CNN

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Russia stated Friday its forces experienced taken the compact city of Soledar in eastern Ukraine next weeks of intense fighting, in what would be Moscow’s to start with notable victory in months, even though Ukraine denied the assert.

The capture of Soledar would signify a symbolic if not an especially strategic earn for Putin after a extended string of military setbacks relationship back to past summer months. But it does not advise a substantial capitulation of Ukrainian forces, nor a considerable alter to the overall complexion of the war.

Ukraine’s armed forces have denied Moscow’s claim. Serhiy Cherevaty, a spokesman for the Japanese Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, informed Ukrainian outlet RBC-Ukraine that Russia’s declare of capturing Soledar is “not correct,” incorporating that “fighting is likely on in the town.”

Customers of Ukraine’s 46th Air Assault Brigade reported they were being “hanging on” in Soledar on Friday evening. A publish on the 46th Brigade’s Telegram channel explained: “We’re hanging on. But we are becoming surrounded. Large preventing continues inside the city.”

The post continued, “Apparently, the orcs [Russians] ended up able to minimize off these who were near the railway station and Mine 7 and are creating initiatives to consolidate the encirclement.”

A Ukrainian soldier in the vicinity of Soledar informed CNN Friday he believed he and his comrades had been remaining to surrender.

“It’s much easier to go away us to surrender than to put hard work into a breakthrough,” the soldier, whom CNN is not naming for protection reasons, said on the cell phone. “It means additional casualties.”

“Our models are being systematically pushed to the city middle [by Russian forces] and break up from every other.”

The soldier also stated he expected a repeat of Russia’s conquest of Mariupol early in the war, when a group of troopers held out in the city’s metal operates. “The exact same took place in Mariupol,” the soldier stated. “I’m 100% sure it will be like this with us. We will be left in this article, [the Russians] will just take captive whom they can. Then we could possibly be exchanged.”

One working day prior, the identical soldier informed CNN that he felt his group had been “abandoned.”

“If there is no purchase to withdraw now, we will most most likely not have time to go away,” he stated. “We were being advised that we would be withdrawn. And now we аre just abandoned.”

“The very last evacuation was 3 days ago,” he claimed. “The order was to keep out to the incredibly conclusion.”

Using Soledar would signify a victory for the Wagner private military services company, whose mercenaries did significantly of the frontline combating. The fight for Soledar grew to become a issue of rivalry amongst Wagner and the Russian Ministry of Defense, who had publicized competing claims about their roles in the fight.

Two times immediately after citing only frequent Russian forces for the assault on Soledar, the Russian Protection Ministry on Friday also credited Wagner troops for spearheading the “direct assault” on the japanese Ukrainian town.

The shift appeared to be an work at detente with the oligarch who operates Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, following a rift opened up amongst him and Russian Protection Minister Sergei Shoigu.

The Russian Defense Ministry’s crediting of Wagner came immediately after the team posted a video on Telegram Thursday specifically disparaging the ministry’s claim that common Russian military services forces have participated in the assault on Soledar.

Prior to Russian Protection Ministry’s acknowledgment of Wagner in the capture, Prigozhin posted a thinly veiled retort in the direction of the ministry, saying that even though the United States is “a really serious adversary, at the second it is not a essential one” – the Russian Protection Ministry is.

The Wagner boss has hardly ever skipped an chance to just take a swipe at the Russian institution.

In a sequence of recent films Prigozhin was read saying “once we conquer our internal bureaucracy and corruption, then we will conquer the Ukrainians and NATO … The dilemma now is that the bureaucrats and those people engaging in corruption won’t hear to us now mainly because for New Year’s they are all drinking champagne.”

In his Friday Telegram submit, Prigozhin stated “they regularly steal victory from Wagner PMC and speak about the presence of an individual who is not very clear, just to belittle their merits.” This appears to be one more dig at the deficiency of acknowledgement of the battling Wagner models have been executing all over and in Soledar.

Sergey Markov, a professional-Kremlin Russian armed forces blogger, stated on Telegram Friday that the community feud and semi-insults concerning the leadership of the Ministry of Defense and PMC Wagner” was harmful Russia and “must be stopped right away.”

The Protection Ministry assertion on Friday seems to be an try to make peace with the oligarch.

“Offensive operations in this tactical course, which ended with the defeat of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the seize of the town of Soledar, ended up carried out by a heterogeneous grouping of Russian troops according to a solitary strategy, which provided for the answer of a complex of combat missions,” the assertion reported.

“As for the immediate assault on the metropolis blocks of Soledar occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, this battle mission was correctly solved by the courageous and selfless actions of the volunteers of the Wagner assault squads,” it added.

This story has been up to date.

Supply link

The post Soledar: Russian forces have taken town in eastern Ukraine, defense ministry says. appeared first on Ukraine Intelligence.

AP Photo/John Minchillo

• A Montana man who prosecutors say brought his son to the Capitol attack was arrested earlier this month.
• Patrick William O’Brien was charged with three misdemeanors related to the Jan. 6 attack.
• Prosecutors said O’Brien and his son drove from Montana to DC over the course of three days.

A man who traveled with his juvenile son from Great Falls, Montana, to Washington, DC, ahead of the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, was arrested and charged in relation to the attack earlier this month.

Patrick William O’Brien, 54, was arraigned Thursday on three misdemeanor charges, including entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, according to the Department of Justice.

Prosecutors said O’Brien and his young son, whose age was not specified, took a road trip to reach the nation’s Capitol in time for the insurrection. The duo traveled 39 hours over the course of three days to reach DC, according to court documents obtained by the Associated Press. 

Security and surveillance footage from the Capitol caught O’Brien and his son inside the building on Jan. 6, according to prosecutors. The father and son entered through the first floor Senate Wing door and spent approximately 30 minutes inside, walking through hallways and waving a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, officials said.

While inside the Capitol, O’Brien and his son stopped near a security desk and the boy took a red computer mouse pad and placed it in his pocket, the AP reported, citing court records.  

An attorney for O’Brien did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

At least 978 people have been arrested in connection with the attack in the two years since, and more than 450 people have pleaded guilty.

Russia said on Friday its forces had taken control of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, in what would be a rare success for Moscow after months of battlefield reverses, but Kyiv said its troops were still fighting in the town.

* President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces continued to fight in Soledar, a small salt-mining town, and other cities in the Donetsk region.

* Reuters could not verify the accounts.

* CNN said reporters outside Soledar could hear mortar and rocket fire on Friday afternoon and saw Ukrainian forces ferrying troops in what appeared to be an organised pullback.

* Ultra-nationalist mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner Group includes prisoners promised pardons for service, complained after Russia’s military took credit for Soledar without mentioning his fighters.

* Finland joined Poland in saying it could send German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine as part of a Western coalition apparently being put together to supply them.

* France hopes to deliver “AMX 10-RC” light combat tanks to Ukraine in two months, said armed forces minister Sebastien Lecornu.

* Belarus may enter the conflict, a Russian foreign ministry official said. Russia used Belarus as a springboard to invade Ukraine in February, but the border area is now heavily waterlogged, making an imminent attack from there unlikely. 4pm

DIPLOMACY, ECONOMY

* Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, after meeting U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington, stressed the importance of standing up to Russia’s invasion, saying that if a unilateral change to the status quo went unchallenged, the same would happen elsewhere, including in Asia – an apparent reference to China’s vow to reunite with self-ruled Taiwan, by force if necessary.

* Russia is becoming too dependent on oil revenues to support its budget as it ramps up military spending, economists said, warning that the government may have to raise taxes if crude prices fail to meet expectations this year.

* A close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested confiscating property and assets of Russians who discredit the armed forces and oppose the war in Ukraine.

* At least four Chinese-owned supertankers are shipping Russian Urals crude to China, according to trading sources and tracking data, as Moscow seeks vessels for exports after a G7 oil price cap restricted the use of Western cargo services and insurance.

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Peru’s attorney general has launched 11 inquiries to identify those responsible for more than three dozen mostly civilian deaths during some of the country’s most violent social protests in years, her office said on Friday, as some of the president’s top Cabinet members announced their resignations.

The ouster of leftist former President Pedro Castillo last month triggered the unrest, which has claimed the lives of at least 41 civilians and one police officer.

The office of Attorney General Patricia Benavides announced the investigations focused on the violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces in the heavily indigenous southern regions of Puno, Cusco, Arequipa, Apurimac and Ucayali, as well as the capital Lima.

This week, Benavides opened a preliminary “genocide” investigation against President Dina Boluarte and several ministers.

Boluarte, Castillo’s former vice president, took over after lawmakers voted her embattled predecessor out of office after he sought to dissolve Congress and rule by decree on Dec. 7.

On Friday, the country’s interior minister, labor minister, and women’s minister all resigned, Boluarte said. She named Vicente Romero, a retired national police general, as interior minister.

Benavides’ office said 355 civilians and 176 police officers have been injured, with 329 citizens arrested, all linked to the anti-government street protests since Castillo’s removal.

“I understand and share your indignation, the state has a great debt with the country,” President Boluarte said in a late-night address to the nation on Friday, apologizing for the deaths in the protests and calling for peace.

She deflected taking responsibility for the deaths, saying bad actors had pushed citizens into “confrontations” and that she had requested authorities investigate.

Boluarte rejected calls to resign, instead repeating that she had requested Congress move elections up.

Edgar Stuardo, the head of an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights mission visiting Peru, called for a broad national dialogue, saying clashes between the country’s Congress and executive had undermined public confidence in the institutions.

This power struggle has resulted in six presidents and three parliaments in just five years.

“We are waiting to see what happens in the next few days,” Stuardo told reporters after three days of meetings with victims’ relatives, state authorities and civil groups. “We hope there are no more deaths.”

Human rights groups accuse police and soldiers of using excessive force, including live ammunition and dropping tear gas from helicopters. Security forces say protesters, mostly in Peru’s southern Andes, have used homemade weapons and explosives against them.

Many protests have played out in key southern mining regions, but on Thursday thousands marched through the streets of Lima demanding the closure of Congress and Boluarte’s resignation.

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• In an October 2022 deposition, Trump was asked about a post he wrote about E. Jean Carroll.
• In the post, Trump denied that he had ever “swooned” Carroll, who accuses him of raping her.
• Trump said he used the term because “it’s a nicer word than the word that starts with an F.”

When former President Donald Trump took to Truth Social in October 2022 to deny that he sexually assaulted writer E. Jean Carroll, he wrote that his accuser was “not my type” and that he had never “swooned” her. A week later, a lawyer for Carroll got the chance to ask him what exactly he meant by that.

In 2019, Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. Trump denied the accusation and called her a liar out to sell books. She then sued him for defamation.

As part of that lawsuit, Trump was forced to sit for a deposition with Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, on October 19, 2022, at Mar-a-Lago seven days after his post on social media. Portions of that deposition were released Friday and show a hostile former president threatening retaliatory lawsuits, not just against Carroll but Kaplan herself.

“What does ‘swooned her’ mean?” Kaplan asked the former president in one exchange.

Trump responded: “That would be a word, maybe accurate or not, having to do with talking to her and talking her — to do an act that she said happened, which didn’t happen. And it’s a nicer word than the word that starts with an F, and this would be word that I used because I thought it would be inappropriate to use the other word. And it didn’t happen.”

Merriam-Webster defines the verb “swoon” as to “faint” or “to become enraptured.” In the deposition, Kaplan noted a similar definition, asking: “That’s not what you meant here?”

“Well,” Trump said, “sort of that’s what she said I did to her. She fainted with great emotion. She actually indicated that she loved it. Okay? She loved it until commercial break. In fact, I think she said it was sexy, didn’t she? She said it was very sexy to be raped. Didn’t she say that?”

In fact, Carroll did not say she enjoyed the former president’s alleged assault or that she herself viewed rape as “sexy.”

Rather, in a 2019 appearance on CNN, she said the alleged attack “was not sexual. It just — it hurt,” which she contrasted with “fantasies” of sexual assault “being sexy.”

Trump’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request from an Insider reporter for comment.

The Lake of fire exploded and turned its political career to smoldering ash. But it appears this Lake, located in Arizona, is not yet ready to give up on the crazy. So what’s the Lake of fire done now? And I will tell you since it is absolutely hysterical. Lake has asked Donald Trump for help in overturning the Arizona governor’s election.

Let’s stop here for a second and marvel at the never-ending amount of freaks the GOP puts up in elections. They never win, they always lose, and without fail, they go bonkers after their losses. Lake made an appearance at Mar-a-Lago. Calling Trump “amazing,” she declared she was ready to take her case to the supreme court.

Lake said her movement is ” massive” and that she is “still fighting.” I like writing about Lake. Do you know why? Because she’s crazy and has successfully ruined her political career. It’s just sad. On Twitter, which does still exist, the mood was humorous:

“Lake just needs to find 17,118 votes.”

‘Sore loser.”

“Do you control the weather with your thoughts?”

“Giggle.”

“Therapy is often free.”

“dinner theater.”

“I’m beginning to suspect Lake is not the political mastermind many thought she was.”

“You REALLY need to find another lie to focus on.”

“Your 15 minutes are up.”

“Can’t someone do an intervention on this person.”

“stop the squeal.”

“the biggest loser award.”

“delusional.”

As you can see, the woman has become little more than a joke. What was once the Lake of fire has been reduced to ash.

The post Lake of Fire appeared first on Palmer Report.

New Mexico towns would be prohibited from restricting access to abortion under legislation proposed on Friday by Democratic lawmakers in a state where the procedure remains legal after Roe v. Wade was struck down.

The move comes after a New Mexico town near the Texas border passed an ordinance designed to ban abortions as part of a national push by anti-abortion activists into Democratic-controlled states.

Under the draft legislation, local governments would be prevented from overriding state laws guaranteeing women’s rights to reproductive health care.

Another Democratic initiative presented ahead of next week’s state legislative session would build on existing protections for doctors who perform abortions and for patients against harassment and investigation by out-of-state entities.

New Mexico is the only state bordering Texas where abortion remains legal and its largest cities of Las Cruces and Albuquerque have become regional destinations for women seeking the procedure.

The conservative towns of Clovis and Hobbs near the state’s eastern border with Texas have been targeted by anti-abortion activists since the U.S. Supreme Court in June ended the nationwide constitutional right to the procedure.

Neither community has an abortion clinic but are places where providers could locate to serve patients from Republican-controlled Texas, one of the first states to impose a near-total ban on abortion.

Hobbs in November passed a so-called “sanctuary city for the unborn” ordinance blocking abortion clinics from operating, marking a first for a New Mexico town according to activists.

Friday’s Democratic initiatives were a direct response, lawmakers said.

The proposed Reproductive Health Care Freedom Act “prohibits public bodies, including local municipalities, from denying, restricting or discriminating against an individual’s right to use or refuse reproductive health care,” according to a statement.

“We want to make sure that people feel protected and that they will be able to access the health care they need,” Representative Linda Serrato said in the release.

The Biden administration has told Congress it is preparing the potential $20 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, sparking an immediate objection from a senior U.S. lawmaker who has long opposed the deal.

The State Department sent the informal notice to Congress on Thursday, three sources said, informing committees overseeing arms sales in the Senate and House of Representatives of its intention to proceed with the proposed deal.

NATO member Turkey requested in October 2021 to buy 40 Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) F-16 fighters and nearly 80 modernization kits for its existing warplanes. Technical talks between the two sides recently concluded.

The Biden administration has said it supports the sale and has been in touch for months with Congress on an informal basis to win its approval. However, it has failed so far to secure a green light.

“As I have repeatedly made clear, I strongly oppose the Biden administration’s proposed sale of new F-16 aircraft to Turkey,” Senator Bob Menendez, Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement.

While the sale is still in the informal review process, Congress is also unlikely to approve the sale as long as Turkey refuses to proceed with the ratification of Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership.

The two countries ended decades of neutrality last May and applied to join NATO in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but Turkey objected and accused the countries of harboring militants, including from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and demanded steps be taken.

The notification, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, comes as Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu prepares to visit Washington on Wednesday for talks as the two NATO allies struggle with a host of disagreements including over Syria and weapons purchases.

Following the informal review, a process during which committee leaders can ask questions or raise concerns about the sale, the administration can technically go ahead with a formal notification. But a senior U.S. official said he was “doubtful” the administration would be in a position to proceed unless Menendez dropped his objection.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was disregarding human rights and democratic norms and engaging in “alarming and destabilizing behavior in Turkey and against neighboring NATO allies,” Menendez said in his statement.

“Until Erdogan ceases his threats… and begins to act like a trusted ally should, I will not approve this sale.”

Menendez also said he welcomed news of the sale of new F-35 fighter aircraft for Greece, referring to Athens as a “trusted NATO ally” and saying the sale “strengthens our two nations’ abilities to defend shared principles including our collective defense, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.”

Turkey’s 2019 acquisition of Russian air defense systems resulted in Ankara being kicked out of the next-generation F-35 fighter jet program and antagonized the U.S. Congress. Disagreements with Washington over Syria policy and Turkey’s deteriorating record on human rights and freedom of expression also weighs on congressional sentiment.

A State Department spokesperson declined to comment, saying the department does not confirm or comment on proposed arms sales or transfers until the administration has formally requested approval from Congress.

Under U.S. law, Congress can block a sale by passing a resolution of disapproval after a formal notification of a sale, but it is unlikely to do so if President Joe Biden decides to go ahead despite lawmakers’ objections. While Congress has passed such resolutions in the past, it has never mustered the two-thirds majorities needed in both chambers to overcome a presidential veto.

I’ve already spelled out why Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of a new Special Counsel to look into the Biden classified documents matter is a good thing, and why it almost certainly means the DOJ has already decided to criminally indict Donald Trump. Not everyone is going to agree with my interpretation of these events. But one person very much appears to agree with my take, and that’s Donald Trump himself.

Right after Garland made his announcement, Donald Trump appeared on a right wing radio show and had his most unhinged meltdown about Special Counsel Jack Smith to date. Trump incoherently suggested that “Smith” isn’t even his real name, before flat accusing him of being a “terrorist.” He then randomly claimed that Jack Smith and former prosecutor Andrew Weissman are “best friends.” Then he began attacking Smith’s wife and Smith’s wife’s sister.

Donald Trump has been griping about Jack Smith from the start, but this is over the top even for him. There’s a reason for this. Trump now has no doubt whatsoever that he’s about to be criminally indicted. Over the past week we’ve seen various media reports about just how many Trump-world people Smith has been subpoenaing over the past two months. But when you look at the timing, it’s Garland’s appointment of this other Special Counsel that seems to have caused Trump to conclude that Jack Smith is definitely indicting him. And Trump knows there’s nothing he can do about it, beyond running his mouth in ineffective whiny fashion.

The post Donald Trump has completely unhinged meltdown as he figures out Special Counsel Jack Smith is going to indict him appeared first on Palmer Report.