Ukraine Without Hype

In this Episode...

1:00 - Combat Update: Ukraine pushed back to the last few neighborhoods in Bakhmut, while a raid in Kherson Oblast gains attention as paving the way for the coming offensive.

12:05 - Putin visits occupied Kherson Oblast...maybe

17:05 - Wagner fighters blow the whistle, having been given extermination orders against Ukrainians

(https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/18/wagner-mercenary-admits-tossing-grenades-at-injured-ukrainian-pows)

25:12 - Ukraine's EU neighbors block Ukrainian agricultural imports in order to protect domestic markets, the EU is trying to negotiate a resolution.

International News

39:50 - Washington Post reports on deep Russian influence campaigns in Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany Party and left-wing Die Linke Party.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/04/21/germany-russia-interference-afd-wagenknecht/

47:35 - Azerbaijan closes down Nagorno Karabakh, and the next conflict looms closer.

57:35 - Civil War in Sudan is another conflict where the Wagner Group is showing its influence.

For Sudan: @YousraElbagir

Twitter
Anthony: @Bartaway
Romeo: @RomeoKokriatski
Ukraine Without Hype: @HypeUkraine

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https://www.patreon.com/UkraineWithoutHype

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https://linktr.ee/ukrainewithouthype

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Hey Sokoli (Traditional)

In this Episode...

01:10 - War Updates: The Russians advance through the city center of Bakhmut, but it seems pretty certain that the city will not be surrounded. No Russian progress around Avdiivka, and most other advances have ground down.

10:07 - The Wagner Group circulates a video of themselves beheading a live Ukrainian prisoner. We go into some of the sociology behind why they would go to such depths.

20:52 - The Russian Orthodox Church faces an increasingly frequent series of localized crises in the aftermath of their official expulsion from the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.

27:22 - In the main focus of the episode, a weirdo internet Nazi working for the Air National Guard leaks a trove of top-secret military documents in order to impress his friends on a gaming chatroom.

Twitter
Anthony: @Bartaway
Romeo: @RomeoKokriatski
Ukraine Without Hype: @HypeUkraine

Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/UkraineWithoutHype

Resources and Charities
https://linktr.ee/ukrainewithouthype

Music
Hey Sokoli (Traditional)

In this News Digest...

00:50 - War Updates: The focus of the war is on Bakhmut and Avdiivka, two cities that have been largely destroyed and are threatened by attempted Russian encirclements. Russia knocks a US surveillance drone out of international skies, while Slovakia supplies Ukraine with fighter jets. Putin threatens to move tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus.

15:00 - International Relations: While Putin accepts his role as an inferior partner at a summit with China, Japanese PM Kishida makes a visit to Kyiv. Journalists release evidence of a years-long Russian plot to dominate Moldova in the midst of that plot seemingly unfolding ( https://kyivindependent.com/leaked-document-exposes-kremlins-10-year-plan-to-undermine-moldova/ ). Azerbaijan begins a new round of hostilities with Karabakh and Armenia.

And the title story - the International Criminal Court puts out a warrant for Vladimir Putin and "Children’s rights commissioner" Maria Lvova-Belova for the mass kidnapping of Ukrainian children.

28:40 - Domestic News: Standoff as Russian Orthodox priests refuse to vacate Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. A gay marriage bill is introduced to the Verkhovna Rada. New picks for Ministerial positions in the government seem promising.

37:05 - Entertainment: At the Oscars, "Navalny" documentary beats Ukrainian documentary "House Made of Splinters." I have thoughts.

Twitter
Anthony: @Bartaway
Romeo: @RomeoKokriatski
Ukraine Without Hype: @HypeUkraine

Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/UkraineWithoutHype

Resources and Charities
https://linktr.ee/ukrainewithouthype

Music
Hey Sokoli (Traditional)

James is a US Army veteran who supported Ukraine for years before the full-scale invasion and enlisted when the time came. We talk to him about how his many years living in Russia opened his eyes to the country's simmering fascism and his path into the Ukrainian army. Since he also has a YouTube channel where he talks about old movies, we also go into how evolving technologies and pop culture shape popular perceptions of the nature of war.

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00:45 - Combat Update, including the increasingly brutal fight to defend the strong point of Bakhmut while preparing a counter-offensive.

10:50 - A militia made up of Russian dissidents fighting for Ukraine makes a cross-border raid into Bryansk region of Russia in order to get the rest of the country to revolt. We have questions.

26:00 - China presents a peace plan while rumors swirl of them possibly beginning to sell Russia military equipment.

34:30 - Pro-Russian protests in Moldova raise concerns over Russian aggressive actions in the country.

45:34 - Georgian demonstrators force their government to abandon a repressive "foreign agent" law.

57:40 - Russian occupation authorities illegally sentence a Ukrainian civil society activist turned soldier turned POW to 13 years in prison.

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The glory of Ukraine has not yet perished, nor the will.

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For this week's combat update, Russia continues to grind away at Bakhmut, making the most progress in the northern suburbs while being fought back in the south. In what appears to be the start of their much-awaited Spring offensive, most other fronts are successfully holding the Russians off. Then...

30:45 - The execution of Russian neo-Nazi could be another sign of inter-fractional fighting either within the ultra-nationalist camp or being it and the regular army.

40:50 - Zelesnky's makes a diplomatic trip to the UK and EU, which shows some signs of possible future deliveries of fighter jets.

53:45 - Anti-corruption raids continue throughout the country, targeting oligarchs and government officials suspected of graft.

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The second half of January has been extremely busy and there are many headlines to cover.

09:10 - Russia missile strike hits an apartment building in the central city of Dnipro, killing 46 people.

19:12 - A helicopter crash in the Kyiv suburb of Brovary kills the top leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, though the causes are still unknown. The helicopter also crashed into a kindergarten, killing one child.

1:13:00 - Miscellaneous. New pro-Ukraine President of Czechia, revelations about Bulgaria's vital role in supplying Ukraine in the early days of the war, strikes on military facilities in Iran

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After months of little but continuous defeat, the Russian military looks like it is on the verge of taking the Donbas salt-mining town of Soledar. The battle is ongoing, but the situation is dire and would leave northern Bakhmut more vulnerable. We go into what little we know about the situation on the ground. This is followed by a discussion on the mercenary company Wagner Group, who is leading the battle, and the designs of its owner Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Good news is coming in about new weapons shipments to Ukraine, including armored fighting vehicles and possibly tanks.

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On the last day of a very difficult year, we do a news roundup of the last headlines of 2022. President Zelensky leaves Ukraine for the first time of the full-scale invasion to hold a joint presser with President Biden, then a speech before a joint session of Congress.

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