The Dead Rise

• Ukraine propaganda corpse comes to life,  
• Ukrainian cops in action, 
• Russia goes for the diesel, 
• Ukraine doing so well, it needs armored cars from Australia,
• Russian “beachhead” expands south of Izium, 
• The AZOV explained–what is it, where do they find these people? 
• Ukrainian ISIS strikes again:  Real or suspected Russian sympathizer gets impaled through the eye—DO NOT WATCH if you have a weak mind or stomach, 
• Sanctions have failed; Russia just getting warmed up

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This site is updated every few days.  Please bookmark it, or email jacob@dreizinreport.com to be added to the mailing list so you don’t miss anything.  

Ukrainians have conquered death

After the Russian evacuation north of Kiev (the city was never a goal to be taken), Ukrainian media came back and documented bodies here and there, and plastered it all over the news like it was the Red Army liberating Auschwitz. 

In the below five-second clip taken from Ukrainian TV, which is captioned with “Civilians shot dead in Bucha: lawyers already collecting proof for international courts”, corpses are conveniently laid out on the road, in full view of liberating soldiers and camera crews trucking down the road. The longer original footage has many corpses all over the road as if they were all taking a walk (no one drives in this town) or crossing the street and then suddenly all dropped dead.

The corpse on the right, moves its hand in fear of it being run over, although of course the truck is far enough away.  Another corpse is passed and can then be seen in the truck’s right-side rear-view mirror, literally turning its entire body and then sitting up, no longer resting its torso on the ground. It’s unmistakable and so creepy. Of course, the streets are deserted and no one comes out to great the liberators, because every single living soul here was out in the street and suddenly got shot by Russians.

Why Bucha, not nearby Irpen, where the physical damage—and likely, the number of available “legit” corpses due to artillery shelling from both sides—was substantially greater?  Or why not here, there, and everywhere? I mean, if the Russians just shoot random passer-by walking their dogs, they would do it everywhere. Perhaps Bucha was chosen because it sounds like Butcher and Butchery, and the tabloids and Twitters are running with that already?  It’s just too good to pass up. 

As I’ve been saying, folks, it’s a war but it’s also a production, it’s a show.

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Russian forces were in Bucha for some weeks or perhaps a month.  On Thursday, March 31^st, the mayor of Bucha announced in a video message that all Russian forces had already left the town.  Of course, the area had been shelled by both sides, but he didn’t mention any mass executions, per se.  With the Russians gone, thousands of residents with smartphones were immediately free to roam around and document whatever they wanted.  But it was not until Saturday, April 2^nd, that we began seeing headlines such as “mass grave with 280 bodies” and so forth, and I figured, “Alrighty, here we go!!!” 

On Sunday, April 3^rd, Ukraine news started broadcasting photos and videos of bodies, a few here, a few there, some quite fresh, some not, and the very same day, the Ukraine’s U.S.-based PR outfit published a detailed Wikipedia entry for “Bucha Massacre.”  And, Monday morning is the start of the news cycle in the USA, and now some morons on MSNBC etc. are calling for military intervention. This is how it works, folks.  (Remember to double-mask and get your booster shot.)

The Russian side is convinced that some of its own sympathizers were killed north of Kiev, like the death squad-ed gentleman in the photo below (not from Bucha or the Kiev area); they think the Ukrainian Security Service and the militia must have gone in before the army showed up for the cameras. 

Of course, not all the dead will reanimate.  You can draw your own conclusions based on your estimation as to the credibility of the side making the claims.

Ukraine’s finest at it again

The below video shows four Ukrainian policemen securing a suspected shoplifter (presumably, it’s not clear) to a light post using some local type of Saran wrap.  These “suspected shoplifter detention” videos have been very common, but this is the first time I’ve seen the police do it.  This country is heading back to the Middle Ages.  It’s only going to get worse, worse, worse. 

Everything they tell you about the Ukraine is a fantasy

The below video shows a recent patriotic march in Odessa, the third largest city of the Ukraine, with over a million residents.  I believe the video is from the very end of February or the first days of March.  As you can see from the video, there is almost no Ukraine in Odessa (aside from the government and the media.)  In a time of war, when the Ukraine’s existence is called into question, this is all they could muster as far as a patriotic demonstration:    

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Indeed, the Odessa police were so indifferent to the 2014 Russian Spring, that thugs had to be bused in from Kiev to confront the protestors, leading to a horrendous incident with 40-some deaths (of the protestors) for which no one was ever brought to trial, despite extensive video evidence among other evidence. 

I’ll spare you the details; the point is, this city would have spun off like the Donbass if not for extreme violence sponsored by the new Maidan regime in May 2014.  Today, you can see how much they love the Ukraine in Odessa.  This city may be going to Russia. 

Ukraine running drier and drier

I said in my last post that Ukraine’s oil refineries would be attacked soon, and then it happened. 

On Friday night or Saturday morning, the Kremenchug refinery was knocked offline.  Then, on Saturday night or Sunday morning, the Odessa refinery was attacked.  Readers will recall, I also said that the damage would be to areas of the facilities that would be easier to repair, so as to restore functionality after the war.  And it appears that so far, “only” the gasoline and diesel tanks have been hit.  Video of several damaged points at the Odessa facility is below: 

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With the Ukraine’s only two functional refineries not able to offload new production, and with most large storage tanks east of the Dniepr destroyed, there is now very little diesel available for the Ukrainian army in eastern and central Ukraine, aside from what is in their gas tanks right now, any army motor pool tanks that have not run dry or been destroyed, what’s left at civilian gas stations, and probably some cisterns presently on the move.  At least several cisterns, in fact, were on a train that was hit near Pavlograd, also carrying armored vehicles and munitions eastward for the relief of besieged Ukrainian forces in the Donbass. 

The forces that have been redeployed from Kiev and elsewhere to Dnepropetrovsk will not be able to move far beyond Dnepropetrovsk, and likely every Ukrainian unit east of the Dniepr will be unable to move its heavy equipment within another week or so, roughly as I predicted in my email newsletter in mid-March. 

The Ukraine will simply not be able to reinforce its Donbass army group, nor will it be able to maneuver and fight in the flat, “open” (sparsely forested), relatively underpopulated country between Dnepropetrovsk and Donetsk. 

It would have been different if these forces had been redeployed earlier and had a chance to dig in among the towns and villages east of Dnepropetrovsk; now, it is too late.  Between the lack of fuel and the Russian air force, there is no longer any hope. 

Clearly, the now-cancelled Russian deployment near Kiev was successful in drawing resources and attention away from what is now an utterly hopeless situation for the Ukraine’s Donbass army group and for any prospects at defending the area east of Dnepropetrovsk and north of Guliaipole.  

It’s funny to hear the U.S. and Australia and other countries promising to send more tanks and armored cars to the Ukraine.  They have been a day late and a dollar short the whole way through. 

It’s not just that sending these types of vehicles, is an admission that the Ukraine is short on armor (they had thousands of armored vehicles at the start of the war, now they’re driving around in vans and pickups) whereas the accounts of massive Russian losses are bunk.  It’s also that there will be no fuel to run them.  What the Ukraine needs now is diesel. 

(I heard on the car radio that the Ukraine is asking for F-15s and F-16s.  Can they fly those planes?  Do they have the fuel?  Functional runways?  They are drifting further and further out into deep space.)

Mariupol retrospective

The Mariupol operation is about to be completed.  An estimated 90-95 percent of the city, including most of downtown, has already been cleared of the Azov and the Ukrainian army. 

This has certainly been one of the most lopsided outcomes to any urban assault operation in history. 

Due to the high level of training and motivation of the attacking forces, their use of modern tactics including armor-backed small team assaults on strongpoints, as well as the use of technologies including loitering surveillance drones and laser-guided munitions, in the span of just one month, the attackers were able to minimize casualties, likely keeping their dead at well under 500 while killing or capturing several thousand well-armed, motivated defenders—also keeping civilian deaths relatively “low” (by historical standards) given the scope and ferocity and destructiveness of the fighting, likely under 3000, with both sides having killed a good share through shelling and setting things on fire. 

(At the start of the offensive, there were up to 300,000 civilians trapped in this nearly Stalingrad-sized city that normally hosted 431,000.) 

As of now, roughly half of the city’s population as of the start of the siege, has been evacuated to more comfortable living arrangements in Russia or other Russian-controlled areas of the Ukraine.  Those remaining in the city are now being fed by aid from Russia and Donetsk. 

On Saturday evening, CBS News told me on the car radio that the Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister said 136 civilians were evacuated by his government that day.  My understanding, that’s the number that chose to go to Ukrainian-controlled territory that day.  

Meanwhile, Russia has been evacuating thousands per day, as high as 13,000-some on one day, although that was a record.  You wouldn’t know it from our MSM.  It’s very interesting to see how Russia is helping these people; they are being moved and housed throughout Russia, the invader country.  It would make for an interesting news piece.  But, it’s easier to limit the narrative to whatever the Ukrainian government says on its Twitter.  136 people, great!

Mariupol security HQ

CAUTION:  The below video shows several deceased bodies, not particularly “graphic” but nonetheless, you have been warned.

The below video shows the Mariupol station of the Ukraine Security Service (in Ukrainian, abbreviated as the “SBU.”)  The SBU is the local descendant of the Soviet KGB, similar to Russia’s FSB.  This building is of great interest, as it holds information on SBU informants among the city’s population.  It appears some laptop computers have been dismantled and their hard drives removed or destroyed by the SBU before the Russian or Donetsk forces showed up. 

At around 1:20, you can see a wall with the flag of the “Right Sector”, a quasi-fascist militia and business empire with roots in the organized crime scene of far western Ukraine. It’s interesting to see this flag adorning the wall of an SBU office; it just goes to show to what extent “the fash” were/are tolerated or even supported at all levels of the Ukraine’s state structure.

At around 4:55 to 5:10 of the video, the reporter shows a Russian flag and some ladies’ wigs that SBU men had presumably intended to use to sneak out of the city.  The soldier escorting her, mentions that many Ukrainian servicemen have dressed as women to try to get out of town without being detained. 

Whatever the case, hundreds of Azov and Ukrainian army men have been killed or detained while moving through the roads or fields outside Mariupol, and probably a much larger number have escaped towards Ukrainian-held Zaporozhia province. 

What is the Azov?

The significance of the liquidation of the Azov in Mariupol cannot be understated.  The Azov was the flagship of the Ukraine Interior Ministry’s “National Guard”, which was established in its current iteration as a politically-vetted, ideological “backup army” in April 2014, after the Ukraine’s regular army proved to be lacking in motivation to face pro-Russian rebels. 

The Azov was not originally under the National Guard, but was rolled up into the Guard when Kiev determined to tamp down on the autonomy of ultranationalist volunteer units that had sprung up in 2014. 

Sadly, doing away with the Swastika-inspired symbol of the Azov, was never a requirement, nor was it demanded by Uncle Sam, who normally can get anything he wants out of the Ukrainian government (recall Brandon’s “son of a bitch” routine about “the money.”) 

The fact is, without the Nazi orientation, the Azov would not have been able to recruit and retain the sort of tattooed Nazi fanatics, soccer fan hooligan types, and ultra-loyal “second chance seekers” that it was aiming for.  On Uncle Sam’s part, this was simply tolerated and ignored—like a lot else was tolerated and ignored—as something necessary in the fight against Russia and Russian influence in eastern Ukraine. 

The Azov “batallion” grew into a “regiment”, then grew into a nearly division-sized entity and business empire throughout eastern Ukraine.  However, their greatest concentration was in Mariupol, where they were a sort of state within a state.  There is no question that the Azov had their own cashflows in Mariupol, similar to a mafia organization.  They were untouchable—until Russia showed up. 

Russia expands control south of Izium

Russia has cleared all Ukrainian forces out of Izium (southeast Kharkov province) and towns and villages immediately to the south and southeast.  My assumption that the Russian temporary bridge across the Seversky Donets was southeast of Izium, was wrong.  The bridge is in fact southwest of the city, likely just west of Shpakovka.

The below video shows Russian forces crossing the bridge, and then a trip to Mount Kremianets in the southern part of town, which had reportedly been used as a spotting platform to direct artillery fire at the bridge construction site. 

Now, this area is secure, and the focus has shifted to Ukrainian-held Barvenkovo, 20 miles to the southwest.  If/when Russia takes Barvenkovo, its western flank will be secured for a dash down to (possibly) Dobropole, another 30 or so miles to the south, thus linking up with Russian and Donetsk forces coming up from the south and completing the encirclement of the Ukraine’s army group in the Donbass. 

The Death Squads are real

***FIRST WARNING:  DO NOT WATCH THE BELOW VIDEO IF YOU ARE EASILY UPSET OR IF YOU HAVE ANXIETY ISSUES, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, THIS IS “ISIS”-LEVEL STUFF, IT IS DISGUSTING AND THE AUDIO IS AWFUL, AND (IF YOU ARE IMPRESSIONABLE) IT MAY STAY WITH YOU FOR A LONG TIME.  IF YOU WATCH THIS, IT IS ON YOU, DO NOT SEND ME YOUR THERAPIST BILL.*** 

I finally decided to post this infamous video, in part because it ties in with the “reign of terror” that I’ve been writing about—I don’t believe the victim is a Russian solider.  It shows some undesirable—his civilian pants, and the location being an apartment stairwell, suggest he’s just some guy who collaborated or sympathized with Russia, or had too many Russian friends or a Russian passport or whatever—getting stabbed to death through the eye with a long knife by a Ukrainian “territorial defense” militia member who has since been identified over the Internet. 

At the end of the video, the killer (who doesn’t look too bright, and sounds like a goombah) says this is the fate that awaits all invaders, and of course, “Glory to Ukraine.”  Again, I don’t think the victim was a real “invader”; I think the killer was just taking out his low-IQ anger on whoever was available.  This has been happening all over the Ukraine, and most of the perpetrators aren’t so dumb as to post their crimes online.  The death squads are real. 

***SECOND WARNING:  DO NOT WATCH THE BELOW VIDEO IF YOU ARE EASILY UPSET OR IF YOU HAVE ANXIETY ISSUES, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, THIS IS “ISIS”-LEVEL STUFF, IT IS DISGUSTING AND THE AUDIO IS AWFUL, AND (IF YOU ARE IMPRESSIONABLE) IT MAY STAY WITH YOU FOR A LONG TIME.  IF YOU WATCH THIS, IT IS ON YOU, DO NOT SEND ME YOUR THERAPIST BILL.*** 

The sanctions have failed

There are 800 to 900 foreign-owned, leased aircraft (valued at around $10 billion) that are now “stranded” in Russia after European and other countries prohibited flights from Russia to their territory.  Russia has no intention of returning these aircraft for the duration of the economic war, and in fact, is going to use them for internal traffic and flights to neutral countries.  The lease payments will henceforth be made in rubles (hahaha.) 

Thanks to lobbying from the aircrafts’ owners, who want them back in one piece, the U.S. and Europe have quietly authorized the provision of spare parts as well as the servicing of the aircraft in one or more neutral third countries that are not too distant from Russia, in terms of airtime. 

The Russian automobile market is in a high state of confusion and disruption.  It will take perhaps six more months for Avtovaz to shift sourcing of certain components (such as airbags and antilock sensors) from Europe to China or Korea, and, to work out a system of transshipment of repair parts for German and other European models through third countries.  New imports continue to be shipped from Korea and China.  Europe will have no more presence on the Russian car market, a big loss. 

There has been much disappointment and confusion in the U.S. and Europe over the strength of the ruble.  The fact is, the ruble will continue to be strong for as long as commodities are in short supply and sharp demand (perhaps five years or more), not to mention that Russia is slowly moving towards charging for everything in rubles, one way or another, which also lifts demand for its currency. 

Uncle Sam and the UK have failed to browbeat China or India into going along with the economic war on Russia.  Top U.S. “allies” in Southwest Asia, including Israel, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, have also maintained neutrality, as have Turkey and Egypt.  Furthermore, Korea has received a special dispensation from Uncle Sam to continue selling just about everything to Russia. 

It can be summarized that the economic war on Russia is being waged only by the U.S. and its hegemonic bloc (Europe, Canada, Australia/NZ, and Japan), but even they continue to buy whatever they need from Russia.   Other than Europe freezing/stealing half of Russia’s currency reserve, really nothing much has been done to Russia.   

It’s funny, Algeria has refused to send more natural gas to Spain, due to Spain having taken Morocco’s position in the Western Sahara dispute.  Now, the Algeria route won’t compensate for any shortages from Russia—that hope is gone.  Algeria also buys a lot of weapons from Russia.  Europe is running out of options. 

Russia will do just fine while it beats the Ukraine into the dirt and runs over it, backs up, and runs over it again.  The steamroller is only just warming up.  The end has been clear for some time. 

The only question is, how bad will it get in Europe and the USA, and at what point voters in those countries scream “enough”?  Of course, it’s not nearly THAT bad yet, we are only just starting down that road. 

As of now, only the weak dominoes are falling.  For example, Sri Lanka has run out of fuel, and out of money to pay for fuel—it is now coming apart.  We’ll see what other countries follow suit.  

This site is updated every few days.  Please bookmark it, or email jacob@dreizinreport.com to be added to the mailing list so you don’t miss anything.