According to Wijninga, the attack may have been committed by Ukraine, but it doesn’t have to be, because there is also opposition to the war inside Russia. ‘I also think that more and more cracks are appearing in my circle. There have already been attacks on the recruiting offices of the Russian army”. Wijninga agrees that this was an important event because the blogger had a lot of followers: around half a million.
‘And he had a lot of influence, he had a lot of connections with Wagner, with Prigozhin, with the Donetsk Republic, with the Russian army, even with the Kremlin. So in that sense he was a very important blogger. Very visible. He liked appearing on television with all sorts of idiotic statements about Ukrainians who were to be massacred.’ Russia is thus a major poorer ‘war influencer’.
“Whether it’s the town hall or the gas station, it doesn’t matter”
Bachmoth
In Bachmut, Wagner’s boss Prigozhin planted a flag on the town hall in honor of the dead blogger. Progozhin thus claimed “legal” victory. Wijninga calls it symbolism without any legal basis. “Whether it’s the town hall or the gas station, it doesn’t matter.”
Furthermore, the Ukrainians say they are still fighting fierce fighting in the city. According to Wijninga, the Russians have made some progress, such as taking over a factory which is now being bombed by Ukraine with HIMARS rocket artillery. But according to the Defense analyst, there isn’t much more news to report.
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