What's going on in Ukraine?

[Niegs]

For our vets, an old friend is still in action. :)

[Uncle fester]

Winter weather has seriously kicked in thanks to a storm in the Black Sea, also with storm surges in Crimea and the RU coast. Hope that UAs winter gear is better than the Ruzzians

General winter has arrived. Imagine there'll still be quite a lot of activity?

[Guy Smiley]

A strike on Russian soil... cutting off the rail link to China. Holy shit... that's a Special Operation.

https://news.yahoo.com/devastating-blow ... P1FN-3baGF

Ukraine’s SBU security service carried out an overnight explosion on a key rail route between Russia and China, law enforcement agencies told NV on Nov. 30.

The incident occurred in the Bessolov Severomuysky Tunnel on the Baikal-Amur Mainline in Buryatia, Russia.

The explosion is another successful special operation of the SBU, sources said, though the special service has not yet commented on the event.

"In fact, this is the only serious railroad route between Russia and China," sources said.

“And now this route, which Russia uses, among other things, for military supplies, is paralyzed.”

[fishfoodie]

A strike on Russian soil... cutting off the rail link to China. Holy shit... that's a Special Operation.

https://news.yahoo.com/devastating-blow ... P1FN-3baGF

Ukraine’s SBU security service carried out an overnight explosion on a key rail route between Russia and China, law enforcement agencies told NV on Nov. 30.

The incident occurred in the Bessolov Severomuysky Tunnel on the Baikal-Amur Mainline in Buryatia, Russia.

The explosion is another successful special operation of the SBU, sources said, though the special service has not yet commented on the event.

"In fact, this is the only serious railroad route between Russia and China," sources said.

“And now this route, which Russia uses, among other things, for military supplies, is paralyzed.”

That'd be the route the artillery & ammo coming from North Korea would take, so I hope they've done a good job of it !

[tabascoboy]

Another one? This one is clearly not in a tunnel

[fishfoodie]

Another one? This one is clearly not in a tunnel

Ukranian SpecOps playing a blinder !

First they blew up a train in the tunnel, & then knowing that there is also two alternative overland tracks, they wait till the Orcs send a train over the first alternate, & they target it when its on a bridge

After the first incident in the Severomuysky tunnel, on Wednesday evening, Russian railway officials said that crew had noticed smoke in a fuel tank and the train was stopped.

At 15km, Severnomuysky is the longest railway tunnel in Russia and lies in the region of Buryatia, north of Mongolia.

A senior Ukrainian official told the BBC that the freight train had in fact exploded in the tunnel.

The Russians then fell into the "trap" - claimed the official - of using an alternative bridge route.

"This is exactly what the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) was counting on," said the official.

"During the passage of the train on this high 35m-long bridge, explosive devices planted in it went off."

The second explosion has not been corroborated elsewhere although Russian telegram channel Baza has reported that another train was later blown up in the same area.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67593041

[Uncle fester]

How on earth are they able to operate on the far side of Russia, let alone so effectively?

[Guy Smiley]

How on earth are they able to operate on the far side of Russia, let alone so effectively?

Well, they were sent there as deported kids and as Israel has taught us, kids are effective terrorists.

(I have no idea but it's insanely impressive and must be giving Vlad serious buttache)

[Flockwitt]

The problem with fighting a war with people who speak your native tongue fluently (significantly better than many of the ethnic minorities), have visited and lived in your country for years, have contacts throughout the country, an active resistance assisting them, a country that's deliberately attempting to maintain a facade of business as usual, and a wide swath of the population who are perfectly willing to be bribed with zero loyalty to the masters in charge. There's probably few better scenarios for special ops tbf.

[Flockwitt]

Putin has ordered an increase of the Russian military by another 170,000 personnel.

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukrai ... a1c86c9e38

[tabascoboy]

How on earth are they able to operate on the far side of Russia, let alone so effectively?

The problem with fighting a war with people who speak your native tongue fluently (significantly better than many of the ethnic minorities), have visited and lived in your country for years, have contacts throughout the country, an active resistance assisting them, a country that's deliberately attempting to maintain a facade of business as usual, and a wide swath of the population who are perfectly willing to be bribed with zero loyalty to the masters in charge. There's probably few better scenarios for special ops tbf.

Agree that it makes sense if the home anti-Putin resistance is strongly involved in this, with planning, logistics and support.

[Hellraiser]

Putin has ordered an increase of the Russian military by another 170,000 personnel.

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukrai ... a1c86c9e38

Good luck to him finding them.

[Hellraiser]

[Hellraiser]

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1730 ... 59469.html

[Flockwitt]

Putin has ordered an increase of the Russian military by another 170,000 personnel.

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukrai ... a1c86c9e38

Good luck to him finding them.

A carrot and stick approach is my guess, money entrapment to the poor, cushy positions to the right kind of families, and continuing the black market mobilisation that has been ongoing with the threat of declaring the need to get more in a hurry at point x. It's really only setting the scene for the latter I think. They'll declare a shortfall and conscript at some stage next year.

[Hellraiser]

2S22 Bohdana 155mm SPH production has reached 6 per month, i.e. a full battery, and now has an autoloader akin to the CAESAR which was not present on the initial production model.

[Hellraiser]

Poland plans to hand over 50 Krab self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine, - PAP

Poland has already transferred 18 Krab self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine. Another 56 Krab howitzers are being prepared for transfer.

AHS Krab is a self-propelled howitzer on a tracked chassis manufactured by Huta Stalowa Wola SA. Poland transferred 18 such vehicles to Ukraine from the reserves of the Polish Army," the agency said.

They reminded that between Kyiv and Warsaw "a contract for the production and transfer of 56 Krab" was also signed.

@censor_net | We are on Facebook and Twitter

[Hellraiser]

https://informnapalm.org/en/european-sa ... av-system/

[tabascoboy]

This is how the United Arab Emirates welcomes Putin, a war criminal wanted by the ICC, in Dubai during his visit to the country. Putin will attend the UN Climate Change Conference. UAE hasn't signed the ICC founding treaty, meaning they don't face any obligation to arrest Putin.

[tabascoboy]

[Uncle fester]

Obvious cokehead.

[tabascoboy]

A couple of days old

[Calculon]

[laurent]

Do your bit to help

https://www.helloasso.com/associations/ ... rainiennes

This is a very serious charity the fundraiser is led by Stéphane Audrand a journalist/consultant (ex French Marine) that already organised 2 large collection prior.

[tabascoboy]

[tabascoboy]

The loss of life continues to be completely senseless

[Uncle fester]

You love to see it.

[Guy Smiley]

Centre background...

[TheNatalShark]

Whilst no country is immune from the fear civilians have in confronting uniformed or governmental individuals from fear of reprisal, it's always disheartening to read such incidents where even others in civil society share the fear and don't stand together to confront and put a stop to it.

[tabascoboy]

I find it quite astonishing how our narrative changed from "Russia is on its last legs, and we just have to decide which part is decolonizing first," to "omg, Russia is a highly sophisticated military power with unlimited resources that is on the verge of taking over Europe."

Why is it that such far-fetched narratives become mainstream, while more nuanced takes as in "yeah, Russia is facing serious problems but, yeah, it's pretty resilient" never capture the public imagination.

I think the answer to this is that the public (and, let's admit it, some analysts and Russia watchers too) prefer simplistic, clear-cut narratives about Russia. It's either all or nothing. Anything in between is too difficult to grasp, and, probably, does not lead to desired policy outcomes.

Anyway, I take the view that we should not bury Ukraine prematurely just as we should not have dismissed Russia out of hand when things were going badly for the Kremlin.

This war is a complicated affair, and hubris and despair are both uncalled for.

What is important, as a starting point, is to recognize that this war has not gone particularly well for either side, and both sides face significant challenges going forward. Neither side is likely to make sweeping gains, nor to swiftly collapse.

Finally: continued military support for Ukraine is essential for it to be able to bring this war to a negotiated solution - in fact, without such support, there will not be a negotiated solution, because Russia will not want to negotiate.

[Hellraiser]

Report on Leopard 1A5s in Ukraine. A couple of interesting points:

- the L7 105mm rifled gun and modernised fire control system means its range is longer and accuracy better than Soviet/Russian stuff being encountered.
- the optics/thermals make a huge difference.
- Ukrainian engineers are already working on upgrading the armour.
- the tank lost last week was recovered and is being repaired. The crew was not injured.

[Hellraiser]

The leaders of the Hungarian and Slovak minorities in Transcarpathia have directly appealed to Orban and Fico to support the beginning of EU accession talks for Ukraine at the European Council meeting on Dec 14-15.

[Hellraiser]

A third Irishman confirmed KIA in Ukraine. A former US marine and Iraq war veteran.

[Hellraiser]

The first results of the inspection due to the leak of secret documents of the Pentagon: 15 servicemen were brought to disciplinary responsibility

20:35 11.12.2023 3 84616

The first results of the inspection due to the leak of secret documents of the Pentagon: 15 servicemen were brought to disciplinary responsibility

The US Air Force Department on Monday announced the first results of an investigation into the Discord Leaks scandal - Jack Teixeira's leak of classified Pentagon documents.

As reported by Censor.NET with reference to European Pravda , this is stated in the message of the US Air Force.

The investigation confirmed that Teixeira himself was involved in the unauthorized leak of information, but his unit - the 102nd Intelligence Wing of the US Air National Guard's Intelligence Directorate - did not take sufficient measures after the actions of the military became known.

The report points to a number of "indirect factors" that made the leak scandal possible, such as inconsistent and inaccurate instructions to service members, an ineffective disciplinary procedure and a lack of due diligence by command.

As a result, the leadership of the Air Force of the American National Guard announced disciplinary punishments for 15 servicemen. Among other things, the commander of the 102nd Reconnaissance Wing, Colonel Sean Riley, was suspended, and one of his deputies was reprimanded.

Also read: Secret Pentagon documents leak: Teixeira indicted

In addition, the 102nd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group of the wing, where Teixeira served, was removed from the tasks assigned to other units of the Air National Guard.

At the same time, the US Air Force has announced increased security measures to prevent similar leaks.

These include, among other things, strengthening limited access to classified information, additional recommendations on multi-level physical protection of objects and systems, and strengthening responsibility for suspicious behavior.

[Hellraiser]

Russia has lost 87% of the total number of ground troops and two-thirds of the tanks it had before the invasion of Ukraine — CNN

This data was obtained from a declassified US intelligence assessment provided to Congress.

Thus, according to intelligence estimates, out of the 360,000 troops who invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Russia lost 315,000 on the battlefield.

Out of 3,500 tanks, 2,200 were lost. Also, 4,400 of the 13,600 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers were destroyed, which is 32% of the losses.

The bloodiness of this war has now surpassed the Franco-Prussian War.

[Hellraiser]

Ukraine has, or is in the process of creating, another 5 mechanized brigades.

[Uncle fester]

The annual Putin "press conference".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67711802

I liked his projection re the Ukrainian advances on the left bank.
Throwing troops at a limited objective so to be able to claim success. Sure he'd know all about that.

[Hellraiser]

The European Council has agreed to open EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. That's a big win for Zelensky.

[geordie_6]

The European Council has agreed to open EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. That's a big win for Zelensky.

And Orban immediately blocked a €50 billion aid package.

[Uncle fester]

The European Council has agreed to open EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. That's a big win for Zelensky.

And Orban immediately blocked a €50 billion aid package.

Fück them out at this stage. Hungarian nationalism is a very weird head space.