Russia & Ukraine

[Businessman]

Delusion on a grand scale. I thought you had more intelligence.

Thats because you have TDS

There was deliberately no talk of Nato expansion to Ukraine under Trump, that was the Biden admin, as soon as they got power, to goad Russia into invading.

Trump term was world peace and no new wars. And that wasn't by accident or luck.



JUNE 16, 2024:

Trump threatens to cut US aid to Ukraine quickly if reelected

Ukraine’s allies are scrambling to secure long-term aid for Kyiv amid fears about a second Trump term.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday blasted the scale of U.S. support for Ukraine and said that if he is reelected in November he would immediately "have that settled."

“He just left four days ago with $60 billion, and he gets home, and he announces that he needs another $60 billion. It never ends,” Trump said.


https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-ukraine-russia-war-threatens-cut-aid-election-2024/https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-ukraine-russia-war-threatens-cut-aid-election-2024/

 

[Businessman]

And -- in just a matter of days -- allowing western weapons to attack planes which launch glide bombs inside of Russia brings the glide bomb threat down to nearly nothing.

The number of powerful Russian glide bombs hitting Ukraine's Dnipro salient falls from 80 a day to 4 thanks to US aid, officer says
https://www.businessinsider.com/us-aid-helps-ukraine-fight-russian-glide-bombs-kherson-region-2024-6

LOL, nonsense/propaganda news to fool people who have no understanding of basic maths, 80 glide bombs a day would be 30,000 bombs a year, in just one region.

Obviously using 80 of those huge bombs per day in one region can only be sustained for a few weeks.

Down to nearly nothing?

4 bombs a day, is still over 1400 bombs per year, which is still massive damage on just one area. Even that many will sooner or later get further reduced.

 

[kashirin]

LOL, nonsense/propaganda news to fool people who have no understanding of basic maths, 80 glide bombs a day would be 30,000 bombs a year, in just one region.

Obviously using 80 of those huge bombs per day in one region can only be sustained for a few weeks.

Down to nearly nothing?

4 bombs a day, is still over 1400 bombs per year, which is still massive damage on just one area. Even that many will sooner or later get further reduced.

GWb- ukrainian troll - trader started posting which I can't even call fake, it's just some demented murmur

this article says russian losses 30:1 to ukrainians. imagine level of insanity needed to posting that

the truth is likely it was 80 bombs per day and now it's like 4 bombs per hour

 

[themickey]

There was deliberately no talk of Nato expansion to Ukraine under Trump, that was the Biden admin, as soon as they got power, to goad Russia into invading.
Trump term was world peace and no new wars. And that wasn't by accident or luck.

Lmao, Trump is a Putin / Kim / strongman toady, that's why you love Trump.
Russia attacked Ukraine because he knows Biden is a coward, Biden's first most desire is to kill unarmed civilians via his proxy Israel. Biden will publicly backtrack shortly on that idea because he's chasing votes and like all polly's more interested in saving his own hide.

As for Trump and world peace, Lmao again, everyone who works for Trump gets shafted by Trump, Trump is clueless about peace, Trump is all about confrontation in order to enrich himself and will double cross at the drop of a hat.

 

[Snuskpelle]

BREAKING: Russia makes first public ceasefire proposal to Ukraine.

We can be sure the warmongers in Washington (and this thread) will not agree.

They will send more Ukrainian men to die and lose limbs in the meat grinder. Down to the last the Ukrainian.

It will take Trump's re-election to end this war any time soon.

Are you able to grasp this simple argument: that there will not be lasting peace if a dictator is rewarded for attempting to conquer a country?

If you do agree, then you are the warmonger. If you don't agree, you are a total imbecile.

I don't think you are a complete imbecile but that makes you the warmonger indeed. You are supporting policy that will cause many more wars (or invasions, if we consider it all the same war: Putin's war on the west).

 

[Atlantic]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-troops-surrender-elite-brigade-134514673.html

Russian troops surrender to an elite brigade as the Kharkiv front holds, Ukraine says

Cameron Manley
Updated Mon, June 17, 2024 at 3:28 AM GMT+2·3 min read

Russian troops surrender to an elite brigade as the Kharkiv front holds, Ukraine says

• Dozens of Russian soldiers have surrendered in Vovchansk in recent weeks, Ukraine claims.
  
  
• A video released by Ukraine's 3rd Assault Brigade appeared to show Russian POWs.
  
  
• The Russians reported major losses, poor conditions, and lack of support from senior officers.

Russian soldiers have been surrendering to an elite Ukrainian combat brigade in the northern town of Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region, reports say.

A video released on Wednesday by Ukraine's 3rd Assault Brigade appears to show Russian troops emerging from a trench with their hands raised above their head or tied behind their backs.

The video appeared to confirm recent reports that dozens of Russian soldiers had been surrendering around Vovchansk, where heavy fighting has raged since Moscow launched a cross-border offensive towards Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, last month.

The POWs were later filmed and interviewed, sitting in what appeared to be a school classroom.

Business Insider could not independently verify the video.

Several of the captured soldiers said they had been forced into the Russian army due to financial or legal trouble. Some said they had received as little as one week of training before being sent to the front.

Food and water were limited, and often, they had to buy supplies with their own money.

Almost all the prisoners said their units had suffered severe losses during attacks against Ukrainian positions.

"We received an order to attack positions inside a chemical factory. I don't know, maybe there were 70 of us. We drove there at night," one POW said.

"The drones came out of nowhere and wiped almost everyone out. Most of us were hit. Only seven of us survived and we were wounded. Then we were taken prisoner," he said.

Another soldier said he had been taken prisoner after being the "only survivor" in his unit.

Many complained about the leadership of their officers, who, they said, did not participate in the costly assaults.

The video appeared to confirm major Russian losses and surrenders in the region, revealing that Russia's attempt to open a second front in Ukraine's north has stalled.

Last week, Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson for the Khortitsiya Regional Command, which is responsible for ground operations in the area, claimed that "close to 60 Russians" were captured in a single day of combat.

Vovchansk, three miles from the Russian border, was 70% under Ukrainian control, Voloshyn said.

An earlier video published on June 6 by Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade, appeared to show two Russian soldiers, both wounded, being captured during a Ukrainian counterattack in Vovchansk.

In February, some 30,000 Russian troops began pouring over Ukraine's northern border into the Kharkiv region, opening up a new front for Ukraine's already-stretched defenses.

Yet four weeks later, Russian forces have stalled, and White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby declared the offensive "all but over."

The Institute for the Study of War said that Putin may have rushed the offensive in an attempt to get ahead of incoming Western aid — fielding "an understrength force" in the process.

RAND geopolitical strategist Ann Marie Dailey previously told BI that Putin likely never had the means to capture Kharkiv city but hoped to create a buffer zone to shield the border region of Belgorod from Ukrainian attacks.

Nonetheless, Dailey told BI: "I think that there's a broader offensive effort that you'll see from Russia later in this summer."

Read the original article on Business Insider

 

[Atlantic]

most russian weapons are crap - or "soldiers" from russia are too stupid to use them properly:



https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-surplus-western-missiles-
humbled-172525003.html

How Ukraine’s surplus Western missiles humbled Putin’s billion dollar Crimea defences

Verity Bowman
Sat, June 15, 2024 at 7:25 PM GMT+2·4 min read

Advanced Russian defences in Crimea are increasingly vulnerable to Ukraine's US and British-supplied missiles

The night sky over Crimea flashed with explosions and tracer fire as the barrage of American-made missiles arrived and found their targets.

In a matter of minutes, three Russian surface-to-air missile systems that were supposed to be protecting the peninsula had been knocked out in the latest humiliation for Vladimir Putin.

The strikes were part of a meticulously planned and systematic campaign designed to break apart Russia’s air defence network and render Crimea untenable as a staging ground for Moscow’s forces.

The campaign, which has intensified in recent weeks, pits Ukraine’s arsenal of Western missiles – including the American Atacms ballistic missile and the Storm Shadow cruise missiles sent by Britain – against the very latest Russian defences.

But Moscow’s vaunted defences seem increasingly to be coming off second best against Ukraine’s Western weapons – even though many of them are much older.

“None of our missiles were intercepted by the enemy’s ‘highly effective’ air defence,” Ukraine’s general staff said after the attacks on Monday morning.

Two days later, a salvo of 12 Atacms missiles took out two more S-400 systems and a radar installation.

“The Russian rhetoric is that these are all incredible weapons. But in truth, when all these things get thrown together in war, it’s a question of not just the technology, but the ingenuity and imagination of the people who are using them,” Matthew Savill, the military sciences director for the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told the Sunday Telegraph.

The S-400, which entered service in 2007, is one of Russia’s most advanced air defence systems and has a price tag of more than a billion dollars.

But Ukraine’s recent strikes have proved it remains vulnerable even to older weapons like the Atacms, which has been in service with the US military since 1986, or the Storm Shadow, which dates back to the mid-90s.

“People hyped up Russian air defences for years,” said Mr Savill. “What we’ve actually seen over a period of time is that they haven’t protected the Syrians in Syria. They haven’t protected the Iranians in Iran, and now they haven’t protected the Russians in Crimea.”

Western cruise missiles are more difficult to intercept than their Russian counterparts and their stealth technology sets them apart, said Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow focusing on missile technology at the University of Oslo.

The Storm Shadow flies at a low altitude, with its carefully crafted shape making it difficult for Russian radars to detect, meaning it can soar past air defence systems unhindered – as footage from Crimea has shown. When it nears the end of its flight, the missile climbs steeply before diving towards its target.

But it’s not just these capabilities that set Ukraine’s attacks apart, but also the quick thinking of its servicemen.

“There’s just a lot more planning going into the strikes with the Storm Shadows. The Ukrainians really plan out those trajectories, they’re really meticulously plotted in order to circumvent Russian air defence bubbles,” Mr Hoffman said. “We’ve also seen that the Russian operators appear not to be too terribly qualified.

“They’re right now going very methodically and systematically after these S-300 and S-400 air defences. And know that it’s a smart thing to do. That’s exactly what they should be doing, Nato would do the same.”

According to Mr Savill, Ukraine’s long-range missile attacks are accompanied by large numbers of attack drones, giving a “sheer weight in numbers” that is difficult for Russia to fight back against.

“When you combine those all together, the weight of fire that’s coming in, probably from multiple directions, means that you can get those cruise missiles through,” he said.

Russian fighter aircraft and a fuel storage depot were destroyed at Belbek air base, near Sevastopol, in Crimea - Maxar Technologies

Russia meanwhile has been forced to spread its weapons more sparsely, given the 1000km long frontline with Ukraine, as well as its need to fence off Kaliningrad, the Kola Peninsula, the border with Finland, and to the east of the country, around Vladivostok.

“The Ukrainians are now launching strikes in all directions. The Russians have got a significant stockpile of various weapons, but they’re now having to make difficult prioritisation decisions,” said Mr Savill.

The series of embarrassing attacks on Crimea has forced the Kremlin to respond.

Earlier this week, reports emerged that Russia had deployed an S-500, the most advanced ballistic missile defence system it has, to protect the peninsula’s Kerch Bridge.

Ukraine has had a long-standing desire to destroy the bridge, which is a Putin vanity project and provides a logistical lifeline for his occupation of Crimea.

The Ukrainian strikes, said Mr Savill, are a “headache for Putin”.

“It’s harder for the Russians to base and launch aircraft from there. It’s harder for them to store ammunition there and supply their forces. And it’s embarrassing, frankly.”

 

[Atlantic]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-proves-target-russian-air-090001670.html


Ukraine proves it can target the Russian air force's weakest link

Michael Peck
Sun, June 16, 2024 at 11:00 AM GMT+2·4 min read

• Ukraine showed its drones can strike advanced aircraft at air bases inside Russia.
• Ukraine appears to be systematically attacking airbases with drones.
• Cheap drones may be one way to strike back at the Russian jets pummeling Ukraine with glide bombs.

A recent Ukrainian drone strike appears to have damaged one, possibly two, of Russia's rare stealth fighters in an airbase deep inside Russia, highlighting a problem for the Russian Air Force.

No matter how many aircraft it has, those planes have to be parked somewhere. And even hundreds of miles inside Russia, those airbases can be attacked by cheap drones.

"Kyiv appears to be pursuing a clear strategy to force the VKS to either vacate its bases within several hundred miles of Ukraine's borders or dedicate an inordinate quantity of air defense systems to defending them," wrote Justin Bronk, an airpower expert, in an essay for the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank.

Where to base combat aircraft is always a dilemma. The closer they are to the front line, the more ordnance they can carry rather than fuel, and less time is wasted flying back and forth from base to battlefield. But this exposes them to rocket and drone attack, as Ukraine demonstrated in 2022 and 2023 with strikes against Russian jets and helicopters on the ground, many of which were parked on airfields that were close to the Ukrainian border, though others were deeper inside Russia.

But these were pinprick attacks designed to embarrass the Kremlin and demonstrate that nowhere in Russia is safe from Ukrainian attack. Now, Ukraine appears to be systematically attacking airbases with drones, much as it used long-range American-made HIMARS guided rockets in 2022 to dismantle Russian logistic and command networks.

Details are murky about what exactly happened to the Su-57 (NATO code name: "Felon") stealth fighters parked at the Akhtubinsk airbase in southern Russia, near the city of Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) and about 370 miles from Ukrainian territory. Ukrainian intelligence released images earlier this month that appeared to show a Su-57 —parked in the open — that was allegedly damaged by long-range Ukrainian drones, and a top official claimed a second may have been damaged in the same attack.

"It is unclear how much damage the Su-57 in question has sustained," Bronk noted. "The satellite photo appears to suggest that two relatively small explosions occurred within around 3–5 meters [10 to 16 feet] of the aircraft, which was parked on an outdoor concrete hardstand."

The aircraft didn't appear to catch on fire, suggesting the damage wasn't catastrophic, perhaps to be expected from small drones with small warheads. On the other hand, the plane did appear to have suffered damage to its nose and tail, which is no small matter for fragile high-performance aircraft.

"Shrapnel damage to the rear section might be relatively easy to repair with an engine change and replacement horizontal and vertical stabilizers, but shrapnel damage of any significance to the nose section would be much more serious," wrote Bronk. "It would likely cause damage to the radar array(s), Infra-Red Scan and Track sensor, and cockpit, as well as instruments and electronic systems critical to the functioning of the whole aircraft."

One interesting question is why the drones weren't neutralized by Russia's massive jamming capability, which has neutralized many GPS-guided rockets and glide bombs supplied by the West, and disabled numerous Ukrainian radio-controlled drones. Leveraging the Soviet Union's vast investment in electronic warfare, Russia has used mobile and fixed jammers to saturate the airwaves up and down the 600-mile-long front line. The Akhtubinsk attack suggests that Russian electronic warfare capacity has sufficient breadth to cover the front, but not depth to protect the Russian interior.

In itself, the recent Ukrainian strike was no more than a symbolic blow against a symbolic foe. Russia has perhaps a dozen Su-57s, which is Moscow's answer to the US F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters. Much like Russia's vaunted T-14 Armata, the Su-57 has been conspicuous by its absence from the Ukraine war. This probably reflects fear of embarrassment from losing an advanced weapon — and perhaps a lack of confidence that the capabilities of these weapons won't match the rhetoric.

What has been hurting Ukraine over the last six months are massive numbers of glide bombs dropped by older Su-34 and Su-35 jets. Stealth fighters aren't needed for Russia's un-stealthy strategy: obliterate Ukrainian defenses with glide bombs, then send in poorly trained convict-infantry to mop up. It's a crude, costly approach that nonetheless has enabled Russia to capture some small chunks of territory.

Even with American-made F-16 fighters arriving soon, Ukraine's air force probably can't drive off Russian jets lobbing glide bombs from 50 miles behind Russian lines, safe behind ground-based air defenses. Cheap one-way attack drones may be the next best thing.

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds an MA in political science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Read the original article on Business Insider

 

[Atlantic]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/one-two-punch-skies-massive-085032896.html

One-Two Punch From the Skies Is a Massive Blow to Putin

Marcel Plichta
Mon, June 17, 2024 at 10:50 AM GMT+2·5 min read

Ukraine’s military has spent the last two years chronically short of planes. Its prewar stocks were already small in number and mostly dated from the Soviet era. When NATO and other countries sent help, they focused on either sending the same older models or keeping existing aircraft in the air through maintenance and spare parts. Russia, meanwhile, has a larger and often more advanced air force.

However, new planes are on the way to help Ukraine. For nearly a year, countries like the Netherlands have promised limited numbers of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets. Recently, Belgium also committed to sending 30 F-16s from its own stocks.

These aircraft can come in handy in a few ways. Firstly, they can engage Russia’s air force, balancing out its numerical advantage. Ukraine’s dynamic and improving air defense efforts have already made things challenging for the Russian air force, but they still maintain a large advantage. Their airpower lets them launch munitions at Ukraine’s forces and cities and force Ukrainian pilots to be extremely careful with their own operations. Degrading Russia’s air force relieves some pressure on Ukraine’s beleaguered ground forces, which are struggling to hold back intense Russian offensives supported by Russian bombing. F-16s can also help ground forces directly by dropping their own munitions and firing long-range missiles. Having F-16s opens the door for more and better Western weapons, which were designed to work on an F-16 but could not be adapted to Ukraine’s Soviet-era airframes. Ukraine will also get more out of Western systems already sent. Some partners have helped jerry-rig upgrades so that Ukraine’s air force could use weapons not designed for Soviet planes. In videos over the past year, Ukrainian pilots showed tablets in their cockpit which operated Western-provided missiles. While they already function in a limited capacity, these systems will be more effective when used in F-16s as intended.

Donating F-16s touches on a major ongoing debate among Ukraine’s partners: whether to allow Ukraine to use their weapons against Russian territory. Some U.S. policymakers worry that letting Ukraine use their weapons in areas other than occupied Ukrainian territory will trigger escalation with Moscow. The Biden administration has nonetheless OKed strikes in limited circumstances. Others, notably in Britain, do not consider this escalatory and argue that Russia can take advantage of restrictions by keeping parts of its military in Russia, where Ukraine has less ability to hit them. Ukraine does have some long-range weapons of its own, such as its one-way attack drones, but these are limited in stock and less effective against well-defended targets than the traditional missile or artillery systems provided by Western partners.

In the debate over how Ukraine can use donated weapons, Belgian officials told the press that Ukraine ought to only use donated aircraft “for utilization by the Ukraine Defense Forces on Ukraine[’s] territory.” The restrictions prompt a few questions. Since many Russian aircraft launch bombs and missiles from Russian territory, could a Ukrainian jet enter Russian airspace to intercept them? Could a Ukrainian jet stay in Ukrainian territory but fire a missile provided by another country at a target in Russia? These questions are key to the effectiveness of the donated aircraft and how Ukraine will try to use them once they’re operational.

Aircraft other than F-16s are also on the way. On May 29, Sweden promised to send two ASC 890 surveillance aircraft, which add an extra dimension to Ukraine’s future airpower. The ASC 890 is an airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft with a powerful radar that can track potential air and ground threats far beyond Ukraine’s ground-based radars and the F-16’s own suite of sensors. It can also send that information directly to Ukraine’s new jets. While the F-16 is a formidable aircraft, it benefits from broader awareness of what’s in the area. Sweden had previously indicated it was willing to send its own Gripen aircraft, but paused their plans so that Ukraine could focus on servicing and maintaining F-16s instead of trying to incorporate two new kinds of aircraft at once.

In all, donations mean that Ukraine will likely end up with two AEW&C aircraft and several dozen F-16s, though some will likely be held in reserve for contingencies, training, or spare parts. The big question is when any of these aircraft will arrive in Ukraine. Currently, Ukrainian pilots are in the midst of training with donated F-16s in Romania, but the actual delivery of aircraft to Ukraine will be anyone’s guess. Belgium, one of the largest donors, has only committed to sending some of the pledged jets by the end of the year. The U.S., despite being the manufacturer and one of the largest operators of F-16s, has not pledged any at all, though they are training Ukrainian pilots and giving the green light for countries to send them to Ukraine.

Jets are not a guarantee of Ukrainian victory, but they are essential to Ukraine’s defense. Like tanks, aircraft are just a part of a larger complex system. However, gaining more freedom in the air is a vital step for Ukraine to stabilize its front lines with Russia, and potentially regain some of the territory it’s lost to Vladimir Putin’s forces.

 

[themickey]

Putin, Trump, Biden, Netanyahu, all four are total disasters, what a combination of idiots.