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National

The U.S. is in a Constitutional Crisis, and with it, Democracy

The guardrails placed around the U.S. government by the Constitution have worked, sometimes poorly, for the last 236 years. In the last 24 hours, it’s become clear that the guardrails are falling apart, and the U.S. is in a Constitutional crisis. The Trump administration lit five fires today, attacking the separation of powers and the First, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments.

White House Defies a 9-0 Supreme Court Decision

On Sunday, the White House declared it would ignore a 9-0 Supreme Court order to return illegally deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia from the CERCOT prison compound in El Salvador.

The Trump administration defied the ruling, arguing that it does not have the authority to return Abrego Garcia after claiming without evidence on Saturday that he remained in El Salvador and is alive. Additionally, the White House claims that the language in the SCOTUS order, to provide “what steps, if any, Defendants have taken (and) will take, and when, to facilitate” Garcia’s return, was not a ruling to actually bring him back to the U.S.

In an Oval Office meeting with Nayib Bukele, the self-declared “world’s coolest” dictator and president of El Salvador, President Donald Trump said that his administration had no authority in the matter. Bukele added that he would not release Abrego Garcia to the U.S. or from CERCOT, calling him a criminal and terrorist.

Friday’s unanimous SCOTUS decision included three Trump appointees and conservative judges Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and Clarence Thomas.

Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, came to the U.S. illegally in 2011 when he was 16 years old, fleeing the El Salvadorian gang Barrio 18. He joined his brother Ceasar in Maryland, who had fled to the U.S. four years earlier, and is now a U.S. citizen.

His brother helped him secure jobs in construction. In 2019, Abrego Garcia was arrested by local police and accused of being a member of MS-13. He denied any involvement with the Mexican gang and was transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

He would tell an immigration judge that he was seeking political asylum, which the judge denied. He was accused by ICE of being a certified gang member of the MS-13 New York Chapter, based on information that came from a confidential informant used by county police. However, Abrego Garcia had never been to New York, and later, the informant was discredited.

In October 2019, he was denied asylum. Still, he was granted a protection order from being deported to El Salvador due to the “well-founded fear” of being a target of Barrio 18. ICE didn’t appeal the decision, and Abrego Garcia was issued a work permit and required to attend yearly check-ins with the Department of Homeland Security.

He was arrested on 12 March in Baltimore and, against court orders, deported to CERCOT in El Salvador, potentially locked up with the same gang members who were threatening him. Abrego Garcia was never convicted of any crime, is a married father of three to a U.S. citizen, and is in a metalworking union.

Turkish citizen Rumeysa Ozturk Snatched off a Massachusetts Street

On March 25, Rumeysa Ozturk was surrounded by six men dressed in black with faces covered and detained outside of her Somerville, Massachusetts apartment. She was accused of supporting Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization, and “glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans.” The government also revoked her student visa.

The Washington Post revealed that prior to her arrest, the U.S. State Department found there was no evidence of her support of Hamas or antisemitism, and questioned the Trump Administration’s request for her detention.

A review of her profile on Canary Mission found that the only pro-Palestinian activity she engaged in was co-authoring an op-ed article in the Tufts University daily newspaper. Our review found the article, which is still available, never mentions Hamas nor glorifies terrorism or the killing of Americans. The statement called for Tufts’ leadership to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide” and to divest from companies that support the university with ties to Israel, pointing out prior actions by the university and quoting its policies and code of conduct.

In St. Albans, Vermont, the Trump Administration argued the federal court had no jurisdiction over Ozturk, who is being held in Louisiana in defiance of a 25 March court order. During today’s hearing, U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions warned that the Department of Justice (DOJ) was approaching a Constitutional crisis in the matter.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio Declares Only the White House Dictates Foreign Policy

After today’s Oval Office meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeted, “The foreign policy of the United States is conducted by [the President of the United States — not by a court — and no court in the United States has a right to conduct the foreign policy of the United States. It’s that simple. End of story.”

Article II, Section 2, and Article III, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution specify that Congress must approve many aspects of foreign policy, such as tariffs, and that federal courts and the Supreme Court have jurisdiction over some foreign policy matters.

White House Bars Associated Press Access in Defiance of Court Order

On 8 April, U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden ruled that the White House could not retaliate against the Associated Press for refusing to use the name “Gulf of America.”

In his ruling, McFadden, a Trump appointee, wrote, “Under the First Amendment, if the Government opens its doors to some journalists—be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere—it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints. The Constitution requires no less.”

The AP was blocked from entering the Oval Office for today’s press conference with President Trump, his El Salvadorian counterpart, and other U.S. officials.

Trump Demands FCC “Maximum Fines” and to Pull the Broadcast License for CBS

On Sunday evening, the CBS news program 60 Minutes ran two stories unfavorable to the Trump administration. The first was about the administration’s policy toward Ukraine and included President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The second focused on Trump’s ambition to annex Greenland, if force by necessary.

After the show aired, a furious Trump demanded that FCC head Brendan Carr impose “maximum fines and punishment, which is substantial, for their unlawful and illegal behavior.”

In his lengthy screed, he accused the network of election interference in 2024. Previously, Trump accused CBS of unfair editing of an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris and filed a $10 billion lawsuit. In February, the network released the unedited video with full transcripts, which revealed there were no abnormal edits or changes.

Trump then filed a $20 billion lawsuit against the network after 60 Minutes ran a story about a multiracial student band that had its concert canceled by the federal government on the grounds that it supported DEI.

International News, National

M23 Rebels Capture Second Regional Capital in the Democratic Republic of Congo

[WBHG NEWS] – After violating their self-declared 4 February ceasefire, Rwandan-backed M23 rebels secured the city of Bukavu, advancing over 90 kilometers in two weeks from occupied Goma.

“Rwanda-backed rebels have occupied a second major city in mineral-rich eastern Congo,” Congo’s government said Sunday. Militants occupied the governor’s office and pledged to sweep away the “old regime.”

The Congolese Army was in collapse and offered almost no resistance as the much smaller M23 rebel force and Rwandan army swept to the south coast of Lake Kivu and secured more of the mineral-rich region. On Saturday, Congolese soldiers retreated with thousands of panicked civilians as the geopolitical and humanitarian crisis worsened. Up to 15,000 refugees crossed into Burundi, Africa’s poorest country, amid the violence.

The capture of Bukavu essentially seals both major border crossings into Rwanda and enables the Rwandan Army and M23 rebels to use Lake Kivu for supplies and logistics.

On Tuesday, the U.N. reported that humanitarian aid warehouses were looted in the South Kivu province as social order broke down. The U.N. Human Rights Office (OHCHR) confirmed that M23 rebels executed three children in Bukavu.

“Our Office has confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week. We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons. We call on Rwanda and M23 to ensure that human rights and international humanitarian law are respected,” said OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.

There were additional credible reports of more extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests, and threats made to journalists, human rights workers, judges, lawyers, and other civil service employees. French news agency AFP confirmed that two people were “lynched” by a mob who accused them of looting.

So far, Diplomatic Efforts have Failed

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for the territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to be preserved. “The fighting that is raging in South Kivu – as a result of the continuation of the M23 offensive – threatens to push the entire region over the precipice,” Guterres warned the African Union during an emergency summit.

African Union Peace and Security Commissioner Bankole Adeoye said regional leaders are increasingly worried that the ongoing conflict in the eastern part of the DRC will escalate into “an open regional war” over resources. During the summit, Rwanda was accused of providing supplies and logistics provided by China to the M23 rebels. Kigali has repeatedly denied the accusations.

Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Guterres, said that MONUSCO was protecting 1,400 civilians and NGO workers at the peacekeeping base in Goma. Fighting between M-23 and their Rwandan army backers and the Congolese Army has left 80 schools and 27 healthcare centers severely damaged.

South African and Malawian peacekeepers from the Southern African Development Community Mission in DRC (SAMIDRC) and the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Cong (MONUSCO) remain trapped at Goma Airport and the nearby town of Saké. South Africa’s Minister of Defense, Angie Motshekga, said the top priority was evacuating 14 dead South African soldiers and the wounded. She insisted that the SAMIDRC mission would continue despite the violence and growing tension between Congolese, Rwandan, and South African leaders.

On Monday, Uganda’s military commander, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, threatened to launch an offensive on the DRC city of Bunia, claiming, without evidence, that ethnic Bahima were being killed.

A Country of Contradictions and Bloodshed

Decades of war, instability, and corruption have killed an estimated 6 million people in the DRC since 1996. M23, or March 23, was formed in 2012 and is composed primarily of ethnic Congolese Tutsis backed by the Rwanda government. Both claim that M23 is a required force to prevent ethnic Hutus from carrying out another genocide like the one in Rwanda in 1994. The international community has repeatedly rejected these claims.

The DRC is the 10th largest country on the planet and the 5th wealthiest in terms of natural resources. Despite abundant water, high-quality copper ore, and vast amounts of rare earth elements, the Congolese are the ninth poorest in Africa in terms of GDP per capita and ranked 181st in the world.

IPC Acute Food Insecurity Map for the Democratic Republic of Congo, September 2024

Over 3.4 million people are “facing critical levels of food insecurity,” according to the latest report by the IPC. Another 22.4 million people, 19% of the population, are facing “crisis levels” of food insecurity. The September 2024 report was released prior to the dramatic increase in fighting and the suspension of humanitarian aid by the U.S.

Today, 80% of all coltan ore comes from the DRC, and 80% of the mining operations are controlled or financed by China. Coltan is refined into cobalt, which is used in a wide range of applications, including dyes, semiconductors, and rechargeable batteries.

Coltan also produces tantalum, which is used to manufacture capacitors found in almost all smartphones, computers, and electronics. In April 2024, M23 took over one of the most productive coltan mines and has been illegally exporting raw ore to Rwanda ever since.

According to a 7 January report by the U.N., M23 is earning at least $800,000 a month through the illegal mining operation just at the Rubaya Mine. Satellite images, documents, and public import/export records show how coltan ore is removed from the facility to Rwanda and then mixed with lower-quality domestically sourced ore. In 2023, the most recent year records are available, Rwanda recorded a staggering 50% increase in coltan ore exports compared to 2022. The total tonnage exceeded domestic production.

China’s interest in the DRC appears to go beyond extracting mineral wealth. While Beijing has never been formally accused of arming the M23 rebels, pictures and videos show the group is well-equipped with Chinese kit and weapons.

The Congolese Army is considered weak, poorly trained, and corrupt. Since M23 expanded its offensive in late, the army has suffered repeated humiliating defeats, with thousands of soldiers deserting. Last month in Goma, over 400 Romanian mercenaries, allegedly providing “training” and operating artillery, crossed the border into Rwanda and surrendered, abandoning their infantry mobility vehicles and weapons.

The other powers with influence on the continent, the United States, Russia, and France, have limited economic and military exposure in the DRC and Rwanda.

Türkiye was the first country to sell military equipment to the DRC three months after an international ban was lifted in late 2022. In 2024, Turkish armored vehicle manufacturer Katmerciler completed a multi-million dollar contract for 185 mine-resistant infantry mobility vehicles. Türkiye has also sold arms to Rwanda but on a much smaller scale.

In late 2024, Russia deployed a very small group of troops with the Rosgvardiya Afrika Corps, formerly known as Private Military Company Wagner Group, to the DRC. The Russian soldiers are not in the eastern part of the country, and their role remains unclear.

USAID Employees Flee as Russia Moves In

Last week, several employees with USAID and the State Department filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration, claiming that they and their families were abandoned in the DRC capital of Kinshasa. On 28 January, rioters attacked the U.S. embassy and nine others, lighting fires, breaching fences, and looting the buildings. Widespread unrest spread across the city, with protesters targeting groups and countries they viewed responsible for the fighting on the Rwandan border.

On the same day, the U.S. closed its embassy “to the public until further notice” due to
”an increase in violence.” Embassy officials advised citizens to “shelter-in-place and then safely depart while commercial options are available.”

The lawsuit revealed the security situation in Kinshasa, over 1,500 kilometers west of the fighting, is far worse than initially reported. Court records show that one USAID employee and their family had to be extracted from their home by the U.S. Marine contingent assigned to the embassy after protesters breached the outer wall and set their home on fire.

Some U.S. government employees said the State Department abandoned them when they received notices on 4 February that they were being placed on leave despite being trapped.

Others opted to evacuate in January. Then-acting USAID administrator Jason Gray initially balked at issuing a “waiver request” to provide funds to evacuate USAID employees and their families. By the time one was issued on 29 January, many had already fled.

In public court records, one USAID worker declared, “USAID staff and their families participated in the evacuation from Kinshasa and boarded small boats alongside friends and colleagues from other foreign affairs agencies to cross the Congo River to Brazzaville. Each individual was able to take only what would fit in their lap…Staff remained at a hotel in Brazzaville for about two days before flying…to Dulles International Airport.”

According to the U.S. Embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo, through 23 January 2025, USAID had provided $3 billion in humanitarian aid and $6 billion in total assistance over the last ten years.

Just days after the November U.S. federal elections, Russian state media agency Sputnik reported that the Russian humanitarian cooperation agency Rossotrudnuchestvo, Moscow’s equivalent to USAID, was working on starting operations in the DRC.

International News, National

The complex history of Islamic extremism and Russia’s contribution to the rise of Al Qaeda and ISIS

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This is part one of a ten-part series that explains the rise of modern Islamic extremism. From 1951 to 2021, a series of key geopolitical events, many independent of each other, caused the Islamic Revolution, the rise of Al Qaeda and ISIS, the creation and collapse of the caliphate, and the reconstitution of ISIS as the ISKP. While Western influence and diplomatic blunders are well documented through this period, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation are equally culpable. The editors would like to note that a vast majority of the 1.8 billion people who are adherents to some form of Islam are peaceful and reject all forms of religious violence.

Part One – Russia’s 450-year war against Islam

Introduction

[WBHG News] As Russian officials pick through the remains of the Crocus City Hall concert venue and mall in Moscow, many are left wondering why ISKP (better known as ISIS-K) would want to attack Russia. Unlike the United States War on Terror, which dominated world headlines for more than two decades, Russia’s game of chess with Islamic factions has received far less coverage. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) offshoot ISKP, formed in 2015, has claimed responsibility for the March 22 attack, which killed 137 and wounded 182.

Since its inception, ISKP has been growing in influence, strength, and reach. Its power surged in late 2020 after the Trump Administration created the Doha Agreement with the Taliban, forcing the Afghanistan government to release 5,000 prisoners. ISIS-K has openly and repeatedly declared that the United States, Russia, China, Iran, and the Taliban, which now governs Afghanistan, are their enemies. While the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan government is making a legitimate attempt to govern, like its predecessors, it has been unable to stop the resurgence of religious violence.

ISKP terror cells have spread to Pakistan, eastern Iran, and Tajikistan, and as recently as March 7, 2024, the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) claimed it neutralized an ISKP cell from Tajikistan planning to attack a synagogue in Moscow.

The paths that led to the terror attack in Moscow started in Iran in 1951 and have involved every superpower on the planet, their allies, and numerous Middle Eastern nations. The complexity of this road makes it ripe for misunderstanding, which proliferates misinformation and disinformation. In repeated attempts to sanitize Russian history, the Kremlin helped create the environment that made the March 22 attack inevitable.

Troops of the Russian Imperial Army, 1914
Credit – Wikimedia Commons – IWM Public Domain Collection

Historically, Russia has fought wars on ideological and religious grounds against Muslim states since 1568, repeatedly fighting against the Turks. When Russia entered World War I, one of Tzar Nicholas II’s maximalist goals included complete control of the Black Sea and the Bosphorus Straight. Going against the advice of his advisors, the Russian Imperial Empire sided with the Allied Powers, while Turkey aligned with the Central Powers. Over 350 years of war between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire would contribute to the downfall of both.

When Josef Stalin was brought to power in 1924, his policy of Russification included the repression of all religions. During the Great Purge of 1937, thousands of Muslim clerics and adherents were arrested, sent to gulags where they worked to death, tortured, and executed. After the German withdrawal from Crimea during World War II, Stalin ordered the deportation of up to 500,000 Crimean Tatars for perceived disloyalty to the Soviet state. Between 20 to 45 percent were killed in the 18 months that followed. Stalin ordered a second mass deportation in 1949, meant to displace the remaining native population.

Crimean Tatars under forced deportation by the Soviet Union in late 1948
Credit – Wikimedia Commons – Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance

While Stalin’s death saw an easing of religious repression by the Soviet state, Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev interfered with Middle Eastern geopolitics at an equivalent level to the Cold War Western powers.

Today, Russia and its supporters like to boast that the country has the largest Muslim population of any European nation. If you squint, this is a factual statement. However, most of Russia’s Muslims live in the Caucasus and the central and southern republics, far from the European continent. Estimates of the number of Russians who follow Islam vary from nine to 25 million, with most experts agreeing the number is between 15 and 20 million.

On the surface, the Kremlin claims it is a nation of tolerance, but in reality, 71 percent of Russia’s population adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church and has openly embraced a form of Christian nationalism. The Russian slur “Khachs” is used freely—a derogatory term for people from the Caucasus and others that have the stereotypical physical traits of a Muslim. Within the channels of Russian state media, propagandists have complained for years about the influx of migrant workers from the former southern republics of the Soviet Union and the spread of Islam.

In February 2023, when it was announced a mosque that could accommodate 60,000 worshippers in Moscow would be built by a lake considered holy by followers of the Russian Orthodox Church, protests erupted. In April of the same year, the protests expanded to threats, which drew the ire of Chechen warlord Colonel General Ramzan Kadyrov. It was reported that Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin interceded, negotiating with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, former FSB agent Patriarch Kirill, and Kadyrov. An agreement was quietly reached to build a much smaller mosque on the outskirts of Moscow, defusing tension.

It is a common misconception that terrorism based on Islamic fundamentalist principles follows a singular dogma. The differences between terror organizations are as basic as Sunni versus Shia and as complex as the interpretation of singular passages in the Qu’ran. In the Sahel of Africa, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, rival factions of ISIS and Al Qaeda fight each other while fighting against Iranian-backed militias and terror organizations.

Moscow’s relationships of convenience with these various factions have made Russia a target for Islamic terrorism for decades. Iran’s support of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine by providing Russia with drones, technical support, military trainers, and ammunition makes it a target of ISIS-K. The split between Al Qaeda and ISIS and the factions backed by the Islamic Republic of Iran is simple—at the roots, it is the dogma that divides Sunnis and Shias.

This ten-part story explores how a chain of religious and geopolitical events spanning from 1951 to the present day led to the radicalization of Osama bin Laden, the rise of Al Qaeda, the split that formed ISIS, the creation of the caliphate and its fall, to its rebirth in ISIS-K. It is a story of how every nation that sought to seek soft power and influence during this period—the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation, the United States, the United Kingdom, and China—contributed to the escalating extremism.

The rise and fall of the Shah of Iran and the Iranian Revolution

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, better known historically as the Shah of Iran and part of the Persian Monarchy, was brought into power by a 1954 coup backed by the U.K. and supported by the U.S. The U.K. sought to remove Iranian leader Mohammad Mosaddegh, who rose to power in 1951, due to his nationalization of the oil industry in Iran, which led to the seizure of British Petroleum’s infrastructure and assets.

Initially, British policy was rejected by U.S. President Harry Truman. Washington condemned the British blockade of Iran, while London falsely claimed that Mosaddegh was aligning himself with the Soviet Union. By late 1952, the U.K. had already started its efforts to destabilize Iran and remove Mosaddegh from power. Declassified records show that in mid-1953, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Administration, somewhat reluctantly, joined the U.K. in fomenting unrest.

The installation of Pahlavi was meant to re-privatize the Iranian oil industry and return its control to British Petroleum by installing a leader the West believed would be easy to control. While the effort was successful, this single incident started a chain reaction that would lead to the Iranian Revolution and 45 years of Islamic extremism and violence that would kill millions.

The Shah of Iran and Queen Julianna of the Netherlands, 1959
Credit – Wikimedia Commons – Harry Pot / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Although Pahlavi agreed to reprivatization, he would go on to become one of the dominant leaders of OPEC. Under his leadership, the Shah manipulated oil prices that caused multiple steep recessions in the West while boosting funding for the modernization of his nation. A number of the popular reforms instituted by Mosaddegh from 1951 to 1953 were reversed, causing discontent within the Iranian population and mistrust of the West.

While Pahlavi continued some of the economic and educational reforms started in 1951, most of the financial gains were invested in the military, state security, and public works projects that provided little benefit for the broader population. On the surface, Iran appeared to be an amazing success story of unity and growth. In reality, the Shah was creating an environment ripe for revolution, forcing increased repression to maintain control.

Protesters in Tehran carry the wounded and dead after the 1978 Jaleh Square Massacre
Credit – Public Domain

Over 20 years, Pahlavi transformed himself from a silver spoon kid whom the U.K. and U.S. believed they could control to a clever politician with broad regional influence to a brutal dictator. By 1977, with the promise of economic prosperity limited to a few, a nationalist movement based on the fundamentalist interpretation of Islam started to spiral out of control. In 1978, Iranian security forces killed dozens in Jaleh Square, an event called Black Friday. The massacre triggered the Iranian Revolution, forcing the January 16th abdication of the Shah and his family.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini became the Supreme Leader of Iran, and the monarchy was banned. Initially, Washington and London believed that the revolution had failed. Western intelligence experts were so disconnected they didn’t understand the gravity of the situation until military units and high-ranking officers of the Iranian military started backing Khomeini.

A world away in Moscow, Brezhnev and his advisors nervously watched the events unfold in Tehran. The Kremlin was already setting conditions for a coup in Afghanistan and now feared a similar embrace of Islamic fundamentalism was about to erupt within its sphere of influence. And just like the U.K. in 1951, the Soviet Union had already set into motion an almost identical set of mistakes.

Tomorrow’s installment: The Soviet coup and invasion of Afghanistan catches the attention of a Saudi Arabian heir to a construction fortune, who starts his journey of radicalization.

Read Part Two: The complex history of Islamic extremism and Russia’s contribution to the rise of Al Qaeda and ISIS

Breaking News, Russia-Ukraine War

All eyes on Zaporizhzhia, Turkey’s Erdogan pledges support for Ukraine

August 19, 2022, Russia-Ukraine War Update

[UKRAINE] – MTN It has been 3,095 days since Russia occupied Crimea on February 27, 2014. Here is our latest update. You can visit our Russia-Ukraine War Center to find more news about Ukraine. You can also listen to our in-depth podcast, Malcontent News Russia Ukraine War Update, hosted by Linnea Hubbard.

Breaking News

Air defenses have been activated in Russian-controlled Sevastopol on the Crimea Peninsula. There are reports of explosions. Available videos on social media only show air defense missiles firing and no strikes in the city or surrounding area.

Northeast Donetsk

There was limited fighting in northeast Donetsk, with Russian forces attempting to advance in the direction of Vyimka from Spirne and Mykolaivka without success.

Bakhmut

Russian forces and their proxies fought positional battles on the outskirts of Soledar supported by artillery and attack aircraft and attempted to advance into Bakhmutske without success.

PMC Wagner Group, Russian airborne VDV forces, and elements of the LNR 2nd Army Corps, supported by the Russian air force, attempted to advance on Bakhmut from three directions without success.

In the Svitlodarsk Bulge, PMC Wagner Group and LNR separatists attempted to advance on Kodema without success, and Russian forces attempted to advance on Zaitseve from Holyivskyi but could not make any forward progress.

Ukrainian forces shelled Russian positions in Svitlodarsk.

Southwest Donetsk – Zaporizhia

DNR separatists launched their first offensive toward Kamyanka since July 29. Belligerents fought a positional battle, and there was no change in the line of conflict.

Separatists attempted to flank Adviivka by advancing from Novoselivka Druha and were unsuccessful.

There was an attempt to advance into Pervomaiske from the Russian-occupied areas of Pisky. Separatists were unable to move forward, lost ground, and Ukraine gained a toehold in the northern part of the contested village. DNR separatists attempted another open country advance from Lozove toward Pervomaiske and were unsuccessful.

In the southern part of the Donbas, DNR separatists attempted to advance in the direction of Vodyane without success.

Kharkiv

A building on the campus of the National Aerospace Academy in Kharkiv was destroyed in an overnight missile attack. A security guard who worked at the university was killed in the attack.

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Kherson

Operational Command South of the Armed Forces of Ukraine hinted that they attempted an offensive toward Stanislav and Shyroka Balka. The advance was unsuccessful.

The bridge at the Nova Kakhovka was hit again by rockets fired by High Mobility Rocket Artillery Systems (HIMARS), thwarting Russian combat engineer attempts to repair the structure.

Mykolaiv

Two Russian S-300 antiaircraft missiles being used as ground-to-ground weapons hit the Black Sea University in Mykolaiv on the 18th, and up to eight missiles struck the campus on the morning of the 19th. This is the third attack on the campus in the last four days and one of four universities targeted by Russian missile strikes in the last 24 hours.

Dnipropetrovsk

There is significant concern by the west and global nuclear power monitoring organizations that Russia is preparing for a false flag event at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on August 19. A statement from the Russian embassy in the United States raised eyebrows with specific accusations and the wording used.

Overnight, the settlement of Nikopol was attacked by rockets fired from MLRS located within the nuclear power plant compound.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he has agreed to a framework for a visit by an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). The agreement was reached after meeting with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in Lviv.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was also in the meeting and declared, during a press conference said, “We are alarmed by the hostilities at the [nuclear power plant]. We don’t want to experience another Chornobyl. We are and will remain on Ukraine’s side.”

Sumy and Chernihiv

Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, Sumy Oblast Administrative and Military Governor, reported that the settlements of Bilopillia, Krasnopillia, and Myropillia, were attacked.

Beyond Ukraine

A Russian ammunition depot in Timonovo, Russia, had a catastrophic explosion. Fire and rescue crews were standing off because it was too dangerous to approach the area. Timonovo and Basovo were evacuated, along with a nearby military base.

Daily Assessment

  1. The Russian Ministry of Defense made no claims of capturing new territory for the first time since early July, and Russian troops have demonstrated they are incapable of concentrating combat power in an offensive as they did in Luhansk.
  2. We maintain that the 1st Army Corps of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the 2nd Army Corps of the Luhansk People’s Republic are combat ineffective.
  3. Russian military doctrine has relied on indigenous militias and mercenaries to do the bulk of front-line fighting, such as in Chechnya, Syria, and the Central African Republic, to minimize official combat losses and weaken rump states – the waste of human capital among Donbas separatists has hobbled combat capabilities.

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Breaking News, National, Russia-Ukraine War

Port of Odesa hit by cruise missiles – Russia negotiated grain deal in bad faith – July 23, 2022 Ukraine update

[KYIV, Ukraine] – MTN It has been 3,068 days since Russia occupied Crimea on February 27, 2014. Here is our latest update.

Less than 24 hours after Russia and Ukraine signed agreements with Turkey and the United Nations to permit grain exports from the Ukrainian Black Sea Port, Port of Odesa, and Pivdennyi [South] Port, Kalibr cruise missiles launched by the Russian Black Sea fleet slammed into the Port of Odesa.

Russia and Ukraine did not sign an agreement between the two nations, instead signing separate agreements with Turkey and the United Nations, which would permit Ukraine to export up to 20 million tons of grain over the next 120 days. The agreement did not specify that Russia could not attack Ukrainian ports explicitly. However, with continued attacks, civilian port operations with cargo ships entering and exiting will be impossible.

Insurance rates for cargo vessels operating in the Black Sea have already skyrocketed, with over a dozen commercial vessels seized, bombed, or hit by Russian missiles since February 25 and one bulk carrier striking a mine.

Luhansk – The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that Russian troops tried to advance from the Verkhnokamyanka oil refinery toward Verkhnokamyanske and were unsuccessful. Serhiy Haidai, Luhansk Regional State Administrative and Military head, reported that Ukraine still controls two settlements in the Luhansk Oblast.

Northeast Donetsk – Under-powered Russian units attempted to advance on Ivano-Daryivka through Spirne and were unsuccessful.

Russian forces fired artillery at civilians, civilian infrastructure, and Ukrainian military positions in Siversk, Hryhorivka, Ivano-Daryivka, Vyimka, and Spirne. The Russian air force also attacked Sprine.

Russian forces fired artillery at Ukrainian positions in Berestove. Also, they launched an air strike, indicating that elements of the 1st Army Corps of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) were pushed out of the settlement or never captured it as claimed on July 21.

Bakhmut – Terrorists with the Imperial Legion affiliated with the Private Military Company (PMC) Wagner Group made small advances into the southern part of Pokrovske. Limited fighting occurred near the Vuhlehirskaya Power Plant.

Artillery was fired on Bakhmut, Berestove, Bilohorivka [Donetsk], Pokrovske, and Vesela Dolyna.

Southwest Donetsk – Zaporizhia – Near Donetsk, elements of the 1st Army Corps of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) attempted to advance on Vodyane from Vesele.

HIMARS rockets struck an ammunition depot within the machinery plant in Russian-controlled Horlivka, northeast of Donetsk. Secondary explosions thundered across the city as the ammunition stored in the factory started to cook off.

In the south Donbas, there were artillery exchanges from Donetsk city to Velyka Novosilka in the Donetsk Oblast and Hulyaipole to Orikhiv in the Zaporizhia Oblast.

Kherson – Russian state media claims Ukraine attacked the Antonovskiy Bridge for the third time, but there are no photos or videos to support the reports. Russian officials report they will not attempt to repair the bridge. Instead, they plan to build a pontoon bridge to the south. The bridge is reported to be severely damaged and will take too long to repair.

Ukraine, likely using HIMARS rockets, moderately damaged the Russian-controlled Darivka Bridge over the Inhulets River. The bridge is a critical water crossing on the 140-kilometer detour route for Russian armor and military supplies after the Antonovskiy Bridge was damaged in attacks earlier this week. Without the crossing, a large region of Russia-controlled Kherson will be cutoff from overland supply routes

Multiple reports are quoting different sources that up to 2,000 Russian troops are partially encircled in Vysokopillya.

Presidential advisor Aleksey Arestovych provided additional details during a television interview, which clarified the situation more. Arestovych reported that Russian forces are 75% encircled in Vysokopillya. On July 21, Russian forces attempted a breakout by heading south through the opening in the salient but were pushed back by Ukrainian artillery fire.

Arestovuch reported they are two Battalion Tactical Groups (BTG) trapped, with an estimated 1,000 troops blocked from leaving the town. He said that Ukraine would not offer a green corridor for evacuation but would likely demand their surrender.

Russian forces captured Oleksandrivka [Kherson] on the banks of the Dnipro River.

There are reports that Ukrainian forces have severed the T-2207 Ground Line of Communication (GLOC – aka supply line) south of Davydiv Brid.

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Zaporizhia – A video showed Russian tent barracks on the grounds of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar being attacked by kamikaze drones. The tents were located about 300 meters from the reactor blocks. Using a nuclear power plant for barracks and as a firebase to launch artillery and rockets represents a break from accepted military protocol, which considers nuclear power plants “no go” zones. Three Russian soldiers were killed and nine wounded in the attack. Additionally, a Grad Mulitple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), which was parked between two cooling towers for the plant, was damaged in the attack. The video and pictures published after the strike show that no part of the nuclear power plant was damaged.

Kharkiv – North of Kharkiv city, Russian forces attempted a ground assault on Udy and there were skirmishes in Tsupivka and Dementiivka.

Oleh Syniehubov, head of Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, reported that Russian forces fired Urgan rockets from Multiple Launch Rocket systems into the Saltivka district of Kharkiv again, killing two.

Southeast of Kharkiv, the settlements of Chuhuiv, Stara Hnylytsia, Rtishchivka, Pushkarne, and Lebyazhe were shelled.

Izyum – For the second day in a row, Russian forces did not launch any offensive operations along the Izyum axis. In Prydonetske, Ukrainian artillery destroyed an entire artillery company, including eight 152mm towed howitzers, ammunition, and command and control. Prydonetske is located east of Izyum in the area Russians call “Sherwood forest.”

Sumy – Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, head of the Sumy Military Administration, reported that Shalyginsk and Krasnopil were shelled.

Odesa – Four Kalibr cruise missiles fired by the Russian Black Sea Fleet targeted the Port of Odesa, with two striking the facility. Serhii Bratchuk, an Odesa Military administration spokesperson, said two missiles hit the port, and Ukraine’s air defense shot down two. The port suffered moderate damage, and a fire broke out, but the missiles missed the grain silos. The attack came less than 24 hours after Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement with Turkey and the United Nations to provide safe corridors for grain exports. The reaction from officials was swift and furious.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres “unequivocally” condemned the attack through a spokesperson.

“Yesterday, all parties made clear commitments on the global stage to ensure the safe movement of Ukrainian grain and related products to global markets. These products are desperately needed to address the global food crisis and ease the suffering of millions of people in need around the globe. Full implementation by the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Türkiye is imperative.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, “This indicates only one thing: no matter what Russia says and promises, it will find ways how not to fulfill it. Geopolitically, with weapons, bloody or not, but it has several vectors, [this is] how it always acts.”

“That’s all you need to know about deals with Russia,” Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas added on Twitter. The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said the bloc “strongly condemns” the attack.

People’s Deputy Oleksiy Honcharenko wrote on Telegram, “There is a fire in the port of Odesa. Here is a grain corridor for you. These bastards are signing contracts with one hand and sending missiles with the other.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oleh Nikolenko wrote, “It took less than 24 hours for the Russian Federation to launch a missile strike on the territory of the city of Odesa to question the agreement, and the promises it made to the UN and Turkey in the document signed yesterday in Istanbul.”

“The Russian missile is Vladimir Putin spitting in the face of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Erdoğan, who made a huge effort to reach the deal, and to whom Ukraine is grateful.”

The US Ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget A. Brink, called the Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa “outrageous,” writing, “Russia strikes the port city of Odesa less than 24 hours after signing an agreement to allow shipments of agricultural exports. The Kremlin continues to weaponize food. Russia must be held to account.”.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Saturday that Russia claimed it had “nothing to do” with the strikes.

“It really concerned us that such an event happened after we signed the deal on grain shipments. We are disturbed as well. But we continue to fulfill our responsibilities about this agreement, and we also expressed in our meetings that we are in favor of the parties to continue their cooperation here calmly and patiently,” said Akar.

Kirovohrad – The Kanatove air force base on the outskirts of Kropyvnytskyi was hit with up to 13 Russian cruise missiles, causing significant damage, killing three and wounding nine. The attack was a joint operation between the Russian air force and navy, with five Kh-22 cruise missiles launched by Tu-22M3 strategic bombers and eight Kalibr cruise missiles fired by the Black Sea Fleet hitting the region. Cruise missiles also slammed into the railroad facilities at Ukrzaliznytsia. An electrical substation was also targeted, knocking out electrical power in parts of the oblast capital of Kropyvnytskyi.

Daily Assessment

  1. Russian forces cannot assemble adequate combat strength to launch significant offensive operations in Ukraine.
  2. Ground offensives by Russian forces have become fewer and smaller a week after the “operational pause” was declared over.
  3. It is unlikely that Russian forces will be capable of taking the initiative in the next three to six weeks anywhere in Ukraine.

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