JRL NEWSWATCH: “Leaks painted a grim picture of the Ukraine war. Here’s the reality.” – Washington Post
“… Russia keeps feeding the grinder[,] … [reportedly] resupply[ing] their lines around Bakhmut as fast as they lose people …. But … some members of … Putin’s inner circle [reportedly] know … this protracted campaign is folly and that resistance to Putin … is slowly growing. ‘Many of those who supported the special operation yesterday are now in doubt or categorically against what is happening,’ [Wagner Group militia head] Yevgeniy] Prigozhin noted. … [In] a phone call … leaked last month … two prominent Russians denounced the country’s leaders as ‘stupid cockroaches’ … ‘dragging their country downwards’ and ‘destroying its future.’ … ‘[R]age and despair’ [repprtedly] are increasingly widespread among the Russian elite [according to a think tank analyst]. … Gleb Karakulov, a member of Putin’s … Federal Protective Service [FSO] defected last October. ‘Our president has become a war criminal. It is time to end this war and stop being silent,’ Karakulov said after fleeing to Turkey from Kazakhstan, where he had accompanied Putin …. Karakulov had been responsible for Putin’s communications security … [making] more than 180 trips with him. …”