War Machine

[Odds]

FPV drones are doing a hell of a lot of work. Ukraine has been using them more heavily than Russia by all accounts, especially Russian ones.

They generally can't kill a MBT but they can sometimes cripple one and often get used to destroy an immobilised one that's had it's hatches left open.

They're murder on BMPs and the unarmoured vehicles Russia is having to use due to their lack of armour and have even managed to immobilise Bradleys.

If you scan the TWZ page there's all kinds of footage showing how easy it is to destroy millions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art armour in the blink of an eye. Even something as simple as dropping a grenade from a great height through an open turret hatch. A US general states he's never known anything like it: in Iraq or Afghanistan, he never had to look up on a battlefield. Until now.

 

[Odds]

Between July 9 and July 12, Russian troops completed the conquest of Kanal Microraion, the eastern extremity of Chasiv Yar, which has been particularly fiercely fought over. The reason is that Chasiv Yar is key to advancing against the last remaining bastions of Ukrainian defence in western Donetsk – the cities of Konstiantynivka, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. To capture Kanal Microraion, an area three blocks wide and three blocks deep, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Ivan Havrylyuk said Russian forces suffered 5,000 casualties.

On July 11, the General Assembly voted 99-to-9 in favour of a motion calling on Russia to unilaterally end its war of aggression and withdraw its soldiers from Ukrainian territory – releasing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station from its grasp. A year into the war, 141 nations backed a similar call. In September 2022, 143 nations condemned Russia’s formal annexation of four Ukrainian regions. Russia blames NATO for its aggression. Deputy head of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview on Wednesday that “Ukraine’s admission [to NATO] … in essence is a declaration of war, albeit a deferred one.”

 

[Odds]

“In June, the Russian army lost more than 1,400 artillery systems, more than 600 armoured fighting vehicles, almost 360 tanks. These are unprecedented losses. And what are the achievements on the battlefield?” wrote Deputy Defence Minister Ivan Havrylyuk in a July 9 article. Russian forces also advanced northwest of Avdiivka, a city they captured in February, and in the direction of Toretsk. Along with Chasiv Yar, these three fronts lie within 40km (25 miles) of each other, and form the main thrust of Russian advance in Ukraine.

Elsewhere on the thousand-kilometre front, the Russians were stalemated, but that does not mean they didn’t suffer heavy losses. Viktor Solimchuk, commander of the tactical group “Kharkiv” defending the area, told reporters that Russian casualties since May amounted to 2,939 killed and 6,509 wounded.

 

[Odds]

Ukraine plans to raise a quarter of a million new troops this year, but training and equipping them will take time. A senior NATO official told The New York Times that Ukraine would not be able to mount a large-scale counteroffensive until next year.

 

[Odds]

After 888 days The first batch of long-awaited F-16 fighter jets, which are equipped with a 20mm cannon and can carry bombs, rockets and missiles, have arrived in Ukraine. “F-16s in Ukraine. Another impossible thing turned out to be totally possible,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis wrote on X.

In other news German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier asked the Polish people for forgiveness during observances Wednesday marking the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, saying Germans must never forget the immeasurable suffering inflicted on the neighboring nation.

(Nobody can forget while JohnnyDee's around to remind them.)

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency has claimed it was involved in an ambush that killed fighters from Russia’s Wagner group in the west African nation of Mali, thousands of miles away from the frontline in Ukraine. A Telegram Channel linked to leadership of the group said Wagner and the Malian armed forces had “fought fierce battles” over a five-day period against a coalition of Tuareg separatist forces and jihadi groups, who had used heavy weapons, drones and suicide bombers. Numerous Wagner fighters, including a commander, Sergei Shevchenko, were killed, the channel said. Ukrainian forces are believed to be active in Sudan, another place where Wagner troops have been heavily involved in fighting, in a further sign that Kyiv’s fight with Moscow has taken on a global dimension.

As the war drags on, Ukraine's own 'Monuments Men' are saving the country's art heritage for future generations - a long read@the Guardian.

 

[JohnD]

Reporting from
London
3 August 2024, 17:28 BST



Updated 6 hours ago
"Ukraine's military says it attacked and destroyed a Russian submarine while it was anchored at a port in the occupied Crimean peninsula.

The Rostov-on-Don, a kilo-class attack submarine launched in 2014, sank after it was struck in a missile attack on the port city of Sevastopol on Friday, Ukraine's general staff said in a statement.

It was reportedly one of four submarines operated by Russia's Black Sea fleet capable of launching Kalibr cruise missiles. The Russian defence ministry has not commented.

Officials in Kyiv said the attack also destroyed four S-400 air defence systems protecting the peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014."

BBC

 

[fillyboy]

Reporting from
London
3 August 2024, 17:28 BST



Updated 6 hours ago
"Ukraine's military says it attacked and destroyed a Russian submarine while it was anchored at a port in the occupied Crimean peninsula.

The Rostov-on-Don, a kilo-class attack submarine launched in 2014, sank after it was struck in a missile attack on the port city of Sevastopol on Friday, Ukraine's general staff said in a statement.

It was reportedly one of four submarines operated by Russia's Black Sea fleet capable of launching Kalibr cruise missiles. The Russian defence ministry has not commented.

Officials in Kyiv said the attack also destroyed four S-400 air defence systems protecting the peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014."

BBC

Woopy doo.

 

[Odds]

While the Paris Olympics enter the last lap this week, it seems Msr Macron has been playing a double game with Ukraine; funding their war effort on one hand and Russia on the other as...Shipments of Russian liquified natural gas to France more than doubled the first half of this year, according to new analyses of trade data - Europe has restricted oil imports from Russia, but natural gas is still allowed. And while companies in France are importing the most, one analysis found EU countries overall imported 7% more Russian LNG, natural gas that has been chilled and liquified for easier ocean transport, in the first half of this year compared to the same period a year ago.

TotalEnergies, the French energy giant that accounted for the largest share of the imports in a list of cargoes between January and June seen by The Associated Press, said it was bound by contracts signed before Russia’s Ukraine invasion. And France’s Finance and Economy Ministry told the AP that Houthi rebel attacks on ships moving through the Suez Canal have forced a reshaping of LNG imports — gas from the Middle East can no longer get easily to Europe, while Russia’s route from the Arctic has been unaffected.

 

[Odds]

Associated Press reports Russian troops are battling to push back Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region on the third day of one of the largest cross-border incursions of the war, the Russian Defense Ministry announced. “Attempts by individual units to break through deep into the territory in the Kursk direction are being suppressed,” the ministry said. Ukrainian troops had advanced as much as 15 kilometers into Russian territory, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank. The data that hasn’t been officially confirmed but military bloggers and open source data indicate Ukrainian troops have made gains in several areas in Kursk.

A dig in the ribs to the Russian Bear, letting him know Ukraine still has plenty of fight left in this war. I'd say special forces were used in a strong recon to cause as much mayhem behind the lines as possible, fully prepared to give their lives for as many of the enemy as they can. That's the kind of spirit Ukraine will need in the coming months as they begin using the F-16s on patrol over Kyiv, and finding more ways to blunt Russian attacks along the line.

 

[Odds]

Russia on Saturday announced increased security measures in the border region of Kursk, where an incursion this week by Ukrainian forces caught Russian troops off guard and exposed its military vulnerabilities. Associated Press reports fighting was continuing in the Kursk region and Russia is sending reinforcements to counter Ukraine’s raid, with Russia deploying multiple rocket launchers, towed artillery guns, tanks transported on trailers and heavy tracked vehicles, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. A short video shows heavy traffic along a road leading to the battle zone where security is tightened and civilians are being told to leave the area.

There is fighting on the outskirts of Sudzha, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Ukraine border. The town has an important pipeline transit hub for Russian natural gas exports to Europe. In one video posted late Friday, soldiers purported to be from the 61st Brigade hold a Ukrainian flag appear to be standing outside a local Gazprom facility in Sudzha based on sign in the background. In another video, Ukrainian soldiers from the 252 Battalion claim to be standing in the village of Poroz in Russia’s Belgorod region, about 3 kilometers (nearly 2 miles) from the border. The video marks the first time any incursion into that area has been reported. The AP geolocated the building where the soldiers stood, but couldn’t determine when the videos were shot.

The strategic map of the war remains the same but this is a tactical victory for Ukrainian forces and an embarrassment for Putin who looks like a man trying to fix a hole in the roof while his kitchen is on fire. Ukraine may be over the worst of it this year and they hold the line waiting for fresh momentum for another counter-offensive later in the year, perhaps.

 

[Odds]

A serious assessment of the Russian offensive centered on Pokrovsk @Understanding War.org

 

[Odds]

A more easily digested version can be found @BBCnews where military expert Mykhaylo Zhyrokhov warns "Pokrovsk is a very important hub, a centre of defence. If we lose Pokrovsk, the entire front line will crumble," [and] it would also increase the risk to other strategically important towns, such as Chasiv Yar, which sits atop commanding heights giving control over the wider area.

It would render the effect of Ukraine's success in the Kursk region meaningless as they've only managed an advance of some 30 miles, taking men and vital supplies north when the center of the whole line is under intense pressure. They say F-16s shot down five missiles and sixty drones but a lot more got through, so expect more lobbying for Patriot defence systems.

 

[ajohn]

"Pokrovsk is a very important hub, a centre of defence.

An ALJ analyst went through what Russia is at. That town is one of 2 that are important road and rail hubs. This was before mention of how threatened this town currently is.

I heard different reports on missiles and drones. F16s shot down drones and a couple of missiles were intercepted. The rest of those got through. Target seemed to be electrics and hit.

The other method being used on drones is heavier calibre machine guns. Couple of clips straight from Ukraine showed 2 variants one more special purpose.

The grand offensive was this year. It's now next year.

The incursion into Russia - military report back to Zelenskyy. Slowing, we managed to advance by a couple of k but didn't say where. I suspect this is part moral and also hoping to divert troops from the above town attack. Some reports have said they have pulled troops from areas more nearby.

 

[Odds]

An ALJ analyst went through what Russia is at. That town if one of 2 that are important road and rail hubs. This was before mention of how threatened this town currently is.

The grand offensive was this year. It's now next year.

The incursion into Russia - military report back to Zelenskyy. Slowing, we managed to advance by a couple of k but didn't say where. I suspect this is part moral and also hoping to divert troops from the above town attack. Some reports have said they have pulled troops from areas more nearby.

Going back on the Telegram incident in Paris, it seems there's a wider context in the case of founder, Pavel Durov being detained since the platform is widely used by the Russian military for battlefield communications thanks to problems with rolling out its own secure comms system. It's also the primary vehicle for pro-war military bloggers and media — as well as millions of ordinary Russians.

“They practically detained the head of communication of the Russian army,” Russian military blogger channel Povernutie na Z Voine said in a Telegram statement. “Durov’s arrest may have political grounds and be a tool for gaining access to the personal information of Telegram users," the Deputy Speaker of the Russian Duma Vladislav Davankov said in a Telegram statement. "This cannot be allowed. If the French authorities refuse to release Pavel Durov from custody, I propose making every effort to move him to the UAE or the Russian Federation. With his consent, of course."

Nazar Tokar, head of Kremlingram, an investigative group of activists studying Telegram’s security and its potential ties to the Kremlin, told Politico “Russians do everything via Telegram. They are recruiting agents and people for counter-activities. Today in Ukraine, a popular campaign is to recruit people who would burn Ukrainian military cars. And it is quite successful. They coordinate their military efforts using it,” Tokar said. He argues that Telegram has become so popular not just because it is convenient and fast, as well as having its own cryptocurrency and many free functions, but because it allows access to a seamy underworld of illicit activities.

Despite the platform being used by the Russian military, Telegram denies any ties to the Russian government, adding that it is “essential for freedom of speech.”

(A statement so far off the scale, there's currently no irony meter on the market which can measure that statement.)

Ukraine's military largely uses the Signal platform for its communications, but most government agencies, including the president's office, have Telegram channels. It is also widely used for personal messages and blogs by Ukrainian soldiers and civilians...

 

[ajohn]

Going back on the Telegram incident in Paris, it seems there's a wider context in the case of founder, Pavel Durov being detained

It would be wrong for me to post the various contexts that can be associated with the app other than they are numerous.