebuild after the war, and recent Russian attacks have driven that figure higher.

The Kyiv government engaged BlackRock’s consulting arm in November to determine how best to attract that kind of capital, and then added JPMorgan in February. Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced last month that the country was working with the two financial groups and consultants at McKinsey.

No formal fundraising target has been set but people familiar with the discussions say the fund is seeking to raise low-cost capital from governments, donors and international financial institutions and leverage it to attract between five and 10 times as much private investment.

BlackRock and JPMorgan are donating their services, although the work will give them an early look at possible investments in the country. The assignment also deepens JPMorgan’s relationship with a longstanding client. The bank has helped Ukraine raise more than $25bn in sovereign debt since 2010 and led the country’s $20bn debt restructuring last year.

The financiers consulted with private and public sector investors and found they wanted to help Ukraine but were leery not just about war losses but also the country’s governance, lack of transparency and shallow capital markets.

What Ukraine needed, BlackRock advised, was a development finance bank to find investment opportunities in sectors such as infrastructure, climate and agriculture and make them attractive to pension funds and other long-term investors and lenders. JPMorgan was brought in partly for its debt expertise.

“The fund is being set up to also give public and private sector investors the opportunity to invest into specific projects and sectors,” said Stefan Weiler, JPMorgan’s head of debt capital markets for central Europe, Middle East and Africa. “There will be different sectoral funds that the fund identified as priorities for Ukraine. The aim is maximise capital participation.”

The structure calls for the fund to use the lower-cost public money, known as concessional capital, to make initial investments and absorb the first losses.

“The notion is that this initial seed capital would be a de-risking mechanism, and it would create the potential for private sector capital to come in at scale,” said Brandon Hall, co-head of BlackRock’s Financial Markets Advisory arm. “Ukraine will have its own organisation to source and syndicate these local investment opportunities.”

To overcome investor concerns about governance, the fund is expected to stock its board with representatives of international financial institutions and governments and hire investment professionals to execute its strategy.

“Our view is that if you have a strong governance structure and an internationally credible set of stakeholders who are in the leadership position in this fund, then that will go a long way,” Hall said.

BlackRock’s advice has drawn on its work for the Saudi National Development Fund and the Climate Finance Partnership, a blended finance vehicle that directs investment into sustainability projects in emerging markets. McKinsey did not respond to a request for comment.

At present, the Ukraine work is focused on setting up the structure, governance and practical procedures because most investors want to wait for the end of hostilities. “The important part is that Ukraine is already thinking ahead,” Weiler said. “When the war is over, they’re going to want to be ready and start the rebuilding process immediately.”


Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2023. All rights reserved.

[drstrangelove]

the ukrainian offensive fails, so russian military missile strike their own mercenaries on the front line, who figure out they are being sabotaged by their own command to prolong the conflict, and move back into russia to take over the air support command center.

fake war. it was on the brink of fizzling out with this failed offensive as well.

[drstrangelove]

Putin's public address(english dubbed by RussiaToday) - https://rumble.com/v2w2qyy-putin-delive ... ussia.html

[Belligerent Savant]

Alexandros Marinos
@alexandrosM

Remember the OG russiagate troll farm? The Internet Research Agency?

Do you know its creator was Prigozhin?

Watching the west cheer on the founder of the most notorious troll farm is some sort of founder redemption arc I'm not entirely familiar with, but definitely here for.

@OrphicCapital
·
Prig*zhin is a Russian SCP confirmed

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/counterintel ... 3.pdf/view

https://twitter.com/alexandrosM/status/ ... 30786?s=20


https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna90923

What is the Wagner Group? A look at the mercenary group led by man accused of 'armed mutiny' in Russia

Yevgeny Prigozhin leads the group that Russia calls a “private military company” but which U.S. officials label a proxy force.

[Belligerent Savant]

A couple more social media comments of varying legitimacy/quality. Taking a few days offline to step away from the intermittent madness. I imagine news stories will get more absurd, if possible.

Kim Iversen
@KimIversenShow

Russians view this as a western backed coup and believe Prigozhin is paid off by the west with billions and promises of leadership. The Russian people won’t let this happen.

Following telegram channels and speaking to my many civilian sources inside the country. Prigozhin was liked by the people before but now they’re turning against him and no longer trust him.

...
Fish Tank
@FishTanksSuck
·
Because Prigozhin was a civilian with no military training he was an easy CIA asset, The CIA convinced Yevgeny Prigozhin that Putin planned to arrest him. Promising support if Wagner topples Putin, the CIA is actively feeding Prigozhin real-time intel. Wagner have hostages
[Video at link]

https://twitter.com/KimIversenShow/stat ... 13729?s=20

https://twitter.com/FishTanksSuck/statu ... 84033?s=20

On edit, another take to counter much of the above --

Clandestine
@WarClandestine

Lemme get this straight.

Prigozhin, who is fully funded by the Russian Government, is close with Putin, and engaged in disinformation psyops like “no ammo in Bakhmut”; says crazy shit again, and the pro-Ukraine folks didn’t even consider the possibility it was Russian disinformation?

There was no civil war. There were zero casualties. It was just Prigozhin being batshit crazy like he always is, and right back to the frontlines after his outburst.

What do I think? I think Prigozhin is working with Putin as usual to accomplish any number of goals.

What did Putin gain? The disguise of the movement of mass quantities of his troops, the appearance of being weak to bait Ukraine to attack (they did and lost outside Artyomovsk), and he weeded out any traitors who may have tried to join with Prigozhin.

What did Putin ultimately lose? Nothing. There was no civil war. No civilians in danger. And now the country and the public are galvanized around him.

Now the NAFO turds will be on to the next thing and right back to hating Prigozhin and Wagner. They will forget that they briefly worshipped the man who took their beloved Bakhmut from them. Just like they did with Belgorod, this turned out to not be the end of Russia, despite the pro-Ukraine accounts being certain of it.

As I said before, the only place this was a civil war, was on the Internet. And you just witnessed who is a reliable source, and who is not. Who reports on verifiable information, and those who report on wild speculation.

Careful who you follow. Choose wisely.

2:16 PM · Jun 24, 2023

https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/stat ... 75744?s=20


WRex may have the best sober take on it at the moment:

brainsturbator
@brainsturbator

Love watching stories unfold through the lens of lies, rumor and agitprop

2:41 PM · Jun 24, 2023

[DrEvil]

This whole thing smells bad enough that the Norwegian state broadcaster (our version of the BBC) ran a front page article about this possibly being a false flag operation today. They even included a helpful explanation of what false flags are for the uninitiated. Never thought I'd see the day.

[stickdog99]

[Grizzly]

"National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is arguably the key person driving US foreign policy. He was mentored by Hillary Clinton with regime changes in Honduras, Libya and Syria. He was the link between Nuland and Biden during the 2014 coup in Ukraine. As reported by Seymour Hersh, Sullivan led the planning of the Nord Stream pipelines destruction in September 2022." ...

https://original.antiwar.com/Rick_Sterling/2023/06/26/who-is-national-security-adviser-jake-sullivan-the-man-running-us-foreign-policy/

[Grizzly]

https://noagendasocial.com/@Genen/110664345509150054
NATO, Biden wants Ursula. Elensky, ZNPP rooftop explosives. China cancels EU Borrell.

[Grizzly]

[Grizzly]

https://odysee.com/@wearechange:1/kissinger-admitted-it!-2:0
Kissinger Admitted It!

[Grizzly]

These endless “Ukraine is almost there….closing in…” Type messages are laughable.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-may-close-surpassing-russia-002451177.html?guccounter=1

[JackRiddler]

https://odysee.com/@wearechange:1/kissinger-admitted-it!-2:0
Kissinger Admitted It!

Two guys got Kissinger on Zoom, apparently, posing as Ukrainian journalists or some such, and asked him who blew up Nordstream. Does anyone think Kissinger was in on that job? Or cares? How the hell would he know? And he says, "I thought it was you," meaning Ukraine. Which, of course, is what the U.S. propaganda has been saying for a couple of months now, since a month after Hersh's story. "I thought" is not an admission, and if it was, it would merely be adhering to the open propaganda line of the moment. The only thing tolerable about this stupidity with the no-content click-bait teaser title is that it's like 20 seconds. Luke Rudkowski at his dumbest, which is always.

[Grizzly]

Man you and Elvis sure like to critique a lot, actually come to think of it, lately, that's all you guys do. You guys will pop in every so often, just to correct the record.