Via Moscow Times:
Stemousov’s boss, Vladimir Saldo, 66, a former Kherson mayor and local businessman, was transferred in August to a Moscow hospital after reportedly eating a meal prepared by a new cook. Russia’s Defense Ministry said at the time he may have ingested a nerve agent.
Accused of attacking a local newspaper office with tear gas in 2020, Stremousov also ran unsuccessfully for the post of Kherson mayor and was known for his anti-vaccination views during the coronavirus pandemic.
He seemed nice.
Vova might have gotten jealous that someone else was using biological weapons to further his political career. That’s his jam, and his alone!
Really, though, assassinations by car crashes and bombs are more the signature of the GRU. He probably did something that upset the military faction.
The incident is made more confusing by unconfirmed reports that he drove his car off a tenth-storey balcony.
Russia orders pullout from west bank of Dnipro at Kherson
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has ordered his troops to withdraw from the west bank of the Dnipro River in the face of Ukrainian attacks near the southern city of Kherson, the Reuters news agency reported.
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1590362695622017024
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1590366308704858112
https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1590368333727424512
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1590368757351735296
https://twitter.com/francis_scarr/status/1590370152675414016
https://twitter.com/francis_scarr/status/1590368100532510720
I hope he at least opened the window first.
From July:
Are they Russians leaving Ukraine, or are they leaving Russia? I can’t tell.
Want to bet it turns out he has bone spurs?
/s
Kievan Rus would probably be surprised to hear that somewhere on the outer periphery that was subsisting on tubers and mongol oppression while they were a major eastern european power is the ‘true historical fatherland’.
Pundit (relatively credible one) on BBC’s Newsnight tonight just opined that Russia is getting out of Kherson to the other bank of the river for one reason only.
It cannot really defend the current position there and needs time to continue shelling and bombing everything on the Ukrainian side back into the 19th century.
Being back on the other side of the river in a defensible position will buy them time to destroy what is left of Ukraine.
All infrastructure (power, water) will be targeted and plenty of civilian buildings into the bargain.
Ukrainian rep says words to the effect of ‘the more they bomb us and cause hardship to our people, with no heat light or power, the more determined all our people become. They will not not bomb us into submission’
It’s like they’ve never heard of The Blitz.
