Ukraine Invasion: Part 38

[MagicFox]

🇺🇦 38th thread for information sharing, solidarity and community 🇺🇦

The loss of a Russian A-50 aircraft in an alleged partisan attack on a Belarusian airfield in Machulishchy will "likely leave six operational A-50s in service, further constraining Russian air operations," the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on Feb. 28.

Given the "chatter" something probably has gone on and the loss of one of the more modern Mainstay's would hurt the Russian air effort, however we still need to be aware that even from the MOD is still giving the caveat that "attribution and damage has not been officially corroborated"..

Some quite high profile "analysts" are desperate to predict/claim that this action was highly coordinated and it is the first part of a campaign to make it easier for the Uke AF to unleash JDAM Extended Range on the Russians.

IMHO JDAM related or not, a lightly protected Mainstay within reach would likely to have been a very juicy target of opportunity....

The technique Wagner has been using is sending a small unit ahead to try and take a piece of cover.
If they make it those that survive try and hold it as its reinforced.
Rinse and repeat.

That's how they been making incremental gains for weeks but the losses are very high

By the way, apparently Bild (Ukraine has six months to return the territories seized by Russia, then the West will try to force Kyiv to agree on peace) Is much like the Sun

It is notable that the crap media in Germany does talk about peace plans and pressuring Ukraine though. I don't think the Sun does that in the UK, and that indicates that Bild thinks this approach will sell.

@ReleaseTheDucksOfWar it could be that it's a reflection that public support in Germany for actively supporting Ukraine is lower than elsewhere in the West.

Live: Ukraine Telegram

Ukrainian army will be ready to launch a counteroffensive in spring, - representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.
One of the goals will be an attempt to "drive a wedge into the Russian front in the south - between Crimea and the Russian mainland."

Ukraine has the right to consider a military scenario in Transnistria, but will not do so - Sandu MP Oazu Nantoi.

In Khmelnytsky, 2 rescuers, 21-year-old Vladyslav Dvorak and 31-year-old Serhiy Sevruk, were killed in a night attack by Russians.
Together with their colleagues from the State Emergency Service, they were eliminating the consequences of a Russian UAV attack in Khmelnytsky region that night. And then the enemy fired again - deliberately, at people without weapons.

Estonia and Estonians have already provided humanitarian aid to Ukraine for more than 23 million euros, - Estonian Foreign Ministry.

⚡️The first battalion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has completed training on the operation of M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles at a US base in Germany. The second group of 710 Ukrainian soldiers trains on Bradley and M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzers

At night in the city of Tuapse in the Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation, explosions occurred, followed by a fire at the Rosneft oil refinery as a result of an attack by two drones

The Kremlin complained that Macron and Scholz had not called Putin for a long time
Peskov said that Putin remains open to talks on Ukraine, "which can help Russia achieve its own goals in one way or another," but that neither Scholz nor Macron, with whom the Kremlin wants to talk, are currently in contact

Putin gives Steven Seagal award for "international cultural cooperation"
["hah, US, we nicked one of your aging and increasingly forgotten film stars!
See how we can ruuuuuule the world?! Bow down!"]

@Surplus2requirements yes ...

East Germany in particular, which I'm guessing is partly a consequence of the long influence of the Soviet Union on it and definitely, also, the consequence of West Germany's pillaging of the East after reunification. The East is far poorer and feels resentful, with reason.

Washington Post Telegram

After warnings, no evidence China is supplying arms to Russia, U.S. officials say

(www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/26/russia-ukraine-china-arms/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=telegram)
Top administration officials said Sunday there is no evidence that China has sent lethal military support to Russia, a step Beijing is said to be considering. One top U.S. official also said China has been surprised by the steadfast support demonstrated by Ukraine’s allies and Russia’s poor military performance on the battlefield over the past year.
The comments, by national security adviser Jake Sullivan and CIA Director William J. Burns, were made during separate appearances on news shows Sunday morning.
Sullivan said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Washington will continue to send “a strong message” to Beijing against giving military aid to Moscow “when they are using their weapons to bombard cities, kill civilians and commit atrocities.”

Poland is on a quest to have Europe’s strongest military — with U.S. arms
At Poland’s Rzeszow airport, where President Biden’s plane touched on his way to Kyiv, U.S.-made Patriot missile batteries point toward the skies. The first American M1A2 Abrams battle tanks are expected to arrive this spring, with hundreds of U.S.-manufactured rocket artillery systems to follow.
It is part of a mammoth military spending spree spurred by the war in neighboring Ukraine. Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak hopes the influx of arms will help build “the largest land force in Europe,” and he sees Warsaw signing billions in weapons contracts with U.S. suppliers.

• Russia has supplied Belarus with an Iskander short-range ballistic missile system and an S-400 air-defense missile system, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said.

Impact of Ukraine-Russia war: Cybersecurity has improved for all
(www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/25/ukraine-war-cyber-security/?utm_source=telegram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wp_main)
SAN FRANCISCO — Russia’s cyberspace attacks on Ukraine during the past year have erased data, degraded communication and stolen information, but they have fallen far short of the destruction that many predicted after the invasion a year ago.
In fact, the campaign may have helped inoculate Ukraine against more devastating attacks, experts say, by revealing Russian tactics when the stakes were highest, proving the value of faster collaboration and other defensive measures, and destroying the myth of Russia as an unstoppable cyber superpower.
“We are not only better prepared, we are able to share our lessons learned,” said George Dubynskyi, deputy minister for security in Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation.
That is resonating in Europe and the United States, which have worked closely to protect Ukraine and now are importing strategy and intelligence in defense of their own cyber networks.

- The situation in the besieged front-line city of Bakhmut is becoming increasingly difficult, Zelensky said. Russian forces “are constantly destroying everything that can be used to protect our positions,” he added.

Thousands of civilians fled Ukraine’s front lines. These people returned.
(www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/18/evacuation-returnees-ukraine/?utm_source=telegram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wp_main)
SLOVYANSK, Ukraine — After Russia invaded, Kateryna Gordeeva did what most of her neighbors did in this battle-rattled city: She left. With a mother in Italy and money to travel, Gordeeva and her 7-year-old son joined the exodus that left Slovyansk a near-ghost town of empty streets and frequent explosions.
But a few months ago — with the war still raging, the shells still falling and Russian fighters just 25 miles away at Bakhmut — she returned. And opened a new restaurant.
She didn’t come back alone. Gordeeva and her son are part of a surprise reverse-exodus that has swelled the populations of several of the most embattled cities in eastern Donbas, restoring at least some of the ranks that fled after the invasion.

Fuck Seagal 😡i used to respect him, not for his acting ability but his devotion to Aikido.

The whole philosophy of Aikido is non aggression, you literally cannot use it to attack.

To align himself with Putins war is a betrayal of a philosophy he has devoted his life to.

I see Ukraine are joining nato what does this mean?

Where did you see that?

A country with an ongoing armed conflict can't join Nato, so while they would certainly like to join, it wouldn't be considered until after the war is over.

If you're going to say stuff like this please link to it

I think prev poster may be referring to Stoltenberg when he was quoted today saying that Ukraine will become a member in the long-term.

Yes agree it will be this. Basically he just said at a press conference that once the territorial disputes are resolved and in the longer term that Ukraine will be a member.

If in the long term Ukraine do join NATO it just means they will have the same treaty obligations and protections as any other member state. If you mean what does this mean short term its pretty irrelevant as its not a change in position from either NATO or Ukraine and it likely won't happen for many years. It will also require unanimous agreement of existing member which, as we've seen with Sweden and Finland, is less than straight forward.

Sorry I’m at work. It flashed up on my news alerts.

Here

I'd take the "Putin set to unleash his fury" headline with a whole packet of salt.

Reported in the BBC www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64797212 with far less sensationalism. This really isn't anything new.

P.S that was a dig at the shitty rags that are the Express (and the rest of them) rather than at you @Isthisabitweird - its such irresponsible reporting.

mobile.twitter.com/Seveerity/status/1630485340166270976 ATM lol

Ahahahaha!1

@minsmum brilliant! I love small acts of subversion

No signs of the fog of war obscuring this story lifting quite yet…

www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/first-image-of-russian-a-50-radar-jet-after-claimed-attack-in-belarus

The source is normally pretty reliable for things techie, though obviously limited to open source info.

Allow me to clarify a bit. A combined arms formation integrates all of the essential components of an army. So infantry, armor, artillery, air defense, signals (communication), aviation (rotary wing), and logistics to keep the ammo, tea, and biscuits coming. Think of it as a mini-army, complete unto itself. The Russians tried to do that with 800 soldiers, and it's nowhere near enough. That's why an American RCT (regimental combat team) has about 4,500 soldiers.

Sending scouting or commando teams to perform recon or assault enemy positions is an example of small unit tactics. Those small units must belong to something larger, hopefully, a combined arms formation. The Russians are "going small" because they are desperately short on men and equipment. It's an act of desperation, not a rational strategy.

@MissConductUS I'm always happy for you to expand my understanding

Yes, thanks very much.

Reports that Russia is recruiting Palestinians (for a very low fee)

www.jpost.com/international/article-732932

A Lebanese government security source has told The Media Line that Palestinians residing in Lebanon have signed up to join the ongoing conflict in Ukraine on behalf of Russia, having been offered a sum of 350 dollars by Russian entities.

The majority of the Palestinians being deployed to the frontlines in Ukraine hail from Ain al-Hilweh, the largest Palestine refugee camp in Lebanon, just south of the port city of Sidon.

The recruits are reportedly members of the Fatah political movement, which is led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, as well as to other organizations such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The Lebanese security source indicated that the recruitment of Palestinians and others is being carried out in coordination with the Lebanese-based, Iranian-backed Hezbollah organization.

According to the source, Hezbollah is also actively enlisting young supporters, including those skilled in operating drones and individuals with expertise in guerrilla warfare in urban areas, to assist the Russians in the war in Ukraine.

Riad Kahwaji, a prominent and veteran Lebanese researcher in security and defense affairs, who resides in Dubai, told The Media Line that the recruitment of Palestinians from Lebanon is not unfathomable.

“I do not have specific information on this subject, but I am not surprised that it happened because the situation in the camps is miserable… and there are no jobs for young people,” he said.