Russian Soldiers THREATEN Putin With MUTINY Over Ukraine War

Hello, everybody, David Shuster here. For Russian President Vladimir Putin, the war in Ukraine is now going from bad to worse. Fires are raging in and around Moscow at oil refineries, missile factories, and the Azat chemical plant, a key military supply facility. As the Drudge Report headlines scream, Ukraine bombards Russia, 660 drone attack, Crimea emergency declared, Armata overwhelming Putin. Russian installed officials in Crimea declared a state of emergency today in the face of intensified Ukrainian drone strikes on the peninsula. Now, long lines have been forming heading to the bridge that joins Crimea to southern Russia. Thousands of Russians are trying to escape Crimea, a peninsula that's been under Russian control since 2014. But Ukraine has the peninsula surrounded. And now, adding to all the Russian losses and defeats, Vladimir Putin and his top deputies face a potential mutiny. Russian military units have begun posting videos threatening to attack the Kremlin. Fellow countrymen, we Russian soldiers stand in support of Alexander Lunin and firmly declare that this fire can no longer be extinguished. Lunin is a 39-year-old former Russian reconnaissance unit commander. He recently posted an Instagram video demanding a meeting with Putin and alleging that Russian soldiers are being tortured, abused, and punished for refusing orders to go on suicide missions. This is an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. My name is Alexander Mikhailovich Lunin. I live in Lizinovka village, Rososhansky district, Voronezh region. I give you, Russian President Vladimir Putin, my word as a man that if you invite me to the Kremlin, I will tell you the real truth, the kind that none of your officials or subordinates will tell you. I will tell you the truth about what is really happening in the country right now. In a subsequent Instagram video, Lunin made a direct threat. Vladimir Vladimirovich, pay attention to this. Invite me to meet with you. The consequences will be very serious. If I do not come to the Kremlin and speak live next to you in the near future, the Russian army will turn its weapons on the Kremlin. The Russian army will turn its weapons on the Kremlin. Lunin's video has now been viewed more than 10 million times. And it has triggered other Russian soldiers to make videos of their own, echoing Lunin's calls for an end to the Ukraine war or else. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says authorities are aware of the videos but will not comment except to call the Lunin video strange. The prospect of a military rebellion against the Kremlin comes as Russia's military has just reached another grim milestone. Headline, Russia has lost half a million dead. Quote, Russia has suffered between 1.3 and 1.5 million total casualties in its war against Ukraine, with around half a million of those killed. A senior NATO official has said as Moscow struggles to replace its losses. On the sidelines of the NATO defense ministers meeting, the UK defense general was told that Russia was showing signs of overstretch. With the official describing a staggering half a million killed on top of a far larger number of wounded. And noting that Russian casualties had been running at a relatively steady rate of between 30,000 and 35,000 a month. The frontline losses may soon intensify, in part because of this. Headline, Russia withdraws air defenses from frontline to protect Moscow. Quote, a new Pantsir anti-aircraft missile and gun system has been installed on a tower near Moscow's main oil refinery, which was hit in a humiliating Ukrainian drone attack last week. The deployment a few hundred meters from the Kapnoye oil refinery comes after Ukraine's and reflect how worried Vladimir Putin is. The refinery, which produces 40% of Moscow's fuel, is just 10 miles from the Kremlin. Part of the refinery during a Ukrainian drone attack exploded, and the damage has reportedly cut off 50% of Moscow's gasoline. And Ukraine continues to send attack drones almost nightly on a path to Moscow and other areas in Russia. Vladimir Putin has not commented on the attacks, but the attacks and the headlines keep getting more dramatic. Russia hit by 660 drone overnight barrage targeting Moscow, Crimea, and key military sites. Ukraine has turned the tide of the war. Ukraine now has an advantage over Russia in drones, counter drones, electronic warfare, long range strikes with strategic impact, as opposed to what Russia does, which has civilian impact. Taking out Russian logistics, Crimea is now in a very perilous position because of the inability of Russia to provide supplies, including fuel. Crimea is becoming a very, very uncomfortable place to live. So there are widespread power cuts across the peninsula, and the local authorities are warning residents that their power is not likely to come back anytime soon. And that's because Ukrainians are continuing to strike the power supplies, which makes any kind of repair works really impossible. There are also fuel shortages, so much so that many of many gas pumps across the peninsula have run out of fuel, and the ones that have have fuel have been banned from selling fuel to individual drivers. So it is really no surprise that people are trying to get out of Crimea as quickly as possible, and that's why we are seeing these huge queues of thousands of cars, because it turns out that even the escape route is becoming impossible, because the only way out of Crimea directly to Russia is through the bridge, and that bridge is also a target for the Ukrainians. So Russia has to shut it down on a regular basis, and the queues are becoming longer and longer. Even the US State Department says Ukraine is winning the war. That's right, the State Department under the Trump administration has declared that Ukraine is winning, and that for the first time since the war began, momentum is on Ukraine's side. That means the war has reached an especially sensitive and potentially dramatic phase. Russian citizens are fleeing Crimea. Russian battlefield losses are piling up. Some Russian soldiers are threatening a mutiny. And there are reports that Putin's most hawkish advisors are now urging him to escalate the war and possibly use nuclear weapons. US analysts do not believe Putin will go there. But by all accounts, time is not on Russia's side. Ukraine is headed towards victory, and a growing number of Russian soldiers have had enough. By the way, Donald Trump is now melting down over reporters fact-checking him on his algae-infested reflecting pool. When you have a 350, I think it's 350, not 250, a 350-foot slit from one end to the other, you think that's proof? You think that's proof? Reporters have been down there today looking for that slit that you mentioned, and there's no evidence of it. All you'd have to do is see the parks department. They'll show it to you. See the secretary. Tonight, the price of President Trump's reflecting pool renovation about to climb again. The president announcing it will now have to be partially drained and blaming vandals without providing any evidence for the pool's deterioration. Check out that video at the link below. It generated a lot of comments on YouTube. One of the most popular was from David who wrote, the most dangerous vandal is lurking at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I hear you. I look forward to your comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin facing a military mutiny now over his war against Ukraine. I'm David Shuster. Thanks for joining us.