Ukraine war mega thread

[Norton]

As always,take it all with a grain of salt.

Done.

[Norton]

Klitschko also became one of the first major Ukrainian public figures to admit the failure of his country's long-heralded counteroffensive against the Russian forces.

In early November, the mayor said the troops were moving "slowly" and were unable to "swiftly breach" fortifications erected by Russia.

Moving slowly and swiftly breach is not the same as saying the counteroffensive is a failure. Simply a statement of fact.

[bsnub]

In the daytime, Ukraine’s explosive first-person-view drones are everywhere over Krynky. At night, the quad-rotor FPV drones disappear ... and Baba Yaga emerges from her lair.

Baba Yaga is a large Ukrainian hexacopter drone with an infrared camera and capacity for a 33-pound rocket warhead. The drone’s name is a reference to a mythical witch.

Hovering over encampments at night, dropping her bombs through tree canopies, Baba Yaga haunts the Russian regiments and brigades trying, and so far failing, to dislodge Ukrainian marines who crossed the Dnipro River in southern Kherson Oblast six weeks ago and seized a bridgehead on the Dnipro’s Russian-held left bank, in Krynky.

It’s fair to say Ukraine’s drone-operators, working in conjunction with electronic-warfare specialists, are the decisive force in the Krynky operation, which has surprised foreign observers and the Russians—and has extended Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive. In other sectors, the counteroffensive ended weeks ago.

In the weeks before Ukrainian marines from the 36th Brigade motored across the Dnipro and, in a series of violent infantry actions, began pushing the Russians out of Krynky, Kyiv’s drone crews and E.W. troops worked hard to shape the battlefield.

They set up radio-jammers to ground Russian drones, and targeted Russia’s own jammers so that Ukrainian drones could operate around the clock. They established speedy kill-chains: drone-operators, intelligence analysts and artillery gunners working in tightly-coordinated teams.

One drone raid at a time, they secured local air-superiority over Krynky.

Sure, the Russian air force can pummel Krynky with 25-mile-range glide-bombs. But the air directly over the settlement belongs to the Ukrainians. “They do not allow you to approach or move away,” one Russian observer wrote. “The FPV immediately flies or the Ukrainian armed forces’ mortars are working. And if our mortar fires somewhere, everything from the Ukrainians flies there.”

“Their birds constantly replace each other, in a carousel—the noise and hum fills the whole forest,” the Russian added. “They control the roads, see people, and the FPV immediately flies into the car.”

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/st...84662394273830


Nighttime should offer the Russians around Krynky some respite from relentless drone-attacks. While both Ukraine and Russia have experimented with night-flying FPV drones packing tiny infrared cameras, these remain rare—mostly owing to the high cost of the cameras.

FPV drones are single-use: they strike their targets and explode. Adding a $300 infrared camera to a $500 FPV drone is a significant financial and logistical challenge, given that the Ukrainian and Russian militaries both expend hundreds of FPVs per day along the 600-mile front of Russia’s wider war on Ukraine.

But a multiple-use drone would amortize the cost of a miniature infrared camera. So it made sense for the Ukrainians to add an I.R. camera to one of their heavier six-rotor drones, such as the $12,000 Kazhan.

As the sun dips low and the FPVs come home, Baba Yaga takes flight. One Russian soldier posted a video depicting the aftermath of a recent Baba Yaga raid. Walking past two wrecked vehicles, the soldier focused on an unexploded warhead for a rocket-propelled grenade. “This is what it is dropping on us,” he complained.

Baba Yaga isn’t omniscient. She can’t see through dense trees, so sometimes she blindly drops her warheads. Ukrainian drone-commander Robert Brovdi sarcastically thanked that Russian for posting the video from the recent Baba Yaga attack. “It is often difficult for [drone] pilots to find out the results, due to the canopy of trees,” Brovdi wrote.

And Baba Yaga reportedly is loud. The Russians might know when she’s coming.

But hearing Baba Yaga is one thing. Grounding Baba Yaga is another. “The trouble is that our electronic warfare equipment either doesn’t exist, or they [the Ukrainians] just don’t care about it,” the Russian observer wrote.

“There are [radio-jamming] suitcases—they say they are quite good,” they continued. If there were jammers on every house and Russian-controlled treeline in Krynky and the operators could turn them on and off just in time to block Ukrainian drones and not block Russian drones, then “it would be a fairy tale.”

But fairy tales aren’t real. Baba Yaga, however, is all too real.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidax...h=1417b0ce3317

[Norton]

Baba Yaga is a large Ukrainian hexacopter drone with an infrared camera and capacity for a 33-pound rocket warhead. The drone’s name is a reference to a mythical witch.

I remember when my grandma used to say "be a good boy or baba yaga will come for you". Scared the crap out of me.

[bsnub]

I remember when my grandma used to say "be a good boy or baba yaga will come for you". Scared the crap out of me.

Especially since it comes at night in the dark, and you can hear it but cannot see it. Wreaks havoc on moral.

[helge]

I remember when my grandma used to say "be a good boy or baba yaga will come for you". Scared the crap out of me.

How's the "pee situation" in Roi Et ?

[bsnub]

Another one bites the dust...

MOSCOW, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Major General Vladimir Zavadsky, deputy commander of Russia's 14th Army Corps, has been killed in Ukraine, a top regional official said on Monday.

The governor of Russia's Voronezh region, Alexander Gusev, said Zavadsky had died "at a combat post in the special operation zone", without giving further details.

"Special military operation" is the term that Russia uses to describe the war in Ukraine, now approaching the end of its second year.

The investigative news outlet iStories said Zavadsky was the seventh Major General whose death had been confirmed by Russia, and the 12 senior officer overall to be reported dead since the start of the war.

Deaths of senior Russian officers, which military analysts have attributed in some cases to Ukrainian success in intercepting lax communications, have become rarer as the war has progressed.

Zavadsky was a much-decorated officer and a former tank commander, said Gusev, adding that his death was a heavy loss that caused "transfixing pain".

Deputy Russian army corps commander is killed in Ukraine | Reuters

[Norton]

Another one bites the dust...

[Norton]

Oh fuck...dog house can't fix it..

[helge]

Ukraine could do with some ....peace

[helge]

White House warns Congress of Ukraine support: We have run out of money and soon time




Anna Danielsen Gille




The U.S. government wants Congress to approve more quickly that more military aid can be sent to Ukraine.

In a letter to congressional leaders, the White House said it had "run out of money and soon time" to give Ukraine more weapons for its war against Russia. It writes The Guardian.

The U.S. has so far supported Ukraine with more than $111 billion after support from Congress.

In the Republican-majority House of Representatives, several are skeptical of more support for Ukrainet for Ukraine.

[Takeovers]

Ukraine could do with some ....peace

Yes. Unfortunately peace is only possible if Russia leaves on their own or is defeated. Everything else would only be an interlude to the next russian attack.

[helge]

Unfortunately peace is only possible if Russia leaves on their own or is defeated.

Nonsense

But we'll see

Not up to you...or me

[helge]

HAD


Orbán lays tripwires for EU talks with Ukraine


EU countries will decide next week whether to open accession negotiations with Ukraine. But Hungary is threatening to obstruct the decision.




Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. But there are now fears in the EU that he will obstruct Ukraine's further EU dreams. (Photo: © LUDOVIC MARIN, Ritzau Scanpix)

Per Bang Thomsen - Brussels

The stage was actually set for the Ukrainians to receive an early Christmas present at the EU summit that takes place in Brussels next week.

One of the major agenda items is whether the EU should begin accession negotiations with Ukraine, which the country's government fervently wants to have incorporated into the European Union.

And at the beginning of November, the European Commission assessed that, despite the war, the Eastern European country had come so far in its initial efforts to become ready for the coveted membership that there was a basis for opening accession negotiations with it.

"Today is a historic day," said an excited Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who made no secret of her high expectations for the December summit.

But now Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is threatening to derail that whole plan.

In order for negotiations to begin, all 27 EU Heads of State or Government must unanimously say yes to it. However, according to the Hungarian Prime Minister, "it is obvious that the European Commission's proposal for Ukraine's EU membership is unfounded and ill-prepared".

"There is no place for it on the agenda of the December summit," Orbán said Sunday afternoon in a post on social media site X.







Unlike Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (Social Democrat), the Hungarian prime minister did not applaud when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended an EU summit in Brussels earlier this year. (Photo: © JOHN THYS, Ritzau Scanpix)
Pressed down the throat


The announcement came just days after the Hungarian prime minister had stated on the same platform that the European Commission "has not done its homework well enough" when it comes to Ukraine
"They will push Ukraine's EU accession down our throats without first assessing the consequences for European taxpayers and farmers. This is nonsense. The commission should return to the drawing board, he wrote.

It is not news that the strongly nationalist conservative Viktor Orbán is critical of the EU's support for the Ukrainians in their fight against the Russians - including when it comes to arms support for Ukrainian forces as well as the eleven sanctions packages that have been imposed so far against Russia.

He also maintains a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he met as recently as October in Beijing, China. And alongside that, he has criticised the Ukrainian Government for not doing enough to protect the Hungarian minority in the west of the country.







It caused quite a stir in the other EU capitals when Orbán met with the Russian president in October. (Photo: © SPUTNIK, Ritzau Scanpix)
But the rhetoric has intensified recently, and last month Viktor Orbán called for a new EU strategy towards the country, as the current one is not sustainable, according to the prime minister. He finds it unrealistic that Ukraine can win the war on the front line, and therefore he pushes for the EU to work instead to secure a ceasefire and peace talks.

"The European Council needs to have an honest and open discussion about how realistic it is to implement the EU's strategic goals in Ukraine," he wrote in a letter to Council President Charles Michel, according to Politico.

On Friday, Viktor Orbán added in an interview with Hungarian state radio that EU countries should first conclude a strategic partnership agreement with Ukraine before they start talking about real membership. Because, as he sees it, the gap between Ukraine and the European Union is still far too great for it to become a member.

"This will give us time to work together. And when we can see that we can work together, we can start talking about membership," he said on the radio programme, according to Reuters news agency.

A lot of fog to ease


It is not only Ukraine's potential EU membership that will be discussed at next week's summit. So must the question of whether the member states should allocate an additional 373 billion kroner in their joint budget to Ukraine by the year 2027.

According to the Financial Times, that decision is also now hanging by a thread, causing concern in Kyiv, where Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's deputy prime minister for European integration, last week called the December summit an "existential moment" for her country.But it is also worrying in many of the other European capitals. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told the Financial Times that it was "crucial" for the EU to maintain both political and economic support for Ukraine.

In addition to Victor Orbán, Slovakia's new Prime Minister, Robert Fico, is also critical of support for Ukraine. And Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders, who won one in four votes in the country's parliamentary elections in November and could play a crucial role in the Netherlands' next government, has been out saying that military deliveries to Ukraine should be stopped.

In addition, US President Joe Biden is struggling to get a Ukraine aid package of just over DKK 410 billion through the US Congress. The White House has been out warning that they only have money to support the Ukrainians until the end of the year.

"It is crucial that we maintain support for Ukraine and that we Europeans play our part in it," De Croo said.







The Hungarian Prime Minister will attend the summit in Brussels next week. (Photo: © Kenzo Tribouillard, Ritzau Scanpix)
The Hungarian Prime Minister is known for making a loud and bustling announcement before a summit, only to become more docile once he sits down with the other Heads of State or Government at the negotiating table.

Right now, there is speculation in Brussels that the Hungarian government could soften its hard Hungary course if it can access the roughly 164 billion kroner from the EU coffers that were frozen last year due to the country's problems with the rule of law

The Hungarian Government has implemented several of the rule of law reforms demanded by the European Commission in order to disburse some of the money, and the expectation in Brussels is that part of the money could be disbursed shortly.

However, the Hungarian Government has flatly denied that it has taken Ukraine 'hostage' in order to gain access to the frozen EU funds. And there are now fears in diplomatic circles that next week's summit could end in failure.

"There is a lot of fog to ease in the coming weeks. And today there is so much fog that I can't see very far in terms of what's going to happen," Belgium's Alexander De Croo told the Financial Times.

In Ukraine, however, politicians continue to believe in progress at the summit on 14 and 15 December.

"Ukraine wants to become part of the EU, and Ukraine has complied with all the demands. I want to make sure that all member states respect the progress that Ukraine has shown," the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, told Politico last week.

[helge]

Russia has set a date for presidential election




Ida Meesenburg

Should President Putin continue as President of Russia for another six-year term?

The Russians will have to decide this when they go to the polls on 17 March 2024.

Putin has not officially announced that he is a candidate, but according to Reuters, he is expected to run for re-election for a fifth term.

In 2018, election observers criticised presidential electionsas they did not consider them to be a genuine election.

Valentina Matviyenko, head of the Federation Council, one of Russia's two chambers, said residents of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions of Ukraine could also vote.

__________________________________________________ __________________________

Can we for once all agree here:

The suspense will be immense

[Norton]

The Russians will have to decide this when they go to the polls on 17 March 2024.

Should have a referendum as well. Like Argentina did. Should Russia annex all the Ukaine? Yes, No.

[bsnub]

The Russians will have to decide this when they go to the polls on 17 March 2024.

[Norton]

The suspense will be immense

Will be on the edge of my seat. His opponents who are very old gits job will be to make Vlad look young.

Putin will likely compete against Gennady Zyuganov, a geriatric communist and Russian nationalist; Leonid Slutsky, a far-right politician who has faced allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior; and Alexei Nechayev, who is often referred to as a 'businessman.'

I like Slutsky!

[helge]

Like Argentina did

You refer to my wonderful thread about democracy the venezuelan way ?

[Norton]

Cameron makes good sense in my opinion.

[HermantheGerman]

Russia has set a date for presidential election

Russia has set a date for Putin to be sworn in for fifth term in office.

Fixed that for you so the suspense won't kill ya

[Troy]

^ He does, and it's good to see a political heavyweight back in the Foreign Office.

[HermantheGerman]

The EU is begging the U.S. for help (as always), and at the same sticking € 5 billion up the Hunagrian dictators ass.
Can someone please explain?

[helge]

Fixed that for you so the suspense won't kill ya

Please tell me that you semi aryans understand irony.

In anticipation

Your friend Helmut

[david44]

Herrenvolkswagen macht frei