Pravda, 11 September 2022: According to the official message of the Russian defense department, for the last three days, an operation was carried out to curtail and organize the transfer of units from Izyum and Balakleya to the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic. To cover the operation, diversion and demonstration activities were carried out, which staged the real actions of the troops. Russian media, however, is openly stating that “the initiative in the Special Military Operation has shifted to Ukraine.”

In the wake of this defeat, the Russian Ministry of Defense has responded with a “body count”, claiming that 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers and foreign volunteers were killed, during the Ukrainian advance, along with 100 tanks. If so, Kyiv and the world would consider it a price worth paying, for recovering more than 1,000 square miles of territory in a week’s time. Total Ukrainian losses in all the current offensives may come to 4,000 men KIA.

Unless the Russian Military either quickly recovers the lost terrain, or makes dramatic gains elsewhere, it will leave pro-Russian residents of the remaining occupied territories wondering if they should invest in Moscow’s promises of peace and stability, under a long-term Russian presence. Anyone living in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions will not be encouraged by reports that the Russians abandoned their Ukrainian collaborators in the Kharkiv region to the enemy.

September and October may yield a bitter harvest for Moscow.

Blog Editor Patrick Cloutier is the author of Mussolini’s War in the East 1941-1943.

Pravda, 2 September 2022: Germans are actively commenting on the statement of the leader of the Polish ruling party “Law and Justice” Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who a day before proposed demanding 1.3 trillion euros in reparations from Germany.

Judging by the comments, the initiative angered Germans. Many commentators on Twitter criticized the Polish government for this proposal, since Warsaw refused further reparations in 1953, RIA Novosti reports.

“Let’s. But then return all the German lands.” wrote one of the commentators.

“Oh, and they already calculated this without the” rent “for Silesia, Pomerania and West Prussia ?” — chimed another.

“No problem, but could you please give us back Silesia, Pomerania, West and East Prussia in return?” — remarked another.

“Do you want to talk about reparations? With great pleasure: how about restitution demands from my side for the house of my grandparents in Breslau (today, known as “Wroclaw” )?” tweeted another person.

It should be noted that in Poland for several years now they have been saying that Germany must pay multibillion – and even trillions, judging by the statement of Kaczynski – in reparations . Basically, this topic is supported by representatives of the ruling party. This idea also enjoys significant support among Polish voters.

As for the official position of Berlin, they emphasize that they are not going to discuss the issue of reparations, since they consider it closed for a long time. The unofficial position, however, also lies in the fact that Germany is not going to pay. 

Blog Editor Patrick Cloutier is the author of Mussolini’s War in the East 1941-1943.