Victory Chronicles
-DAY 166

WAR HIGHLIGHTS: BRIDGE WOES, NUCLEAR BLACKMAIL

Above: An orc near a nuclear power plant is a danger to the whole world.  Photo via BBC News

• The story of the Antonivka Bridge in Kherson Oblast is beginning to resemble the Chornobayivka airfield.  After Ukraine shelled the bridge four times in the last month, putting it out-of-order for heavy transportation, the orcs have been busy rebuilding.  As the invaders were nearing completion of repairs, Ukrainians shelled their construction equipment on Sunday, forcing the enemy to delay the announced reopening.
• The ignorant and brutal invaders are like emotionally disturbed children: they scream and strike out to get their way, no matter the price they pay.  In this case, the orcs mined the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant to threaten the free world with disaster in return for supporting Ukraine.  The still-living enemy general in charge of the garrison at Enerhodar told his troops, “it will either be russian land or scorched desert.”  Last week, the orcs fired on the territory of the plant, destroying equipment and injuring at least one worker.
• Among the kremlin’s lies to cover up its crimes at the nuclear facility, they lied that Ukraine is responsible for the shelling and that Ukraine won’t permit the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect the plant.  Today, the IAEA  called every orc lie on the issue “disinformation and propaganda, absolute nonsense.”

ARM UKRAINE: HOME-MADE BAYRAKTARS COMING

Above: Ukraine has received more than fifty Bayraktar drones since the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion.  Ukraine’s deft use of the unmanned flying vehicles has been invaluable advertising for the Turkish manufacturer.  Photo via Censor.net

• Plans are moving ahead to open a Bayraktar factory in Ukraine according to Ukraine’s Ambassador to Turkey Vasyl Bodnar. “The plant will be built. Exactly a week ago, the Ukrainian government approved a bilateral agreement and sent it to parliament for ratification; this is an agreement on the construction of the plant itself,” stated Mr Bondar.
• Mr Bondar added that the owner of the Baykar company has already set up a company in Ukraine and has purchased a plot of land. The company has developed plans for the factory and plans to build it to take advantage of the fact that Ukraine can produce key components such as engines, high-tech components and spare parts. Currently, the plant is projected to open in 2025.

GERMAN MIXED MESSAGES

Above: Gerhardt Schroeder’s bromance with the tiny kremlin dictator has been going on since 2004 when the then German chancellor said that putin was a strong democrat.  For his loyalty, Herr Schroeder received many lucrative appointments within russia’s energy sector. Photo via DW

• An arbitration committee within the German Social Democrats’ party received seventeen applications from members to expel ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder over his close ties to the tiny kremlin dictator and russia’s energy sector. However, the committee determined that Mr Schroeder hadn’t breached the party’s rules.
• Mr Schroeder is apparently unconcerned with his legacy.  Due to his open admiration for putin and his top executive appointments to state monopoly energy firms, German lawmakers have already defunded his office and the EU called for sanctions against him.  According to the Associated Press, “But it was his stubbornness in sticking to his energy posts and his failure to wholeheartedly distance himself from Putin after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 that turned the 78-year-old into a political pariah in Germany and estranged him from his party, the center-left Social Democrats of current Chancellor Olaf Scholz.”
• On a more optimistic note, current Chancellor Olaf Scholz assures us that German support for Ukraine is not waning and that opening Nord Stream-2 is off the table despite a very tough German winter ahead.

RUSSIAN CORRUPTION: DIVERSION OF MILITARY CHEMICALS TO AG SECTOR

Above: Over the last thirty years, Ukraine and the USA have both increased fertilizer consumption per unit of arable land, while russia’s consumption has plummeted.  At the same time, ru ag exports have skyrocketed. Graphic via Trent Telenko

• In a fascinating Twitter thread published over the weekend, analyst Trent Telenko looked at the huge dip in ru agricultural fertilizer imports compared to a corresponding dramatic increase in agricultural yields over the last thirty years. The central question of the analysis asks, how did russia increase wheat exports from 696K tons in 2001 to 35 million tons in 2020 with no corresponding increase in fertilizer inputs?
• As it turns out, some of the same chemical inputs for agricultural fertilizers are also used for production of artillery shells.  Mr Telenko quotes author Peter Schweizer from the book “Reagan’s War” on his findings that russia has been diverting chemicals from the military sector to the ag sector for most of the 2000s, all unnoticed by US intelligence.
• Mr Telenko links to another article by Nadin Brzenzinski called “Logistics Collapse” that outlines in detail many ways in which russia’s war production and maintenance functions have been gutted by greed, leaving the pathetic invaders unable to sustain the war in Ukraine.  Mr Brzenzinski concludes his article, “The panic among the bloggers, mostly on the far right that is nationalist and believes in Eurasianism, and the special mission of Russia is clear. They see the war as lost and blame Vladimir Putin for it.
• “How long before we see a total collapse? If Ukraine gets ammo that can reach 300 km, no Russian depot within Ukrainian territory will be safe. This includes Sebastopol, well within Crimea. There are negotiations underway.
• “Incidentally, expect more threats of nuclear weapons. Every time Russia sees more reversals, the bombing of civilian areas increases. So does the talk of a nuclear use. These are the threats of a government that can see the writing on the wall.”