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They wear Ukrainian uniforms, which is a violation of the Geneva convention. Not surprising how skiddy comes in here like a snivelling, giddy little schoolboy to show off a video of two Ukrainians being executed.Quote:
Originally Posted by pickel
Here is a more relevant video. General Mark Hertling discusses the strategic significance of both Soledad and Bakhmut.
https://twitter.com/MarkHertling/sta...47314470649857
What are you talking about?Quote:
Originally Posted by Backspin
As usual, something he knows absolutely nothing about.Quote:
Originally Posted by panama hat
Here's Russia yet again, respecting the rules of war to a ridiculous and annoying degree. Which they get less than zero credit for and nothing but ridicule.
"oh man, bbbrraaaveee " "Russia cant aim bruh !" " Russia ran out of ammo brrruh!" No retards. This is what the Geneva convention is in practice.
https://twitter.com/Harry_Boone/stat...riNJhwh_6mF_rQ
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chief-of-the-defence-staff-rusi-lecture-2022
A very interesting view from the UK CDS regarding the last year of support for Ukraine from a UK perspective.
A good interview.
Russia's Dark Future - the battle of private armies - YouTube
A U.S. Army combat veteran and leadership executive who went to West Point now making his fifth trip to Ukraine is finding that Russia's military shortcomings could negatively impact the country for decades to come.
Dan Rice, president of Thayer Leadership and a former infantryman who fought in Iraq and was wounded in Samarra, currently serves as special adviser to General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Throughout his travels in Ukraine, he has watched T-72 tanks destroy Russian targets in the Donbas region and stood on the outskirts of Kyiv as the Russian military made close gains in May 2022.
As he embarks on a new mission, Rice told Newsweek the Russian military "is poorly led at the strategic, operational and tactical levels."
"At least 300,000 military-age men left Russia, and Russia claimed to draft 300,000," Rice said. "They have taken 110,000 killed in action and another 300,000 wounded. They have lost most of their best army units and best tanks and armor.
"The entire Russian military is being degraded in less than a year and will not recover in my lifetime. Russia, and China, was considered a 'peer competitor,' but after this war, is no longer. The U.S. only has China to consider a 'peer competitor' and after the destruction of the Russian army, China will think twice about trying to take Taiwan."
He blamed the ineptitude on Russian forces only following two of the nine principles of war, those being "mass" and "offensive."
"They throw more and more bodies at the same objectives with no significant changes each attack. They are not a learning organization," Rice said. "They are an enormous country with a lot of resources, but they aren't unlimited. They are running low on many of their weapons and ammo."
"They are being forced to go to the 'axis of evil,' Iran and North Korea, to get additional artillery shells," he added. "They are taking enormous casualties and are running out of troops and having to go to mobilization/draft. The draft caused both a brain drain and a brawn drain."
Rice said he has worked alongside Zaluzhnyi to help educate the American public on what is taking place in Ukraine, as well as to relay to the invaded nation what capabilities could potentially be provided by the U.S.
Between 2005 and 2013, he traveled without security dozens of times to Iraq and Afghanistan as an investor with the Marshall Fund and later a contractor with SunDial.
"Getting involved in the largest war in Europe in 70 years, to understand the issues and help contribute, is in my mission," said Rice, who as president of Thayer leads roughly 100 staffers and faculty members who teach the principles of military leadership to corporations.
He personally got involved in the war effort through a chance encounter with a woman at a restaurant in Miami during the initial days of the Russian invasion. The woman showed him films of her family under fire in Kyiv, leading to Rice encouraging them to immediately head west and exit the country.
Rice later welcomed the family of refugees into his home once they reached the U.S. The non-English-speaking mother of the woman saw West Point materials throughout the home and inquired whether he attended, leading her to ask if he wanted to meet General Zaluzhnyi.
That led to a Zoom meeting with the general, in which the pair discussed leadership, leader development and strategy. Rice, who possesses four degrees in the fields of military, business, leadership and learning, asked if he could be of service.
Zaluzhnyi took him up on his offer. Two days later, Rice was on a flight to Krakow, Poland, and upon arrival boarded a civilian bus traveling to Lviv, Ukraine. Once there, he was transported to Kyiv to interview the general for two hours.
Rice was sent to interview commanders on the battlefield who had helped Ukraine become victorious in the battle of Kyiv.
"I realized very quickly that they had just left the bunker, they were desperate for Western support, and that my role would be to advocate for additional weapons and ammo, starting with Howitzers, and then HIMARS, then F-15/F-16s, cluster artillery rounds, etc.," Rice said.
With the weapons provided by the U.S. as part of tens of billions of dollars of assistance, Rice said Ukraine has the "fire" aspect of effective combat operations down pat—aided by weapons systems, Javelins, Stingers, NASAMS, Howitzers and Patriots—but it needs the "maneuver" aspect as well.
That includes an additional armored combat force of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, he said. He touted the U.S. for finally providing M2A2 Bradley fighting vehicles—the U.S. is starting with 50 vehicles, but he believes that number "will increase dramatically" to around 500. Several donor nations have also provided T-72 tanks.
"Ukraine needs far more tanks to take the offensive and we should be providing M1A2 Abrams tanks," he said. "If we provide Ukraine with enough tanks, fighting vehicles and the correct artillery ammunition for both the Howitzers and HIMARS rocket launchers—specifically Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions—I believe Ukraine will win."
https://www.newsweek.com/russias-arm...e-says-1773134
Russian Army Is So Degraded It Won't Recover in 'Lifetime': Ukraine Adviser
Oh well, sounds like it’s all over for the Ruskies. Now be sure before you call an end to the conflict.
Well it probably means they won't be reforming the Soviet Bloc anytime soon...Quote:
Originally Posted by Iceman123
Britain is planning to provide tanks to Ukraine, Downing Street confirmed for the first time on Wednesday.
A No10 spokesman said Rishi Sunak had instructed Ben Wallace, his Defence Secretary, to “work with partners” to go “further and faster with our support for Ukraine including the provision of tanks”.
The apparent confirmation comes after reports that Britain is considering delivering Kyiv’s armed forces with around 12 Challenger II tanks.
If a deal is done to supply Ukraine with a number of the British Army’s main battle tanks, it would be the first time a Western country has supplied such heavy armour to Kyiv.
Poland and Sweden on Wednesday also joined the growing international coalition poised to send tanks to Ukraine, in moves that will pile pressure on Germany to follow suit.
Andrzej Duda, Poland’s president, said Warsaw had taken the decision to deliver Leopard II tanks but was still waiting on Berlin to give allies permission to export the German-made hardware.
Pal Jonson, Sweden’s defence minister, told partners there was no need to fear that sending tanks to Kyiv would be seen as an escalatory move by Russia.
The promises will heap pressure on Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, to sign off on export declarations for the Leopard tanks, as well as further ramp up its military support for Ukraine.
Of Britain’s planned contribution, a Downing Street spokesman said: “We are accelerating our support to Ukraine with the kind of next-generation military technology that will help to win this war.
“It is clear that battle tanks could provide a game-changing capability to the Ukrainians.”
Kyiv has spent months calling for donations of heavy armour from its allies to enable its armed forces to quickly take back territory captured by Russian forces.
Officials in Mr Zelensky’s government believe they need at least 300 tanks to create an effective force to launch an imminent counter-offensive.
Western officials agree that Ukraine needs battle tanks and heavy armour in order to reclaim lost lands once the weather improves in the spring, especially in areas where Russia has dug in its troops.
The German-made Leopard II has been prioritised because of the availability of suitable donors, including Poland, and an abundance of spare parts.
But Berlin has resisted signing off on export declarations over fears such a move could trigger Moscow to widen its war to mainland Europe.
"A company of Leopard tanks will be handed over as part of a coalition that is being built,” Mr Duda said on Wednesday on a visit to Lviv.
“As you know, a large number of formal requirements, agreements and so on must be met, but primarily we want this to be an international coalition.”
“The decision has already been made in Poland,” he added.
Dymtro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, believes Germany will eventually drop its opposition and deliver Leopards to Kyiv.
“Even if Germany has certain rational arguments for not doing it, Germany will do it anyway at a later date,” he told the Tagesschau news channel.
“We have already seen this with the self-propelled howitzers, with the Iris-T anti-aircraft system and most recently with the Marder and Patriot systems.”
“First they say no, then they vigorously defend their decision, only to finally say yes,” Mr Kuleba added, hinting at Germany’s hesitant approach to military aid.
Britain’s decision to send Nato-standard battle tanks to Ukraine would break the taboo of avoiding sending offensive weapons to Ukraine.
France, Germany and the United States last week offered to send infantry fighting vehicles, promising Kyiv the German Marder, French AMX-10 and US Bradley in what was considered a significant step in aid delivered by Western governments.
Now France, Poland, Sweden and the UK are urging Germany to allow countries to send their state-of-the-art Leopards.
Mr Jonson, Sweden’s defence minister, signalled on Wednesday he was poised to send Stridsvagn 122 main battle tank to Ukraine to further ramp up pressure on Germany to follow suit.
The thorny issue of delivering tanks to Kyiv is expected to dominate the next meeting of the US-led Ukraine Defence Contact Group at the Ramstein Air Base, Germany, later this month.
Sweden's defence minister dismissed Berlin's fears that such a move would be seen as escalatory by Russia's leadership.
In response to a question from the Telegraph, Mr Jonson said he “has made a point of escalating our support to Ukraine into more transfers, more advanced weapon systems.
“That’s why we made the point of sending air defence systems in November, and we think as Russia has escalated the conflict it is only natural that the West must do more.
“There is no principle of limitations in regards to tanks from our point of view in regards to this [threat of escalation]. I received very substantial advice from the Swedish Armed Forces… we can do more and we will announce more support packages during January."
Germany, however, showed no signs of bowing to the mounting pressure by agreeing to sign off on the export of Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
“There is no change in the situation now because of the step that the British government has announced,” Mr Scholz’s spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, said on Wednesday.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-ne...tanks-ukraine/
Trouble at t'mill lads.
Navy Might Have to Choose Between Arming the Service and Aiding Ukraine Due to Ammo Delays, Officials Say.
11 Jan 2023
Military.com | By Konstantin Toropin and Rebecca Kheel
"Top Navy leaders are sounding the alarm over what they see as the defense industry's failure to deliver enough ammunition to both meet the demands of the sea service as well as aid shipments to Ukraine.
"I am not forgiving of the fact they're not delivering the ordnance we need," Adm. Daryl Caudle, the service's Fleet Forces commander, told an audience at the annual Surface Navy Association conference held in Arlington, Virginia.
Caudle, who oversees a wide swath of the Navy's ships, suggested that the problem is not only forcing him to "rob Peter to pay Paul" in order to completely arm U.S. carrier strike groups, but that it is a factor in how much aid to send to Ukraine.
The service's top boss, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, echoed the sentiment in a conversation with reporters at the same conference and explained that the shortfalls are "always a concern for us and we monitor that very, very closely."
Del Toro said that the Navy is not "quite there yet," referring to the decision point between arming itself or Ukraine, "but if the conflict does go on for another six months or another year, it certainly continues to stress the supply chain in ways that are challenging."
The comments come as some far-right lawmakers who have been pushing for Congress to cut off aid are now in a position to influence Ukraine policy, with Republicans having just taken over the majority in the House. The risk to Ukraine aid seemingly escalated after newly minted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said in October he would not support a "blank check" for the country.
The Navy officials' comments could give the opponents of Ukraine aid a national security justification for slowing the flow of weapons.
In his remarks, Caudle specifically singled out two weapons -- the Navy's SM-6 missile and the Mark 48 torpedo. The former is an extended-range version of the Navy's workhorse surface-to-air missile, and the latter is a torpedo that is used on submarines.
"We're talking about warfighting, national security, and going against a competitor here and a potential adversary that is like nothing we've ever seen, and we keep dillydallying around with these deliveries," Caudle said.
Neither Caudle nor Del Toro went into detail about just how depleted the Navy's ammunition reserves actually are, but the admiral did say that it was not enough to meet the service's new requirement that it be able to sail 75 ships at the same time, a number that was recently announced by Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener."
The grumbling continue here:
Navy Might Have to Choose Between Arming the Service and Aiding Ukraine Due to Ammo Delays, Officials Say | Military.com
Attachment 96857
Call for:
Attachment 96861
16% demilitarization on autopilot continues while we sleep.Quote:
Originally Posted by bsnub
Still on about 16%...silly fucker!
Shills, the lot of them.
Yeah, that US military is seriously underfunded, eh?Quote:
Originally Posted by OhOh
:rofl:
The Russian Army was always shit! The Russian army has no internal leadership, it only has command and obedience.This is typical of dictatorships. Internal leadership as in NATO, on the other hand, is based on the fact thatQuote:
Originally Posted by bsnub
also non-commissioned officers and soldiers understand and limited their duties
have decision-making authority.
The same is true for the weapon industry.
This from a German. :doglol:
Yes, reading that gives me tics :)Quote:
Originally Posted by sabang
Sieg ....Quote:
Originally Posted by HermantheGerman
or is it
Slava .....
I'd say that most armies at war aren't democratic
Germany seems to be exceptional in the way that its politicians are smarter than the population.
(please note that my research material (Herman) is a bit slim)
:)
So is OhOh's brain.Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
Quote:
Originally Posted by sabang
Do your research Popeye :rolleyes:
What did they teach you in officer school? How to blow up a dinghy?
Comfortably Numb, thanks.Quote:
Originally Posted by HermantheGerman
Please post drivel straight to your drivel thread.Quote:
Originally Posted by OhOh
Ayethangyou.
You never fail to be the biggest laughable hypocrite on the forum. There is no bigger shill than you clown boy.Quote:
Originally Posted by sabang
:rofl:
The Waltz of the Bloody Clowns
..... The director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power, indicated that Ukraine spends “the staggering amount of six billion dollars each month” on the war, this sum being provided to Zelensky by Western partners.[4]
These are hundreds of thousands of pistols, assault rifles, sub-machine guns and grenades, and hundreds of millions of cartridges of various calibers exported to Ukraine over the past eight months. Even Kosovo Albanians had not benefited from such largess.
It can be argued that all deliveries to Ukraine are controlled by arms barons, be they Ukrainian criminal syndicates linked to Kyiv oligarchs and politicians, as well as international crime.
This is in no way Russian contraband. The operation is completely under Ukrainian control. Although the Finnish authorities have already raised this threat, Helsinki has been asked not to make waves.[5]
These “warlords” are building fortunes by reselling the various systems on the black market. The latter is fed thanks to the diversion of all the models of portable arms which happen to be registered on the so-called lists of “solidarity supplies” for the Ukrainian army. In some cases, darknet traders point out that the weapons were “tested in the war against Russia.”
By taking a closer look at this most lucrative market, we learn, for example, that packs of 5.45 mm NATO caliber cartridges (1,080 cartridges) are selling like hotcakes at 120 dollars apiece. The prices are convertible in all currencies. An old Kalashnikov (AK-74, AKMS) assault rifle with a barrel that fired 10,000 rounds costs barely $300. The Makarov pistol (9 mm, Soviet standard) is estimated at $400. A model F.1 grenade (prized during the Soviet era and similar to the French Alsetex LU 213) is resold for $100.
Ukrainian Kalashnikovs are sold and bought by mafia networks at prices lower than those practiced during the conflict in Serbia.
At the time, all the mafias in Europe were supplied with assault rifles through Albania. Today, it is not only AK-74s that can be bought from Ukraine. The list has been expanded and completed to the delight of buyers.
Manual bazookas are on sale starting at $500 a piece. The price of the SPG-9 grenade launcher is set at 3000 USD. A sniper rifle with NATO unification optics is available for 1200 USD. The price of a Javelin ATGM anti-tank guided missile (stolen during deliveries from the United States to the Ukrainian army) is 30,000 USD.
Among the latest Ukrainian offerings is the remotely piloted Turkish Bayraktar TB2 with 4 suspended guided munitions.
Prominent Ukrainian blogger Shariy investigated Ukraine’s massive purchase of these combat drones and concluded that it was a corruption scheme involving the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.[6]
In view of the profits at stake, we should not expect Europol, which from The Hague has been fighting against the arms market in the European Union, to launch an investigation.
By way of illustration, our readers will note with interest the screenshots (see photos under the article) of the correspondence exchanged between the participants in one transaction among many others.
https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazi...96%2C418&ssl=1[Source: Photo courtesy of Arno Develay]
They both have Russian names. (Dmitri Obolensky and Mikhail) and communicate in Russian (it is easier for Ukrainians to communicate in Russian). The Bayraktar system (Turkish-made drone) arouses the lust of the buyer.
https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazi...96%2C440&ssl=1[Source: Photo courtesy of Arno Develay]
“Information on this topic (sale of combat drones) appeared,” writes the seller. The two individuals negotiate the price of a drone bearing the serial number 211100021 (PN-11005220100) (See photos).
https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazi...96%2C987&ssl=1[Source: Photo Courtesy of Arnoy Develay]
Buyer Mikhail acknowledges that the product is of good quality. He offers Dmitri (presumably a Ukrainian army officer) to buy the pilot block and the missile block from him for $20,000. Dmitri demands 25,000: “Moldovans demand more” (the arms smuggling corridor from Ukraine to the EU market passes through Moldova and Romania). The parties agree to use crypto money “as usual.”
https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazi...96%2C927&ssl=1[Source: Photo courtesy of Arno Develay]
https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazi...96%2C932&ssl=1[Source: Photo Courtesy of Arno Develay]
The risks and threats linked to mafia wars, religious extremism and psychopaths have not disappeared from Europe after Macron and Ursula von der Leyen showed their solidarity with Zelensky.
Tens of thousands of automatic weapons, hand grenades and bazookas, tons of Semtex and TNT, were shipped to Europe through the same Albanian arms trafficking channels, via Romania. Interpol and Europol turn a blind eye.
https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazi...96%2C393&ssl=1[Source: Photo courtesy of Arno Develay]
We will all be sad and heartbroken to learn that a Ukrainian Fort 301 sniper rifle bullet shattered the fragile little hope of a president working for peace on the steps of the Élysée Palace. But beware of the boomerang effect.
If France engulfs 155 mm Caesar howitzers in the black hole of deals concluded with the Mafia Banderiste, we should not be surprised one day to see these individuals appear in our towns and villages.
Meanwhile, dreams of democracy in Ukraine have spawned a monster in Europe.
Full Article- https://covertactionmagazine.com/202...bloody-clowns/