Ukraine war mega thread

[Neverna]

^
That's not a nuclear power plant.

Apparently not. Coal fired with some gas units, according to wiki.

[Neverna]

Nuclear Reactor Malfunction Leaves Millions of Russians Without Power

Published Jul 17, 2024

Millions of Russians in the south of the country were left without electricity on Tuesday after a power unit at the Rostov nuclear power plant was shut down due to a malfunction.

Russia's state-owned energy group Rosatom said one of the nuclear power plant's four power units was shut down due to a malfunction of the turbine generator.

"The reasons are being investigated; the radiation background is normal," a Rosatom representative told Reuters on Tuesday.

The agency said in a statement that two of the plant's power units are operating as normal, while another has been undergoing scheduled maintenance since June 22.


Nuclear Reactor Malfunction Leaves Millions of Russians Without Power - Newsweek

[bsnub]

Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has cost the Russia economy more than 2.2 percent of its workforce, or up to 1.7 million people, it has been reported, signaling the longer-term economic costs of the war for Russia.

Russian forces have suffered huge battlefield losses over the course of the war started by Putin in February 2022. Compounding the strain on a dwindling workforce has been the exodus of many Russians wanting to flee the draft.

Economists have warned that Russia's economic growth, which has been boosted by high government spending on the military, will be hampered by a growing shortage of workers, with the knock-on effects of higher wages driving up inflation.

Independent Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe said its analysis found that between 860,000 and 1.08 million Russian military personnel had been sent to war in the first two years of the invasion. This included professional soldiers and those drafted in the partial mobilization announced by Putin in September 2022.

Estimates of Russian battlefield losses vary, with The Economist reporting this month between 462,000 and 728,000 Russian soldiers had been seriously injured in the war and between 110,000 and 150,000 killed. As of Saturday, Ukraine's estimate of Russian casualties, which includes both those killed and injured, had reached 565,610.

But as well as battlefield losses, many who return home from the war are disabled, or unable to resume their previously held positions.

Novaya Gazeta said that with Putin showing little sign he wants to end the war, figures for the first half of 2024 point to the number of people being removed from the economy by conscription or voluntary enlistment rising by up to 60 percent.

Much depends on whether there is a further mobilization. However, even if only professional soldiers are recruited from now on, Russia's economy stands to lose "between 1.7 million–1.9 million people in total between the start of 2022 and the end of 2024," the outlet said.

But another mobilization could remove between 1.9 million and 2.1 million people, or 2.8 percent of the work force, posing major risks for the economy, the outlet added.

Another independent Russian news outlet, The Bell, reported this week that its analysis had shown the war had prompted the biggest exit of Russians from the country for three decades.

Its analysis of data from migration services and statistics agencies of nearly 70 countries found that since the start of the war "at least 650,000 people that left Russia have yet to return." This is 150,000 more than the rough estimates it made at the end of 2022. Countries where Russian is widely spoken such as Armenia, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Israel were the most popular destinations.

The Bell said that some countries did not respond to its requests for information and the figures were "a low estimate," with the overall figure posing "serious headaches for the Kremlin—both political and economic."

Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment.

Putin's Invasion Has Cost Him 1.7 Million Workers: Report - Newsweek

[pickel]

Eh ?

Did you expect her to say that it was used on "preparing activists to overturn the presidency of Ukraine" ?

"Democratic skills and civic participation " ?

5 billion is an enourmous sum of money, I'm sure 1 billion could have kept the neo-nazis happy and ready

You said they spent 5 billion on the Maidan revolution. We're they stockpiling the money for 23 yrs? Recruiting people that weren't even born yet? Like I said, a bit disingenuous of you.

I'll bet that Russia spent more than that, and none of it was to promote the free choice of the people and democracy. Yanukovych got pretty rich from it, and the people didn't like that.

Like I said, a bit of a moot point as there were free and fair elections after Maidan, and they chose the West.

[helge]

You said they spent 5 billion on the Maidan revolution. We're they stockpiling the money for 23 yrs? Recruiting people that weren't even born yet? Like I said, a bit disingenuous of you.

This is what I said:

Originally Posted by helge
Other way around and then a US sponsored (5 billion dollars invested )coup/uprising where the elected president had to flee.

Do we disagree on "US sponsered" ?

Nuland didn't mention when the 5 billion was transfered. Do you know ?

Yanukovych got pretty rich from it

It's the ukranian way.

Corrupt to the core

Like I said, a bit of a moot point as there were free and fair elections after Maidan, and they chose the West.

Free and fair for the ones, who could vote ?

Maybe

If such a thing is possible in countries, where media and politics is controlled by oligarchs

The toppled president was elected in a free and fair election too. Compared to earlier elections anyway.


The mob went for the government quarters (which I guess is OK, when it isn't done on Jan 6) and the president fled.

With the things happening at that time in Ukraine,(and later) it seems, from his point of view, to be a sensible call.


But I take it that your opinion is that the US has a clean sheet.

That does kinda excuse you calling me a useful idiot for Putin.

Fair enough; I see it differently though

In my experience there is no "clean sheets" in that neighborhood.

[pickel]

But I take it that your opinion is that the US has a clean sheet.

I can condemn the US invasion of Iraq, and their atrocities against the Vietnamese. And I can condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. You seem to he unable to do both. In fact, you try to justify the Russian invasion. Therefore, you are still a useful idiot.

[helge]

Originally Posted by helge
But I take it that your opinion is that the US has a clean sheet.

I can condemn the US invasion of Iraq, and their atrocities against the Vietnamese. And I can condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. You seem to he unable to do both. In fact, you try to justify the Russian invasion. Therefore, you are still a useful idiot.

Nicely avoided

I can condemn Putin's invasion all I want.

And I can condemn the ones who had more than one share in the reasons for it.

I can even nail a pudding to the wall, but I can't argue with folks, who insist on the US being angels.

Can't be done

[Norton]

I can condemn Putin's invasion all I want.

Waiting...

[pickel]

I can condemn Putin's invasion all I want.

But you never do.

And I can condemn the ones who had more than one share in the reasons for it.

The only justifiable reason for invading would be if Ukraine was threatening to invade Russia. They weren't, and never would.

I can even nail a pudding to the wall, but I can't argue with folks, who insist on the US being angels.

As compared to you, who thinks everything the US does is evil.

Newsflash for you Helge, countries don't have friends, they have interests. They use money and influence to try to sway things in other countries in their favor. The US does it, Canada does it, Denmark does it, and RUSSIA does it. The people that took part in the Maidan revolution were Ukrainian, not American. The people that voted for candidates that moved them towards the West were Ukrainian, not American. US soldiers didnt chase Yanukovych out of Ukraine. On the other hand, the "little green men" that invaded Crimea and Donbas,, were Russian soldiers, not Ukrainians.

If you can't see the difference between those methods of foreign policy, then you just may be "a useful idiot".

[HuangLao]

And I can condemn the ones who had more than one share in the reasons for it.

You'll never convince the blind flag-waving types of the recent and nefarious history that led to this unnecessary mess.
They'll sit comfortably in their dumbed downned paradigm justifying their goodness and light fancy.

They wouldn't recognize right from wrong if it came up and tweaked 'em in the nose.
Culturally hard wired without question or challenge.
Dead.

[helge]

Getting late here so,..

I knew you had in it in you, Pickel

Well done

Newsflash for you Helge, countries don't have friends, they have interests. They use money and influence to try to sway things in other countries in their favor. The US does it, Canada does it, Denmark does it, and RUSSIA does it.

Now try to think over the concept of "by proxy"

The people that took part in the Maidan revolution were Ukrainian, not American. The people that voted for candidates that moved them towards the West were Ukrainian, not American. US soldiers didnt chase Yanukovych out of Ukraine. On the other hand, the "little green men" that invaded Crimea and Donbas,, were Russian soldiers, not Ukrainians.

Originally Posted by helge
I can condemn Putin's invasion all I want.

Waiting..

Me too

I don't speak 'Bidenish'

Originally Posted by Norton
Of exactly what it says. Do you have some sort of reading comprehension illness?

Originally Posted by helge
Maybe

Originally Posted by Norton
As long as the west fears Putin will use nuclear weapons should they put boots on the ground the war will continue and the Ukraine will be bled dry.

Originally Posted by helge
Is this it ?

"as long as the west fears that Putin will use nuclear weapons, they should put boots on the ground or the war will continue and Ukraine will be bled dry"

[helge]

^^

Hard to argue with

[pickel]

^ + ^^

My view of you two remains unchanged. Useful idiots.

[helge]

Foreign country


Zelenskyj: F-16 flying operations in Ukraine








President Zelenskyy speaks at an air base with F-16 fighter jets in the background. (Photo: © Sergei Supinsky, Scanpix Ritzau /AFP)

Of
Carsten Thomsen

Zelenskyj: F-16 flyver operationer i Ukraine | Udland | DR
Ukraine's air force has started flying F-16 fighter jets in operations within the country's borders.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says according to Reuters.

During July, it emerged that F-16 planes from both the Netherlands and Denmark were being handed over to Ukraine, and that they were expected to take to the skies in Ukraine during the summer.

The announcement from Zelenskyy comes at the same time as he visited fighter pilots at an air base in Ukraine.

- F-16 aircraft are in Ukraine. We did it. I am proud of our boys, and we have already started using them for our country," the Ukrainian leader said.

[helge]

Foreign country


Danish F-16 aircraft in action in Ukraine: The front is a 'death trap'


The role of the F-16 aircraft in the war will first and foremost have a psychological effect, according to former fighter pilots.







In August last year, the government announced that it would donate F-16 aircraft to Ukraine. (Photo: © Sergei Gapon/AFP/Ritzau Scanpix)

Of

Anders Dall

Danske F-16-fly i aktion i Ukraine: Fronten er en ’dodsfaelde’ | Udland | DR






You may remember the picture of Ukrainian President Zelenskyj and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen sitting in an F-16 plane at Skrydstrup Air Base.

That was almost a year ago, and the occasion was, as you know, the donation of Danish F-16 aircraft to Ukraine.

Now the Danish fighter jets are flying in Ukraine, where they are carrying out operations within the country's borders. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says according to Reuters.

Since the autumn, Ukrainian pilots, technicians and specialists have stayed at Skrydstrup Air Base to receive training in flying and learn how to service the American-made fighter jets, which have now been in action in Ukraine for the first time.







Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Mette Frederiksen in an F-16 fighter jet at Skrydstrup Airbase in Vojens last year. (Photo: © Mads Claus Rasmussen, Ritzau Scanpix)

The aircraft type is often compared to a Swiss army knife because it is capable of solving many different tasks. What the exact task of the planes will be in Ukraine, only the Ukrainian military knows, just as it is currently unclear whether Ukraine is allowed to use the planes to hit targets in Russia.

According to Søren Sørensen, who is a former F-16 fighter pilot and today a lecturer, the presence and awareness that Ukraine now has F-16 fighter jets at its disposal can help push Russia backwards.

This means that Russia cannot approach the front line in the same way as before and send so-called glide bombs against the Ukrainians. Partly because Ukraine's F-16 aircraft with an air-to-air missile will be able to hit the Russian aircraft within a range of 60-80 kilometers.

But also because the F-16 aircraft will be able to use GPS-guided bombs, so-called JDAMS, which work in the same way as the Russian glide bombs, Søren Sørensen explains.

- One must 'honor the threat'. Just the fact that the Russians know that they are flying in the area with JDAMS means that the Russians will not have peace of mind, says Søren Sørensen.

But even though Ukraine has now sent the first F-16 planes into action, it is far from the same as it can be a game-changer in the war. According to Sørensen, we should actually downgrade our expectations of how much of a difference the F-16 aircraft can make.

There are two main reasons for this:

The plane is no better than its pilot


The F-16 may be equipped with a 20 mm machine gun and also has stations for bombs, as well as radar and heat-seeking missiles, but the aircraft's potential depends first and foremost on the pilot's skill.

Because an F-16 plane is no better than the one sitting in the cockpit, Søren Sørensen explains.

For good reasons, the Ukrainian pilots have not received the same amount of training and education that normally belongs when learning to fly the F-16.

For security reasons, the training has been closed to the press. Only the Ukrainian government media UNITED24 has been given access to the training at the air base with the support of the Defense Command.

Here, according to Søren Sørensen, they have undergone a relatively short training in a completely different type of aircraft than the one they come from.

You shouldn't expect it to be something that makes a huge difference.

Søren Sørensen, former fighter pilot.

The number of training hours in the advanced machine under safe conditions in Skrydstrup is one thing.

In Ukraine, the pilots cannot take off and land in the same place. They must be as difficult as possible for the Russians to find, and this means that they in principle have to place weapons and spare parts in many places where the planes must be able to land and take off from.

According to Søren Sørensen, there is also the challenge that the Ukrainians also have to maintain the planes themselves. Partly the logistics are heavy, but the F-16 is also advanced mechanics, and many small things can break, which means that they are often in the workshop.

At the same time, he warns against perceiving the F-16s as a gamechanger in the war. Both because of the relatively quick training program the Ukrainians have been through, but also because there will be major challenges in maintaining the aircraft.

- You should not expect it to be something that makes a huge difference. The front line is over 800 kilometers. They may get four to eight planes to start with, and they fly for an hour, and then they have to go home again, says Søren Sørensen.





As Ukraine receives more and more F-16 aircraft, it will also make it easier for NATO countries to provide weapons packages specifically for the F-16 compared to the old Russian MIG aircraft, which the Ukrainians have used, but which have been difficult for NATO countries to donate equipment to.

- With future weapons donations, it will be easier because everyone's weapon can hang on the F-16, where before it could be technically difficult to get it to fit their old Russian aircraft. What they get on is a crucial point, he says, referring to the weapons part.







A Danish F-16 pilot shows off some of the aircraft's abilities at a press event at Skrydstrup Air Station. (Photo: © Bo Amstrup, Bo Amstrup / Ritzau Scanpix)

The front is a death trap


What characterizes the war in Ukraine is that it is an old-fashioned frontal war in the same way as it was the case during World War II.

Therefore, it will be extremely difficult for the Ukrainians to use the F-16 on the front line - an area Søren Sørensen would describe as a death zone.

If you fly too high, you risk being shot down by Russian missiles from the hinterland, and if you fly low, you are in the same way in danger of being in the crosshairs of a Russian rifle and small heat-seeking missiles. Therefore, we will probably see both parties' fighter jets dancing around this zone and shooting over the border from a distance, he explains.

- Close air support becomes extremely problematic. It is deadly. If you fly low, you can fly close, but high you should stay 20-50 kilometers from the front, says Søren Sørensen and elaborates:

- If you fly low, you can sneak in in a relatively few kilometers, but this limits your ability to shoot weapons, you have to have the target in sight yourself, and when you fly low, you can't see very far. It all becomes complex. There is no golden solution. It's a very difficult discipline. Flying close to the border, everyone on the ground will shoot at you, he says.







Pictures of a Ukrainian soldier near the front. (Photo: © Oleg Petrasiuk / Press service of 24 Mechanized brigade HANDOUT, Ritzau Scanpix)

To be used in 'defensive actions'


And as a pilot, you have to be able to make decisions in a split second. Søren Sørensen knows all about this as a former fighter pilot.

- I have been shot at by a missile myself, and you must be highly trained for that. Things are moving extremely fast. Missiles from the ground fly at three times the speed of sound, so you have a few seconds and have to make split-second decisions.

If you dare to enter the frontline zone, it is about getting in quickly and quickly out again, and it only makes sense if you have intelligence in advance about where your opponent's missile systems are, he explains.

- If you don't know, you drive blindfolded, says Søren Sørensen.

Therefore, the former fighter pilot estimates that we will probably first and foremost see the F-16 planes in action in what are called defensive actions, where they react to drones or missiles that come in.

- You can fly out near the front and throw weapons, and they can be used in the defensive role, for example when it comes to small drones. They don't fly as fast, and with an F-16 radar you will find them and shoot them down. You can do drone hunting if you can find air-to-air on your own territory, he says.

However, the psychological effect should not be mistaken, and Ukraine will also have the opportunity to carry out pinprick operations, but not actual missions, before they build up a larger air force, Søren Sørensen estimates.

- If you are going to do a mission close to the border, you need a lot of planes. 10-20 aircraft would be an acceptable mission, but Ukraine does not have that option, and they do not have the number to do so.

[david44]

Well that certainly adds Denmark to the blacklist and targets .

Most Danes are too young to rmember when Russians occupied Bornholm.

Prepare for like most Western states for more cyber attacks on your soft targets and random harrassment extortion blackmail cybercrime.

Denamrks liberal democracy easy sea access and of course esp the Greenland dimension will make it at the front of any US /Russian conflict.

Don't worry your big Scania brother Sweden will protect you and give you what you've been needin' as in the Lyrics of the Cab Calloway classic.That and Malmomilf no worries.

[bsnub]

The state-owned Russian Railways faces "imminent collapse" amid a shortage of locomotives, driven by Western-imposed sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine, a Russian Telegram channel has reported.

The sanctions have contributed to a ball-bearing shortage in Russia, which has affected locomotive maintenance in the country. This has led to a rise in malfunctions on the network's trains and an increase in the number of vehicles being suspended, Russian newspapers Vedomosti and Kommersant reported in February and March this year.

The VChK-OGPU outlet, which is widely believed to have ties to Russian security agencies, reported Monday, citing an unnamed source, that the railway network's deputy head Sergei Kobzev told his subordinates at an internal meeting "that the situation is critical."

"The complete collapse of the entire railroad network in the country could happen in days," the channel said. "[Russian Railways] chiefs have been ordered to work to the point of exhaustion. Those who fail to cope are threatened with dismissal and 'execution.' This is the motivation."

Russia's Justice Ministry added VChK-OGPU to its "foreign agents" register earlier this month for "dissemination of false information aimed at creating a negative image of the Russian army."

Igor Sushko is a Ukrainian military blogger and the executive director of the Wind of Change Research Group. He shared what he alleged was a leaked audio clip of a meeting between Kobzev and his subordinates, in which he says that the "Russian rail network is on the precipice of total collapse."

"We are together making plans; we are four days away from a complete shutdown of the [rail] network," Kobzev allegedly said.

"There is no longer such thing as 'this is my rail segment;' there is nothing. We've entered a zone in which either you perform the task precisely, and it is checked in an hour or two whether you completed the task, and we readjust our approach with a different attitude, and we recover to a normal state, and only then you can discuss which are 'your segments', OR [the work] will be completed by other people, and swiftly and reliably to boot," the deputy head of Russian Railways said in the meeting, according to the audio clip.

Kobzev added: "I promise you that we will be working hard during the holidays, and we will have a holiday, quite literally, with tears in our eyes."

Newsweek was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the audio clip or VChK-OGPU's report, and has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment by email.

Russian Railways in 2023 reported that the number of trains suspended due to issues with its trains more than doubled to 42,600 amid a shortage of critical parts. This was due to "insufficient maintenance of the locomotive fleet," Kommersant reported in March.

A Russian Railways spokesperson told Vedomosti in February that the issue "became especially acute" in the final quarter of 2023.

Analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., said in April 2023 that a ball-bearing shortage in Russia was having a knock-on effect on the production of vehicles.

Swedish bearing manufacturer SKF Group ceased all business and operations in Russia in response to the war in Ukraine in April 2022. It had operated in the country since 1991.

"Historically, Russia has imported most of its high-quality bearings from Western manufacturers," CSIS analysts said. "In 2020, for instance, Russia imported over $419 million worth of ball bearings, around 55 percent of which originated in Europe and North America; Germany was Russia's largest trading partner, taking up 17 percent of its total imports that year.

"Following the start of the invasion, major Western producers of bearings exited Russia and ended their sales there," the analysts said.

Western sanctions have created shortages of higher-end foreign components and are forcing Moscow to substitute them with lower-quality alternatives.

"For now, Moscow's efforts at state-backed import substitution remain largely unsuccessful," the analysts added.

Russian Railway Networks Facing 'Imminent Collapse': Report - Newsweek

[helge]

Russian Railway Networks Facing 'Imminent Collapse'

Could be and.....

Their navy is said to be pulverized, they are out of gunbarrels, only produce 10-12 missiles a month, no more washing machine chips, their soldiers are cowards and let's face it: Their cars were always shit and their women ugly !


Still.......

The united west has a problem or two with those child eating russians.

How can that be ?

Why ?

[baldrick]

Is it weird that putin is getting upset about Ukraine invading russia when he knows that he ordered the invasion of Ukraine ?

[Norton]

How can that be ?

Why ?

Simple math.

As of August 7, 2024, Russia's population is estimated to be 143,905,441, while Ukraine's population is estimated to be between 33 and 41 million, depending on whether Russian-occupied territory is included.

[helge]

Whoosh

[Norton]

Whoosh

Fair nuff...late here. Was responding to another of your silly posts and quoted wrong post. Carry on and do a travel thread with pics for us Merkins. You are very close.

Hop in your car and you will be in Kiev in 15 hours.

[pickel]

Carry on and do a travel thread with pics for us Merkins. You are very close.

Hop in your car and you will be in Kiev in 15 hours.

He can be in Kaliningrad much quicker. And he can stay there.

[helge]

Originally Posted by Norton
Carry on and do a travel thread with pics for us Merkins. You are very close.

Hop in your car and you will be in Kiev in 15 hours.

He can be in Kaliningrad much quicker. And he can stay there.

You both have way better cars than me

And my passport ran out in 2016, so there's that

But thanks anyway

[bsnub]

SUMY AXIS /2200 UTC 7 AUG/ A significant Ukrainian offensive has achieved cross-border lodgments in Russia's Kursk Oblast.

Ukraine has taken more ruzzian territory in one day than the ruzzians took in Ukraine in the last six months.