What's going on in Ukraine?

[Uncle fester]

Well could just be rumours?

There are ongoing rumors of the dismissal of Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi as well as the resignation of Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov.

"Dear journalists, we immediately answer everyone: No, this is not true," the Ukrainian MoD reports. Likely referring to the rumor about Umerov.

Let's wait for more and better official information.

Guardian is reporting it.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... dApp_Other

[Hellraiser]

The first GLSDBs will arrive in Ukraine tomorrow/today.

[Hellraiser]

Well could just be rumours?

There are ongoing rumors of the dismissal of Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi as well as the resignation of Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov.

"Dear journalists, we immediately answer everyone: No, this is not true," the Ukrainian MoD reports. Likely referring to the rumor about Umerov.

Let's wait for more and better official information.

Guardian is reporting it.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... dApp_Other

Unless it's confirmed by a named Ukrainian source don't believe anything in Western media.

[PornDog]

Well could just be rumours?

Guardian is reporting it.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... dApp_Other

Unless it's confirmed by a named Ukrainian source don't believe anything in Western media.

That may well be, but the rumour has been out there for 2 days now, and there's been no official denial either!

[Hellraiser]

Germany announced the provision of another package of military aid to Ukraine

🗂 The package includes:
24 BATT UMG armored personnel carriers;
4 tracked all-terrain vehicles Bandvagn 206;
Missiles for IRIS-T SLS;
1,040 155 mm caliber ammunition;
3 WISENT 1 demining tanks;
1 bridge-laying tank BEAVER with spare parts;
14 mine trawls;
1 marine demining system;
1 Satcom satellite communication system;
4 cars for the border service;
450 anti-slip chains;
194,000 group meals;

🗂 In addition, additional preparations are being made for transmission in the future:
6 Sea King Mk41 multipurpose helicopters with spare parts;
16 mine trawls;

Map Blog Write to us ZSUHelp Shop Donat

[Hellraiser]

So a few figures coming from Borrell today after the EU defence ministers meeting today.

EU countries have committed to €21.2bn in military aid to Ukraine this year, which is a massive increase. The total for 2022 and 2023 combined was €28bn.

524,000 shells will be delivered to Ukraine by March, and at least 1.1m by end of year. The capacity now exists to produce 1.4m shells this year, and 2m next year. This doesn't account for any additional increases in capacity from this point, as per Borrell, “Every day, it keeps evolving and increasing”.

€500m has been made available in subsidies to increase manufacturing capacity, 82 projects are being examined and 20 to 30 will be selected next week.

Another €5bn may be available through the European Peace Facility for weapons transfers.

[Hellraiser]

There was a Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG strike against Belbek airfield in Crimea earlier that destroyed 2 Su-27s and 1 Su-30, with 22 casualties; 12 dead and 10 wounded.

A GRU training camp was also hit, killing 9 and wounding 7.

[Hellraiser]

The €50bn EU aid package has passed in the European Council. Orban backed down.

[petej]

The €50bn EU aid package has passed in the European Council. Orban backed down.

Excellent. Once something gets passed in the US as well the Ukrainians should get a load of shells as I doubt the companies have slowed production.

[Margin__Walker]

Who needs a navy anyway

[tabascoboy]

It appears that the strikes against Russian energy terminals such as those in Ust-Luga or Tuapse are yielding first results. Russian gasoline exports have dropped sharply by 37% in January.

The drop can be even observed in India's oil imports from Russia which reached another 12-month low, though the reason here might coincide with fierce competition from the Middle East and the fear of sanctions. Aside from the strikes, malfunctions are also taking their toll.

The refinery industry took another setback when Lukoil's NORSI plant and Russia's fourth largest refinery, located near Nizhny Novgorod, had to be turned off, due to an unspecified "incident". It won't be operational for the next four to six weeks, according Russian officials.

[Hellraiser]

It appears that the strikes against Russian energy terminals such as those in Ust-Luga or Tuapse are yielding first results. Russian gasoline exports have dropped sharply by 37% in January.

The drop can be even observed in India's oil imports from Russia which reached another 12-month low, though the reason here might coincide with fierce competition from the Middle East and the fear of sanctions. Aside from the strikes, malfunctions are also taking their toll.

The refinery industry took another setback when Lukoil's NORSI plant and Russia's fourth largest refinery, located near Nizhny Novgorod, had to be turned off, due to an unspecified "incident". It won't be operational for the next four to six weeks, according Russian officials.

They made a major fuck up when trying to put out the fires at Ust-Luga; they used water instead of foam. The water just frozen and caused even more damage. Hard to know if it was pure incompetence or they literally didn't have the correct equipment due to corruption and/or sanctions.

[Hellraiser]

Zelensky back-tracked on sacking Zaluzhniy as both Budanov and Syrskyi rejected the offer of replacing him, and there was considerable disquiet and push-back among Western/NATO allies who deeply respect Zaluzhniy.

[Uncle fester]

Not good that there's such division at the top. Russians will fling loads of muck in the hope that some sticks.

[Hellraiser]

Another Russian general gone.

Lieutenant General Aleksandr Tatarenko confirmed KIA in the air strike against Belbek airbase a couple of days ago.

[tabascoboy]

Another Russian general gone.

Lieutenant General Aleksandr Tatarenko confirmed KIA in the air strike against Belbek airbase a couple of days ago.

Not truly confirmed yet

Misinformation has appeared in many media that Russian Lieutenant General Alexander Tatarenko (on attached photo) was killed during the strike on Belbek. The death of the namesake, commander of the aviation squadron of the fighter regiment Alexander Tatarenko, was reported. These are different people, although they have the same names. In any case, apart from unverified statements, there is no official confirmation of this yet.

[Hellraiser]

[Uncle fester]

For the Challenger fans.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2 ... iles-away/

[tabascoboy]

[Hellraiser]

http://www.hisutton.com/Ukraine-OWA-UAVs.html

[Uncle fester]

Charming bunch.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SlavaUkrayini/s/XPQLBgMmzZ

Fetal alcohol syndrome going on here?

[tabascoboy]

While some RU puppets initially attempted to play this down as insignificant loss...




All the tweets and supporting images at https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1754 ... =topunroll

[Hellraiser]

Charming bunch.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SlavaUkrayini/s/XPQLBgMmzZ

Fetal alcohol syndrome going on here?

Yep. Inbreeding too, in more isolated places.

[Hellraiser]

[fishfoodie]

Exactly what I expected.

Replacing barrels needs a host of skills & infrastructure, & if you haven't maintained them over the ~60 years or so since you produced the majority of the artillery, you can't just magic new ones into existence in the face of a manpower crunch that is fucking your entire manufacturing base !

There's an important lesson here for NATO powers too; they aren't immune to this either, although they're slightly better off, because they do fire live rounds in exercises every year, & those need to be replaced, so they've always needed to replace rounds & barrels. Meanwhile the Orcs used to lie in their efficiency reports, & claim they'd fired the rounds, when actually they'd put their recruits to work picking potatoes or whatever,

Does the UK have furnaces that can produce gun metal suitable for towed artillery ?
Do they have the forges, the tool makers, the metal workers in the volume they would need if they had to replace the barrels on every piece of towed artillery that have, & do so every month for a year ?

[Hellraiser]

[Hellraiser]

Exactly what I expected.

Replacing barrels needs a host of skills & infrastructure, & if you haven't maintained them over the ~60 years or so since you produced the majority of the artillery, you can't just magic new ones into existence in the face of a manpower crunch that is fucking your entire manufacturing base !

There's an important lesson here for NATO powers too; they aren't immune to this either, although they're slightly better off, because they do fire live rounds in exercises every year, & those need to be replaced, so they've always needed to replace rounds & barrels. Meanwhile the Orcs used to lie in their efficiency reports, & claim they'd fired the rounds, when actually they'd put their recruits to work picking potatoes or whatever,

Does the UK have furnaces that can produce gun metal suitable for towed artillery ?
Do they have the forges, the tool makers, the metal workers in the volume they would need if they had to replace the barrels on every piece of towed artillery that have, & do so every month for a year ?

In Europe only Germany, France, Italy and Poland, have that type of infrastructure and human capital. The UK will have to rebuild it, or rather Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land will.

[fishfoodie]

In Europe only Germany, France, Italy and Poland, have that type of infrastructure and human capital. The UK will have to rebuild it, or rather Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land will.

And while it's nice to be in a common defense community where you can draw upon resources in other members; you're a fucking mug if you do so !

Imagine the rest of NATO relying on whoever is Turkeys leader to maintain the delivery of drones ?

If you're in the Baltic states, how hard is it for Russia to interdict on the railways from Poland to you, & stop the meaningful flow of 105mm shells ?

The UK has twice survived World wars where submarines came within weeks of forcing surrender; you'd like to think they'd have learned that particular lesson by now, but fuck knows Politicians are incapable of learning anything; just look at the state of the RN.

[Niegs]

Charming bunch.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SlavaUkrayini/s/XPQLBgMmzZ

Fetal alcohol syndrome going on here?

[yermum]

In Europe only Germany, France, Italy and Poland, have that type of infrastructure and human capital. The UK will have to rebuild it, or rather Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land will.

And while it's nice to be in a common defense community where you can draw upon resources in other members; you're a fucking mug if you do so !

Imagine the rest of NATO relying on whoever is Turkeys leader to maintain the delivery of drones ?

If you're in the Baltic states, how hard is it for Russia to interdict on the railways from Poland to you, & stop the meaningful flow of 105mm shells ?

The UK has twice survived World wars where submarines came within weeks of forcing surrender; you'd like to think they'd have learned that particular lesson by now, but fuck knows Politicians are incapable of learning anything; just look at the state of the RN.

If the UK is reliant on artillery for defence things have gone spectacularly wrong and it’s time to warm up the D-5s. But yes the UK is a shadow of its former self.

[Brazil]

In Europe only Germany, France, Italy and Poland, have that type of infrastructure and human capital. The UK will have to rebuild it, or rather Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land will.

And while it's nice to be in a common defense community where you can draw upon resources in other members; you're a fucking mug if you do so !

Imagine the rest of NATO relying on whoever is Turkeys leader to maintain the delivery of drones ?

If you're in the Baltic states, how hard is it for Russia to interdict on the railways from Poland to you, & stop the meaningful flow of 105mm shells ?

The UK has twice survived World wars where submarines came within weeks of forcing surrender; you'd like to think they'd have learned that particular lesson by now, but fuck knows Politicians are incapable of learning anything; just look at the state of the RN.

If the UK is reliant on artillery for defence things have gone spectacularly wrong and it’s time to warm up the D-5s. But yes the UK is a shadow of its former self.

Slightly off topic, but The Changing of the Guard by Simon Akam is an excellent history of the British Army since 9/11.

[TB63]

[Hellraiser]

The Dutch have announced they will transfer an additional 6 F-16s to Ukraine on top of the 18 already pledged.

[Hellraiser]

After almost two years of full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, Russian Ka-52 Alligator combat helicopters are showing signs of increased cannibalization. Zona Militar observers noticed this.

The authors of the material refer to photo publications on the Internet - on them you can see structural elements of helicopters that were borrowed from other machines. These include the cockpit, vertical stabilizer and tail section. Experts note that cannibalization consists of installing parts with different production numbers on one piece of equipment.

“This situation has developed as a result of long-term operation of helicopters in combat conditions, which led to natural losses, damage and wear and tear,” commentators emphasize.

The Alligator fleet suffered significant losses on the Ukrainian battlefields, which makes cannibalization one of the solutions in the face of a shortage of equipment and a shortage of spare parts. According to some estimates, the situation with these helicopters is becoming increasingly difficult, since almost 50% of the entire fleet of these machines was lost or damaged.

@yigal_levin

https://www.zona-militar.com/2024/02/05 ... alizacion/

[Ymx]

I met an interesting person back in December who build drones, which are highly resistant to jamming.

As they had not filled the right pockets the MOD haven’t approved them after some years.

So instead they are selling them to another country who then donate them to Ukraine. Struggling to recall which country is doing it.

But it all seemed quite nuts. Given there is a stockpile waiting to be used. And funding from UK, but it can’t be matched up,

[Sandstorm]

I met an interesting person back in December who build drones, which are highly resistant to jamming.

As they had not filled the right pockets the MOD haven’t approved them after some years.

So instead they are selling them to another country who then donate them to Ukraine. Struggling to recall which country is doing it.

But it all seemed quite nuts. Given there is a stockpile waiting to be used. And funding from UK, but it can’t be matched up,

UK govt too busy trying to stop the boats?

[fishfoodie]

Never been fired, & only dropped once !

[Hellraiser]

[tabascoboy]

There have been significant GPS disruptions in Poland and the Baltics for weeks. Sometimes ships and planes have problems with navigation. Through triangulation, the source of the misery was located: Königsberg.

Russia may be testing a massive GPS jammer to disrupt NATO technology. Many guided missiles as well as drones and fighter aircraft rely on GPS technology.

The Steadfast-Defender NATO exercise is scheduled to take place in Eastern Europe in mid-March. It remains to be seen to what extent these interference signals hinder the exercises.

[Hellraiser]