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SHOP MASSACRE Putin hypersonic rocket blitz on supermarket kills at least 51 including boy, 6, in ‘worst civilian slaughter of 2023’

MORE than 50 people including a six-year-old boy were killed in a devastating Russian attack on a supermarket in Kharkiv.

A cafe and shop in the village of Hroza were reduced to rubble in what is believed to be one of the worst civilian slaughters of the entire war in Ukraine.

Russia targeted a grocery store in KharkivCredit: Twitter/@KyivPost

Rescue workers going through the rubble in the village of Hroza

The strike left multiple people dead in the Kupyansk districtCredit: Twitter/@KyivPost

Shocking pictures show rescue workers scrambling to find survivors in the smouldering rubble.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that around 60 residents of the small village had been holding a memorial service in the cafe that was hit.

At least 51 have been confirmed dead so far including a boy of six, while a further seven were injured, officials said.

Moscow is said to have used an Iskander ballistic missile in the horrifying strike.

“From every family, from every household, there were people present at this commemoration. This is a terrible tragedy,” Klymenko said.

The attack is the deadliest in the Kharkiv region since Russia’s invasion more than 19 months ago, a spokesman for the Kharkiv regional military administration told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.

It also appeared to be one of the biggest civilian death tolls in any single Russian strike since the start of the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was in the region earlier this week, slammed the strike and branded it a “terrorist attack.”

The Ukrainian leader, who is currently in Spain, said: “The brutal Russian crime of hitting an ordinary grocery store with a rocket is a completely deliberate terrorist attack.

“My condolences to everyone who has lost family and friends. Assistance is provided to the wounded.”

Hroza, which has a population of around 330, is located in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

The village and other parts of the region were seized by Russia early in the war and recaptured by Ukraine in September 2022.

Zelensky had been pictured visiting frontline troops in Kharkiv just two days before the attack.

He continued: “Russian terror must be stopped. Everyone who helps Russia circumvent sanctions is a criminal.

“Everyone who still supports Russia supports evil.

“Russia needs this and similar terrorist attacks for only one thing: to make its genocidal aggression a new norm for the whole world.

“And I thank every leader, all people who support us in protecting life.”

Zelensky said Ukraine was urgently talking with European leaders about strengthening air defences to give “our country protection from terror.

“And we will respond to terrorists.”

Meanwhile in the Kherson region, two medics were injured after Russia blasted a hospital.

The fourth floor of the medical facility in Beryslav was completely destroyed and another was partially destroyed, according to reports.

Emergency service vehicles were also damaged in the strike.

The blasts follow a horror attack in the city of Chernihiv in March, where 33 civilians lost their lives.

Terrifying dashcam footage caught the moment Russian bombs flew overhead and slammed into a block of flats.

Another deadly missile strike in June left ten people dead after a hit on a restaurant.

14-year-old twin sisters were among the victims of the attack in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine.

A Russian double-tap missile strike on a hotel and restaurant in August left several people dead and 88 wounded.

The deadly blasts struck 40 minutes apart injuring dozens of first responders who raced to pull survivors from the rubble.

Vlad also targeted Zelensky’s hometown over the summer as a massive strike in Kryvyi Rih killed eleven people and left many trapped under the rubble.

Multiple casualties were reported in the Mariupol theatre bombing but the number has not been confirmed.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/9256603/rocket-strike-grocery-store-ukraine-kills/

WAIL OF DEATH Chilling moment ‘nuke incoming’ sirens sound & schoolkids wear gas masks in war drills as Putin readies Russians for WW3

SIRENS blared out across Russia today and children donned gas masks as part of a terrifying drill for an incoming nuclear attack.

The eerie siren could be heard across the country and chilling messages were broadcast live as Putin forced his citizens to endure a WW3 drill.

Chilling footage shows schoolchildren being taught how to correctly don gas masks as Putin forced his citizens to endure a chilling WW3 drill

Emergency services wrapped up in hazmat suits to carry out protocol as part of Mad Vlad’s terrifying drill

Chilling messages interrupted live broadcasts across the country

Chilling footage even shows schoolchildren being taught how to correctly don gas masks.

Sirens and loudspeakers were sounded in all regions across Russia’s 11 time zones in drills that spawned two days.

It was Russia’s first nationwide civil defence exercise as Putin indoctrinates his people about the danger of the West triggering nuclear war.

A message sounded declaring: “Attention everyone,” as a bone chilling alarm bellowed out in cities and towns everywhere.

Emergency services gathered in hazmat suits to carry out protocol as part of Mad Vlad’s sick exercise.

One group ran from a building with a dummy body on a stretcher accompanied by a pack of dogs.

Heavily armoured and spiked doors also appeared to close off an underground bunker holding officials and Russian police.

Chilling messages were splashed on TV screens as programmes were interrupted.

They read: “Attention, everyone!

“There is a check of readiness of the warning system to the population.

“Please remain calm.”

The same wording boomed out from loudspeakers nationwide.

Firefighters rushed to put out a blaze as ambulances and other teams worked around them during the surreal exercise.

Workers wearing eerie hazmat suits also stuck signs into the ground on the side of the road.

The exercise was based on the assumption of a giant nuclear attack from the West.

The ‘legend’ assumed martial law had been introduced and that Russian had gone through full mobilisation.

In one city Volgograd, two shelters were used as part of the drill.

One could accommodate up to 36,000 people.

“The main goal of the drills is to check our readiness for specific actions,” said emergencies minister Alexander Kurenkov who oversaw the drills.

In a real nuclear war, Vladimir Putin would be calling the shots.

He is known to have multiple nuclear bunkers in his palaces as well as a fleet of ‘Doomsday’ Il-80 Maxdome aircraft for use in the event of atomic war.

It is unclear whether he played any secret role in the drills on Tuesday and today.

In Moscow, alarms were supposed to go off at 10:43am for one minute, although some sounded at night and other residents heard nothing at all.

Many residents in other cities like Novosibirsk and Vladivostok heard nothing.

The emergency alert tests occurred just a few hours after the Russian defence ministry claims to have shot down 31 Ukrainian drones.

In a statement on Telegram, the defence ministry said: “Attempts by the Kyiv regime to carry out terrorist attacks on targets on the territory of the Russian Federation were stopped.”

But Irina Tsukerman, a national security lawyer and geopolitical analyst, told The Express: “Putin is not seriously concerned about possibility of a nuclear or other major scale attack by Nato.

“The practice of martial law is particularly useful as Putin continues to crack down and isolate Russia from external influence.

“In reality, Russia is not preparing for a nuclear attack; it’s preparing for a long-term imposition of internal restrictions, such as martial law.”

The United States is also due to carry out a wide scale check of its public warning systems today – using mobile phones, as well as television and radio channels.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/9246685/nuke-incoming-warning-russia-putin-ww3/?utm_campaign=native_share&utm_source=sharebar_native&utm_medium=sharebar_native

Putin and Xi to meet in Beijing in October, Russia says

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a presentation of a Haval F7 SUV produced at the Haval car plant located in Russian Tula region, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Jun 5, 2019. (Photo: Maxim Shipenkov/Pool via Reuters)

President Vladimir Putin will meet China’s Xi Jinping for talks in Beijing in October, Russia said on Tuesday (Sep 19), Putin’s first known trip abroad since an arrest warrant was issued against him over the deportation of children from Ukraine.

Nikolai Patrushev, a close Putin ally and the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, said Russia and China should deepen cooperation in the face of the West’s attempt to contain them both.

He was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that the talks in Beijing would be “thorough”, at a meeting in Moscow with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi.

Putin will attend the third Belt and Road Forum after an invitation by Xi during a high-profile visit to Moscow in March.

Days before that visit, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest on suspicion of illegally deporting hundreds of children or more from Ukraine.

Moscow denies the allegations and the Kremlin said the warrant was evidence of the West’s hostility to Russia, which opened a criminal case against the ICC prosecutor and the judges who issued the warrant.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine early last year has triggered one of the deadliest European conflicts since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Putin has pivoted towards China, and Xi has stood by him.

Chinese-Russian trade has soared since the invasion, and Russia has sold Asian powers including China greater volumes of the oil it can no longer sell to the West because of sanctions.

Putin last visited Beijing in February 2022, days before the invasion, where he and Xi announced a ‘no limits’ partnership. Moscow says this does not mean a military alliance, however.

CHINA AND RUSSIA SHARE OUTLOOK, BOOST TRADE
Putin and Xi share a broad world view, which sees the West as decadent and in decline just as China challenges US supremacy in everything from technology to espionage and military power.

Trade between Russia and China soared 30 per cent in the first half of this year and will rise to more than US$200 billion in 2023, Russian Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said on a visit to China.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/putin-xi-meet-october-russia-china-3782246

Putin commits to China visit in first major trip since arrest warrant

China and Russia say they have a ‘friendship without limits’

Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to make a trip to China this fall in what will be his first trip outside of Russian or allied territory since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest.

Putin’s regime is preparing for him to appear at China’s Belt and Road Forum in October, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. He has remained primarily within Russia or countries formerly held by the Soviet Union since the court issued its warrant in March, though he has also visited Iran.

The Russian leader has missed a number of notable international events in the months since the warrant was issued, including last week’s BRICS summit in South Africa, a meeting of the China-Russia-led economic bloc.

Putin’s trip to China will come months after Chinese President Xi Jinping made his own visit to Moscow in March. The two countries have declared themselves friends, and China has refused Western calls to urge Putin to end his war in Ukraine.

Putin has had an eventful few months since his last meeting with Xi, including suppressing a rebellion from the Wagner mercenary group earlier this summer. The Wagner group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died mysteriously in a plane crash last week after being exiled to Belarus.

U.S. officials say Putin likely ordered Prigozhin’s assassination despite publicly repairing ties with him.

During Xi’s March visit to Moscow, the two leaders declared their countries to have a “friendship without limits.” The countries remain aligned in pushing back against Western leadership across the globe.

An explosive new report Meta released Tuesday exposed covert misinformation operations from China and Russia targeting the United States, as well as specific organizations like The Washington Post and NATO.

Source : https://www.foxnews.com/world/putin-commits-china-visit-first-major-trip-arrest-warrant

VLAD’S ZOMBIE ARMY Putin’s ‘out-of-control zombie troops’ return from Ukraine with ‘warped thirst for violence’ after being forced to fight

RUSSIAN doctors are in despair as Vladimir Putin’s troops fighting in Ukraine are returning home as “aggressive zombies”.

Soldiers – many of them mobilised against their will – are behaving like “animals” after being psychologically warped by the horrors they have experienced.

Soldiers mentally scarred by the atrocities of the war have turned into ‘animals’Credit: Social Media

Russian doctors say they are overwhelmed by an influx of disturbed soldiers who have become dependent on drink and drugsCredit: Social Media

Medics have warned Russia will face an apocalypse at the hands of zombie-like troopsCredit: Getty

Many have turned to drink and drugs to cope with the memories of brutality and merciless cruelty, a shocking new report says.

But they are bringing the horrors of the frontline to their own doorsteps, as they have returned with a chilling thirst for violence.

A senior health official who is treating a legion of disturbed Russians warned: “Aggressive zombies will soon fill the streets of our cities.”

The doctor told news outlet Novaya Vkladka: “They will massively beat and even kill passers-by.

“And how to prevent it, I personally do not know.

“I just do not see other scenarios for the development of the situation with those who returned from the special military operation.”

The calamitous human cost of Putin’s war has stoked fears that Russia will face a “cheap zombie apocalypse” – fuelled by booze and drugs.

More than a quarter of a million troops have been killed or physically maimed in the brutal war since it began 18 months ago.

But those who make it home alive are returning to a different kind of warzone altogether.

The anonymous health official said he is surrounded by “wounded, amputees, drug addicts, alcoholics, [and] people with mental and psychological problems.”

Despite working in Kemerovo, a Siberian region four times zones east of the war, he says it has been overwhelmed by traumatised troops.

“Injuries, PTSD – this is all, of course, a problem, it needs to be dealt with, but the main, in my opinion, problem in terms of prevalence and potential danger is addictions,” he said.

“Simply put, a lot of those who returned [from the war] are either alcoholics or, more often, drug addicts.”

World War II troops infamously went into battle drugged up to their eyeballs on methamphetamines in the hopes of being more alert.

It has been claimed that Adolf Hitler himself was a “super-junkie”, who was routinely injected with cocaine and a heroin-like opiate.

The medic said available doctors in Russia are each expected to handle between 200 and 250 unhinged war returnees each month.

He claimed the main substances being abused by fighters are amphetamines, including speed.

“And here everything is much more complicated and sadder in terms of the prospects for treatment and subsequent socialisation.”

Chilling footage showed several soldiers in a trance-like state while being awarded bravery medals for their role in the invasion.

‘HOPELESS’
The wounded troops sat silently in a row of wheelchairs with disturbingly blank expressions while deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin hailed their war efforts in March.

Some demoralised and disillusioned soldiers have fled the frontline in tears or surrendered without a fight to escape the savagery.

The doctor revealed “almost every other person” returning from Putin’s bloody war admits to the use of psycho-stimulants.

He described the fight against the crisis as “hopeless” due to a huge shortage of doctors, with many medics leaving due to the intolerable pressures.

“This special military operation [war] is like another tombstone on the grave. There are almost no doctors left,” the health chief said.

A large portion of Russian doctors are being forced to work in the war zone in occupied Ukraine, or face losing their jobs.

Under an order from the health ministry, neuropathologists are each expected to take on 300 war returnees a month on top of their existing caseloads, said another medic.

He told how a stormtrooper in the notorious Wagner mercenary army had become hellbent on inflicting violence.

“He had never beaten [his wife] before,” the doctor explained.

“He came back from the war a different person. The woman filed for divorce.

“This patient is really extremely aggressive, cannot control himself in the company of other people, and is constantly looking for conflict.”

It is like a cheap zombie apocalypse, where it is scary for a normal person.

Russian Doctor
He said the prognosis for treating the soldier wasn’t hopeful, “given the degree of drug dependence and early stages of PTSD”.

The doctor – also anonymous for fear of retribution by Putin’s regime – asked: “What we can do?

“Only remove the acute condition with sedative drugs. Again, long-term work of a clinical psychologist is needed.

“But this, I am almost 100 per cent sure, will not happen. There are thousands of patients and a handful of doctors and psychologists.”

He discussed his fears that the troop could overdose, harm an innocent member of the public or harm themselves.

The first health official pointed out that they have been trained to inflict extreme pain and “have learned to kill.”

He continued: “Their psyche has changed, including by drugs.

“Moreover, many of them went to war not to defend their ‘homeland’ but in order to get out of a pre-trial detention centre or a penal colony early.

“So it was difficult to call them angels before. And now they are mostly animals, sorry to put it so harshly.

“It is like a cheap zombie apocalypse, where it is scary for a normal person.”

The Ukrainian President previously raised concerns as Russian troops were dispatched on “suicidal” blind charges on the frontline.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/8719447/putins-troops-return-from-ukraine-violent-zombies/

Wagner Group’s coup is ‘game-changer’ for Putin as his days are now ‘numbered’

The shock rebellion by Wagner mercenaries is “a game-changer for Putin” and his days are now numbered, the chairman of the Commons Defence Committee has said.

The Wagner mercenary group’s shock rebellion has challenged Vladimir Putin’s rule over Russia, experts have said.

Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, said the president’s authority had suffered a lethal blow despite his deal to quell the unexpected uprising.

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin halted his troops’ armed mutiny, that saw them heading for Moscow on Saturday, as the Kremlin agreed to a swift resolution.

But analysts have warned the episode had shattered Putin’s carefully cultivated image as the country’s indomitable leader.

Mr Ellwood, a former soldier, told the Daily Express: “We’ve moved into a very volatile period for Russia. The immediate may have been diffused but this is a dangerous game-changer for Putin and his days are now, in my view, numbered.

“The Wagner group may have been muted and its leader exiled but Putin is significantly weakened and his enemies are now circling, realising that his whole pretence of power is diminishing.

“When a Russian leader has to contain a coup by offering the coup leader a place in exile rather than defeating him directly then you know power is draining from the Kremlin.”

Putin's days are now numbered — Putin’s days are now numbered (Image: GETTY)

Mr Ellwood said history had shown that even if leaders survive the “initial wound”, such a destabilising event could lead to a complete regime collapse.

He added: “The cat’s out of the bag just how disastrous the war in Ukraine has been. The big change is that the Russian people now realise how futile Putin’s adventurism is.

“But not only that, they also see that he is significantly weakened after only being able to strike a deal with Russian forces essentially that were marching on Moscow.”

Mr Ellwood said Ukrainian fighters should “take advantage” of the chaos, which is likely to further lower the morale of Russian soldiers.

He added: “That’s how war operates, there are occasions that need to be seized. The luck that Ukraine should now have needs to be grasped and utilised to its best ability.”

Source : https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1784399/wagner-group-coup-russia-putin

Putin will soon have ‘no choice’ but to stop his invasion of Ukraine, former US general says

Russian President Vladimir Putin.MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin will likely be forced to bring his failing monthlong war against Ukraine to a halt, a retired US general and Russia specialist told Insider — a scenario that may happen within weeks after Russian forces have sustained heavy losses and subjected Ukraine’s cities to indiscriminate attacks.

Retired US Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan said he believed this to be the “most likely scenario” to play out, as Putin has already “failed to accomplish” his “main military goals” in Ukraine — a lightning strike to seize Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, and other big cities and remove their elected leaders — and Russia’s economy continues to be decimated by sweeping Western sanctions over its war with the Eastern European country.

“Putin will have to halt his war in Ukraine sooner or later and probably in a matter of weeks,” Ryan, who served as the defense attaché to Russia for the US, among numerous other roles, told Insider on Thursday.

“The reason is not because he wants to halt his military operation but because he has no choice,” Ryan, 67, said. “He has basically reached the capacity of what his military can do for him in Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s armed forces, aided by civilians, have been greatly outnumbered and outgunned by Russian troops since Russia launched its attack in late February, but Ukrainians have managed to put up a fierce resistance, which has resulted in a mounting Russian death toll and an essentially stalled invasion.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/putin-will-soon-have-no-choice-but-to-stop-his-invasion-of-ukraine-former-us-general-says/articleshow/90447613.cms

Putin echoes Stalin in ‘very, very scary’ speech

The speech that Russian President Vladimir Putin made on Wednesday bore the hallmarks of unapologetic authoritarianism, Russia experts and observers said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin giving a speech via videoconference on Wednesday. (Russian Presidential Press Service via AP)

“We are well post-1934,” said Nina Khrushcheva, a professor of international relations at the New School in New York City, referencing the year when Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin began his murderous purge. Putin is an unabashed admirer of Stalin and has worked — successfully, in Russia — to rehabilitate his image, which suffered for years after a posthumous denunciation in 1956 by Khrushcheva’s great-grandfather Nikita Khrushchev, then the Soviet leader.

In his unsettling remarks, Putin lashed out at “national traitors” he blamed for undermining the war he launched against Ukraine.

“Putin really wants to take Russia back to Stalin days,” Olga Lautman, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, wrote on Twitter. “He has always emulated Stalin, and this speech is definitely angrier and stronger than previous speeches.”

President Biden said on Wednesday that Putin is a “war criminal,” and the rhetoric the Russian leader used was strikingly similar to the language that authoritarians have deployed to demonize, persecute and kill ethnic minorities and political opposition groups.