Victory Chronicles
-DAY 177

HIGHLIGHTS: ORCS FROZEN, MORE CRIMEAN EXPLOSIONS, BOMB SHELTER BUS STOPS, RU HACKER RING IN KYIV

Above:  Just a day after some of the highest civilian deaths from enemy shelling, Kharkiv city authorities opened the city’s first bomb shelter bus stops.  The city plans to erect 25 bomb shelter bus stops that can hold fifty people each. Photo via Suspline

• According to the Institute for the Study of War, August 18 was the first day that ru did not claim any territorial gains since July 6.  War watchers assume that the enemy is struggling to raise manpower and restock materiel needed to continue its offensive operations, which some fear will lead to acts of desperation.

• Russian sources reported explosions in several locations in Crimea, without giving reasons.  Most notably, unnamed local sources reported at least four explosions around the Belbek airfield near Sevastopol, the home of the enemy’s Black Sea fleet.  The enemy claimed to have shot down Ukrainian drones near Belbek and near the Kerch Bridge.  Analysts believe that the kremlins is rattled by the apparent ease with which Ukraine strikes deep into Crimea, which some fear will lead to acts of desperation.

• Ukraine’s Security Services busted a ring of pro-russian cyber hackers operating in Kyiv. The operation was run by a Kyiv resident with help from collaborators.  The center controlled a network of over 100 client computers that ran hacking and DDoS attacks on Ukrainian targets.

GROWING DANGER OF ACTS OF DESPERATION

Above: Military enemy vehicles enter the territory of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power station south of Zaporizhzhya on the left bank of the Dnipro River.  Photo via Washington Post

• Intelligence has picked up signs that the enemy may be planning the unimaginable: an attack on the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in order to put out the propaganda narrative that Ukraine caused a nuclear disaster.  Locals in the area have said that occupation officials have told enemy workers not to come to the plant on August 19.

• In a story this week by the Washington Post, former power plant employees report continual explosions and shockwaves from outgoing enemy artillery next to the power plant.  These employees managed to flee the area and were concerned that, as others try to escape, there will be a lack of qualified personnel to keep the operations stable.

• “In the months since it was seized, the plant’s Ukrainian workers describe the Russian troops in control becoming increasingly paranoid. At one point, they requested that cooling pools be emptied as Russians hunted for weapons that could be used against them, but backed down after being informed of the dangers.”

GERMAN GAS PAINS: RELIEF SPELLED NORD STREAM-2?

Above:  Germany and all of northern Europe can get quite frosty in the wintertime.  Photo via Joureyz

• A German deputy from the Free Democratic Party called for the opening of Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline to fill storage tanks ahead of winter so that the German people will be warm and Germany industry running at full capacity.  Mr Kubicki emphasized that, “Gas from Nord Stream 2 is no more immoral than from Nord Stream 1. It’s just a different tube,” and that he fully supports Ukraine in its death battle for freedom.

• Ukrainian’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba likened Germany’s dependence on ru gas to addiction.  “This resembles drug addiction, when a person says ‘Just one last time!’ without realizing the devastating consequences of each “last time”. Addiction to Russian gas kills!”

• German social opinion pollster Polit Barometer says that 70% of the German people are willing to accept higher energy prices to support Ukraine.  Germany, along with all of democratic Europe including Ukraine, is taking measures to conserve energy now and prepare for lower energy supplies this winter, especially if a desperate kremlin despot decides to turn off all westward pipelines.