re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict.

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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on July 4 that Russia has “lost the Black Sea,” while footage released from a meeting with Ukraine’s Naval Forces revealed updated figures on damage inflicted on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Speaking during events marking Ukraine’s Navy Day, Zelenskyy credited the country’s Naval Forces and other branches of the Defense and Security Forces with shifting the balance in the maritime domain.

“The Naval Forces of Ukraine, together with other components of the Defense and Security Forces, have done what many considered impossible. Russia has lost the Black Sea,” Zelenskyy said.

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Your handlers need to find the nearest window for you. You are easily the worst russian troll to post in this thread.

To Gimpongrinder's handlers, if you are reading this, this chipmunk needs to find new work; he sucks at this. He's just making a fool of himself.

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Question: Tell me about the @counter_currents_channel channel on YouTube. Zero in on his coverage of Russia and the war in Ukraine. Is he a good source, or does he amplify russian propaganda?

Straight answer: he amplifies Russian narratives, and there's a well-documented paper trail showing it.

**Background check on his credentials**
Larry Johnson's actual CIA tenure was about four years as an analyst in the 1980s, followed by a stint at State's counterterrorism office. He left government work in 1993 — over three decades ago. Russian state media routinely present him as a former CIA analyst despite his short tenure with the agency more than 35 years ago. That's a credential-inflation problem worth flagging up front: "former CIA analyst" is technically true but doing more rhetorical work than the substance justifies.

**Track record on Ukraine specifically**
This is the damning part. Russian state media have cited Johnson in hundreds of news articles and TV reports since the full-scale invasion began, using his often false and misleading claims to promote pro-Russian narratives. Specific documented failures:

- In August 2023 he claimed Ukrainian air defenses had been almost completely destroyed and Russian aircraft could fly unhindered over Ukraine — in reality, Russian aircraft were avoiding Ukrainian airspace at the time to stay out of range of air defenses.
- In April 2024 he predicted Ukraine would lose the war by end of summer and that Odesa — which he called a Russian city — would fall to Moscow. Instead Ukraine launched a counteroffensive that captured territory in Russia's Kursk region, and Odesa's "Russian city" framing echoes a claim Putin made that was independently debunked (Ukrainian majority since well before the war).
- He pushed the claim that Ukraine, with US/UK backing, orchestrated the March 2024 Crocus City Hall terrorist attack — a claim aligned with Kremlin messaging that ignored ISIS's own claim of responsibility, including video evidence.
- More recently: an unverified claim in April 2026 that Trump tried to invoke nuclear launch codes during the Iran conflict and was blocked by Gen. Dan Caine — Newsweek noted no credible news organization or government official has verified that nuclear launch authority was ever invoked.

**The access pattern**
In March 2025 he was one of three people who interviewed Russian FM Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, and by his own account he spent part of it complimenting Lavrov and comparing him favorably to Metternich. He's described in that piece as "once a cable news regular and now a fringe figure" — a real signal of where the mainstream places him now versus his 1990s/2000s TV-pundit period.

**Bottom line**
He's not a neutral or independent military analyst — he's functionally a recurring guest/validator for Kremlin messaging, and Russian state outlets (RIA Novosti, Izvestia, Sputnik, Rossiyskaya Gazeta) have built hundreds of stories leaning on his commentary specifically because "former CIA" gives it a veneer of insider credibility. His specific predictions on the war (Ukrainian collapse, Odesa falling, air-defense destruction) have a poor hit rate and have consistently erred in Russia's favor.

Given your standard for source-critical Ukraine/Russia analysis — I'd treat this channel as opposition propaganda amplification, not as a primary source. Useful only in the sense that it shows you what narrative Moscow wants circulated in English-language media, not as a read on actual battlefield conditions.

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**Track record on Ukraine specifically**
This is the damning part. Russian state media have cited Johnson in hundreds of news articles and TV reports since the full-scale invasion began, using his often false and misleading claims to promote pro-Russian narratives. Specific documented failures:

- In August 2023 he claimed Ukrainian air defenses had been almost completely destroyed and Russian aircraft could fly unhindered over Ukraine — in reality, Russian aircraft were avoiding Ukrainian airspace at the time to stay out of range of air defenses.
- In April 2024 he predicted Ukraine would lose the war by end of summer and that Odesa — which he called a Russian city — would fall to Moscow. Instead Ukraine launched a counteroffensive that captured territory in Russia's Kursk region, and Odesa's "Russian city" framing echoes a claim Putin made that was independently debunked (Ukrainian majority since well before the war).
- He pushed the claim that Ukraine, with US/UK backing, orchestrated the March 2024 Crocus City Hall terrorist attack — a claim aligned with Kremlin messaging that ignored ISIS's own claim of responsibility, including video evidence.
- More recently: an unverified claim in April 2026 that Trump tried to invoke nuclear launch codes during the Iran conflict and was blocked by Gen. Dan Caine — Newsweek noted no credible news organization or government official has verified that nuclear launch authority was ever invoked.

**The access pattern**
In March 2025 he was one of three people who interviewed Russian FM Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, and by his own account he spent part of it complimenting Lavrov and comparing him favorably to Metternich. He's described in that piece as "once a cable news regular and now a fringe figure" — a real signal of where the mainstream places him now versus his 1990s/2000s TV-pundit period.

**Bottom line**
He's not a neutral or independent military analyst — he's functionally a recurring guest/validator for Kremlin messaging, and Russian state outlets (RIA Novosti, Izvestia, Sputnik, Rossiyskaya Gazeta) have built hundreds of stories leaning on his commentary specifically because "former CIA" gives it a veneer of insider credibility. His specific predictions on the war (Ukrainian collapse, Odesa falling, air-defense destruction) have a poor hit rate and have consistently erred in Russia's favor.

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This guy may be from the same farm, but he's no JB.

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LSUkrainian

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JB had a more distinct posting style.
Okay, but I'm sure he is. He uses identical personal attacks and clichés.

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