Understanding the War in Ukraine (5) - Russia - YouTube
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Foreign weapons "already at the front," says Ukraine deputy defense minister
Ukraine's deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, says that weapons supplied to Kyiv by the US and other partners are already deployed to the front lines.
"Apart from the Javelins and Stingers, 155 mm American howitzers are already being used at the front," Maliar said in a briefing on Wednesday.
"We are working to accelerate the pace of aid, as this is the life of our soldiers."
A senior US defense official told reporters on Tuesday that 89 of the 90 Howitzers the US agreed to give to Ukraine have been transferred to Ukrainian possession.
Maliar said that the supply of foreign weapons had settled into a routine, despite Russian efforts to destroy transport infrastructure.
"We have already received a large number of weapons. But now we have entered the period of rhythmic supply of weapons to Ukraine," she added.
She also suggested that new arrangements would help Ukraine sustain a longer conflict.
“A lend lease package is currently being considered. We receive support from the European Union and other countries," she said.
"That is, we are entering a new phase of the war. Russia is driving itself into a state where it will not be able to win 'the war of equipment.'
"However, until this victory comes, we will have several difficult weeks, and maybe even months," she said.
Maliar also said Ukrainian production lines were being ramped up.
"We are making a strategic bet on the development of our own production. Manufacturers are already loaded with military orders to the end of the year. In addition, the Defense Ministry buys protective equipment from abroad," she said.
In the first ten days of May, the Ukrainian armed forces had received more than 34,000 body armor vests, she said.
Foreign weapons "already at the front," says Ukraine deputy defense minister
CNN explains pivotal role bridges play in Russia's military strategy
VIDEO Watch: CNN explains pivotal role bridges play in Russia's military strategy - CNN Video
Russia doesn't want to destroy the world economy. China and India don't want that. Which is why Russia is trying to play it cool with gas. And has never once used it as blackmail.
But Ukraine has other ideas. This is getting to a breaking point real fast
⚡The volume of gas entering Germany through Ukraine has decreased by almost 25% compared to yesterday, - German regulator
Based on inconclusive video, (could have been anything anywhere) you have personally decided that, “this is getting to breaking point real fast”.
Its not a fucking game you numpty! This increasingly violent war started by Putin, is not won on X-Box or you tube. It is not decided by millennial minds such as the porous material that you claim to be your brain.
It is determined by real life deaths, destruction and other peoples blood. How dare you try and reduce it to your simplistic, febrile viewpoint. It is increasingly clear that your childish mind can’t cope with it!
The casing of a cluster munition stood upright like a fence pole not far from a team of Ukrainian medics rushing a bleeding soldier from the eastern front.
One of the doctors reassured the wincing fighter that the tourniquet being squeezed just above his knee did not mean he was about to lose a part of his leg.
https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/...=768&h=512&m=6
Another peered back at the smoke rising above one of the biggest battles of Russia's methodical assault on its pro-Western neighbour and cursed.
Some soldiers formed a protective circle around the scrambling paramedics and took down coordinates over their walkie-talkies for the next medical evacuation from the front.
"They come in waves," volunteer fighter Mykola said of the Russians' repeated attempts to push south past a strategic river near a rural settlement called Bilogorivka.
"They tried over the weekend and we pushed them back. Now they are trying again. It goes back and forth. First they hit us, then we hit them."
- Pockmarked with holes -
Neither Moscow nor Kyiv is a signatory to a 2008 convention banning the use of bombs and rockets that spread small but deadly munitions over larger areas such as fields or city blocks.
Their use in Ukraine highlights the brutal and often indiscriminate nature of the weapons falling from the sky on civilians and soldiers in the two-and-a-half-month war.
The casing from the cluster munition was lying near the last checkpoint leading to Bilogorivka -- a village whose fall would help the Russians launch an assault on Ukraine's eastern administrative capital of Kramatorsk.
Ukraine has been pouring in forces in what appears to be an increasingly desperate effort to hold the line.
Two besieged cities just east of Bilogorivka -- Lysychansk and Severodonetsk -- are a deserted but still contested war zone that the Russians might claim any day.
What happens inside Bilogorivka is nearly impossible to verify because both the settlement and its surrounding roads are being bombed and shelled incessantly with munitions of various type.
But the earth shakes around it and Ukrainian soldiers' faces darken when the settlement is mentioned by name.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 60 people died when Russia bombed a school sheltering 90 villagers over the weekend.
Soldiers emerging from Bilogorivka were unable to confirm the claim because the school was in a northern area under the Russians' control.
"We went in and this is how we come out," a volunteer fighter who uses the nom de guerre Leto ("summer") said next to a green van pockmarked with holes the size of a child's fist.
"We're preparing to go back in again," he said at a rear base used by some east Ukrainian units.
"What can you do -- an order is an order. But we have no cover. We have no mortar guns. I do not know how our unit is going to fight."
- 'A little bit scary' -
Surging military morale and a national outpouring of support for the army have been instrumental to Ukraine's ability to first defend Kyiv and then stall Russia's advance across the east.
This may be harder to maintain as the death toll mounts and Russia's superior strength in numbers and military muscle starts to translate into lasting gains.
The fog of war and military secrecy make it difficult to estimate how many soldiers both sides have lost in the battles.
But medics treating the wounded soldier near the cluster munition fired at the Bilogorivka checkpoint think it is far higher than what Ukraine suffered at the start of a Kremlin-backed insurgency in 2014.
"In all, if you look at the statistics, it is a little bit scary," volunteer doctor Yuriy Kozhumyaka said after helping lift the wounded soldier into an ambulance waiting a relatively safe distance away from the shellfire.
"You must be prepared for that. But it is shame," the 37-year-old art instructor-turned-doctor said.
Fellow volunteer paramedic Andriy Kukhar sounded a similarly sombre note.
"Many die," the 38-year-old dentist by training said. "We cannot do anything to help many guys and they die. But this is war. We know this."
'Many die': Ukraine throws it all to halt Russian surge (msn.com)
^ It's all Putin's fault. Ukraine was a nice developed country until the evil Putin happened.
^^ Not your TikTok war is it?
^ALL Putin’s fault. May he rot in Hell.
Russia is using the same method as Syria and Chechnya. Encircle the city or target area. Cut it off and completely pacify it and take administrative control. Kherson was first. Then Mariupol, now Popasa. The same assault forces get used in each target area. When Mariupol was done, those same assault forces moved towards Popasna. Just like Homs, then Raqqa then Aleppo in Syria.
All other operations are fixing positions. It isn't an offensive line for the Russians. They are there to tie up forces and hold the line while the assault forces are at work. Sometimes the Ukraine forces feel brave and they push the fixing forces back a bit. It is not a head to head battle line between the Ukraine and Russian forces. They are just camping out there.
But it sure makes for juicy propaganda when Ukraine throws its might at some of the fixing forces and they move back a bit. I'll grant that. It doesn't mean Ukraine is winning when they push some forces back who are camping out.
Vladimir Putin's forces are heading for a defeat in Ukraine that could cement Russia's post-Soviet decline and relegate its great power status to a thing of the past, according to China's former envoy to Kyiv. Gao Yusheng, a Central Asia specialist who served two years as ambassador to Ukraine between 2005 and 2007, spoke at a closed-door event hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences think tank, said a report by China's Phoenix News.
Gao served under Xi Jinping's predecessor, Hu Jintao, and now no longer holds any position of influence in Beijing. His edited remarks were taken down within hours of going live on Wednesday.
However, the content was archived by the translation blog of David Cowhig, a former U.S. diplomat who spent a decade at the American missions in China.
Gao's scathing assessment of Russia includes a view that Moscow never truly recognized the independence of other former Soviet states, "and has frequently violated their territoriality and sovereignty."
Ukraine, once divided by factions that were pro-Russia or pro-Europe, saw its orientation lean toward the West after the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
"After the outbreak of the war, the situation in Ukraine has fundamentally changed. The country is united in its resistance to Russia and its salvation. It can be said that Russia has completely lost Ukraine," Gao said, according to Cowhig's translation.
The former Chinese diplomat's review of Russia's performance on and off the battlefield is even worse. The Kremlin has failed to adapt to the hybrid nature of modern warfare, which includes campaigns in the realms of "military, economic, political, diplomatic, public opinion, propaganda, intelligence, and information," he said.
"The failure of the Russian blitzkrieg and the failure to achieve a quick victory signaled the beginning of the Russian defeat," Gao said in his virtual remarks. He believes Putin's forces can't afford "a high-tech war costing hundreds of millions of dollars a day."
What military and economic advantages it did have over Ukraine have since been offset by Ukrainian resistance and effective aid from the West, Gao assesses.
The "generational difference" in Russia's weapons and military concepts compared to the U.S. and NATO have only made Moscow's disadvantages more pronounced, Cowhig's translation read.
"It is only a matter of time before Russia is finally defeated," he said.
"Russia has been declining ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union," according to Gao, and the failings of Russia's ruling class haven't reversed the trend.
"This process has been exacerbated by Western economic sanctions which have damaged sectors of the Russian economy," said China's former envoy. "The so-called revival or revitalization of Russia under Putin's leadership is false; it simply does not exist."
Gao sees the next phase of the war as "likely to be more violent and intense," with Russian forces ordered to secure Crimea and the Donbas region in the east, while Ukraine grows increasingly determined to recover all its territory.
"The U.S., NATO and the EU have repeatedly affirmed their determination to defeat Putin," Gao said. "All of this suggests that the war will be fought until Russia is defeated and punished."
The result, Gao predicts, is that the Russian president will fail in his overriding foreign policy objective to maintain the Kremlin's "exclusive sphere of influence" over the former Soviet Union.
"Russia's defeat would leave it with no hope of rebuilding its old empire," he said. Ukraine, meanwhile, would "become a member of the great European family."
Missing from Gao's remarks were any assessments about China's position or a view of its future trajectory after the war in Ukraine.
In February, Xi and Putin issued a 5,000-word joint statement from Beijing which declared the China-Russia partnership had "no limits."
In the 11 weeks since Russia's invasion, Beijing has provided Moscow with valuable diplomatic cover, although its support has remained largely rhetorical, and has so far fallen short of material assistance, according to U.S. officials.
In a post-Ukraine war international order, in which Gao believes Russia will be significantly weakened and isolated, China could find itself without an important geostrategic ally to endorse its authoritarian system on the world stage.
Many see Xi as having bound China too closely with Russia, risking serious reputational damage as Moscow's war drags on.
At the same time, however, there are concerns that Xi's closest advisers are only confirming the president's biases instead of telling him hard truths about the changing geopolitical landscape.
https://www.newsweek.com/vladimir-pu...ssador-1705615
Ukraine attacked a Russian pontoon bridge after letting a few tanks and vehicles cross, to trap them. At least 35 vehicles destroyed, and I presume a lot of dead Russians.
Russian forces sustained remarkable losses from a failed bridging attempt over the Donets River - YouTube
Auto loader in action
https://youtu.be/1dtKOHwQPMM
Backspin needs to behave himself. Pretending that he understands tactics is completely different to negotiating child discounts with flabby Thai hookers.
Sabang posts a biased report on Russian ascendency. The report even says that no one knows who is winning, but applies pro Russian bias anyway.
And you claim that you are not pro war? Idiot.Quote:
Originally Posted by Backspin
Those auto loaders are the reason why the turrets fly so high when they are blown up.Quote:
Originally Posted by Backspin
Tank's turret was blown off. Strongest explosion of a russian tank in Ukraine. Launch into space. - YouTube
I wonder if the chinkies that broadcast that will get in trouble with Mr. Shithole.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsiHlmJ9myg
This could be a new competition for the Ukrainians:
"How high can we get a Russian tank turret to fly?"
Sympathy . . . nah.Quote:
Originally Posted by pickel
Wank-material for you, eh. Do you and sabang share these and do a reach-around?Quote:
Originally Posted by Backspin
Brutal Attack: Ukrainian paratroopers explode Russian T-72 tank Sending Its Turret Flying Into Air - YouTube
Russian army still suffers losses in Ukraine, its personnel demoralized, disorganized - General Staff
The Russian army continues to suffer losses on the territory of Ukraine, due to which its personnel are disorganized and demoralized, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports.
"The enemy continues to suffer losses. The enemy is disorganized and demoralized," a Facebook post on Wednesday says.
It also notes that, according to available information, servicemen of individual units of the Russian Armed Forces located on the territory of Ukraine, were informed that it is impossible to carry out rotation before the end of the so-called "special operation" [until the end of the war].
Russian army still suffers losses in Ukraine, its personnel demoralized, disorganized - General Staff
Putin Pulls Russian Spy Agency Out of Ukraine
Vladimir Putin has removed Russia’s biggest intelligence agency, the FSB, from its role as the primary spy agency for the war in Ukraine and handed responsibility to a heavily militarized branch of military intelligence, the GRU.
The new lead officer, Vladimir Alekseyev, the first deputy head of the GRU, is strongly implicated in several of Putin’s most serious attacks on the West over the past decade. He is accused by the U.K. and the European Union of overseeing the chemical weapons attack in Salisbury in 2018. An experienced special forces officer, he is also sanctioned by the U.S. for direct cyber interference in the U.S. 2016 election.
The public signal of the switch came last week, when the pro-Kremlin Tsargrad TV channel ran a story entitled, “Generals of victory: who is in charge of the Russian special operation?” The item suggested that these men would ensure the Russian military finally achieved its objectives in Ukraine.
Some of those named —like Gen. Alexander Dvornikov who was given overall command of the operation last month — were familiar to viewers, as were the heads of several military districts and major units. But there was one name that stuck out. Alekseyev was identified for the first time as the top general for intelligence on Ukraine.
The news marked a significant shift. Until now, Ukraine had been the responsibility of the Fifth Service of the FSB, the department which provided Putin with intelligence on Ukraine before the invasion. The disastrous start to the war, clouded by the pre-emptive publication by Western intelligence of highly secret plans as yet unrealized, and by the complete absence of popular uprisings by Russian speakers (which Putin was told would occur) cast a dark shadow over the department. Its boss, FSB general Sergei Beseda, was initially arrested and held in the notorious Lefortovo prison.
Alekseyev is a very particular type of Russian military intelligence officer. He started his career in the special forces, or Spetsnaz, rather than a posh and sought-after posting at some embassy in the West. His job in the GRU was to supervise the 14th directorate – leading the Spetsnaz, the paramilitary arm of the agency — and in 2011 he became first deputy head of the GRU.
The promotion of such men was typical of the new approach brought by Sergei Shoigu after he become Defense Minister in 2012. Alekseyev and his ilk became the new face of an agency that Shoigu was determined to expand, and quickly. But where to find the personnel? He raided the ranks of the special forces. They might not have the softer skills of other intelligence officers, but they were tough guys and ready to kill.
Alekseyev saw military action in Syria, and he was involved in the conflict in Donbas. Fellow officers regard him as brutal and self-confident to the point of recklessness.
The new man’s arrival has been accompanied by more shadowy and bemusing news about Beseda. Throughout the ordeal of his fall from grace, Beseda and his department became a magnet for in the blame game in Moscow – the military and even other departments of the FSB accused Beseda and his people of misinforming Putin, so laying the groundwork for a failed military campaign. Large sums of money earmarked for the subversion of Ukrainians were said to have gone missing.
It was widely assumed that Beseda was to be left languishing for years in solitary confinement in the Lefortovo, where Stalin’s disgraced aides were once held.
But two weeks ago, the pro-Kremlin media broke the news that Beseda had been seen at the funeral of the KGB general Nikolai Leonov. According to the report, Beseda gave a speech. He was described as acting chief of the Fifth service (although no footage was provided.) The aim was obvious — to kill or downplay the news of his downfall.
We checked with our sources in Russia. Finally, news came that Beseda had been seen walking into his office in the Lubyanka, the FSB’s neo-Baroque headquarters in Moscow. That sounded very odd, and completely unprecedented. To throw a general into prison and then return him to office was the sort of maneuver that only Stalin was capable of playing with his generals.
But there is some logic in that move. Putin is adamant that the war has been going “according to plan” and is likely acting accordingly. His audience is not the general public, still very much under the control of the Kremlin propaganda, but the Russian elites – the bureaucracy in the capital and beyond, including the military and secret services. They have been questioning Putin’s strategy, though only in private, and they are the people Putin needs to persuade that everything is going according to plan in Ukraine.
Throwing your top Ukraine spymaster into prison said the precise opposite and made clear that there had indeed been a significant intelligence failure in Ukraine. So, Putin’s message is now to pretend that nothing ever happened to Beseda.
But putting Beseda back in his office doesn’t mean Putin trusts the FSB, or Beseda’s service in particular, on Ukraine, as the Alekseyev appointment makes clear.
It is the gung-ho forces within Russia’s spy community that are now charged with plucking victory from the morass of their country’s worst military and intelligence failure since World War II.
Putin Pulls Russian Spy Agency Out of Ukraine - The Moscow Times
Yes ... a highly reliable source ... :rofl:Quote:
Originally Posted by Backspin
Chances of that guy being in Ukraine/Russia = 0
Suncloud sunglasses 😎 - YouTube
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Richard Connelly comment reply - YouTube