[WhiskeyOutpost]

✴️ FPV, RU tank crew (likely in a T-80 variant) destroy a UA armored vehicle with a laser-guided shell, then follow it up with a standard HE shell.

✴️ FPV, RU Ka-52 chopper crew hit two UA vehicles with guided missiles, likely "Izdeliye" or "Ataka".

#apcifv #t80 #thermal #aircraft

[WonderMomma]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyOutpost ↗

✴️ RU infantry receive a single HE shell then a cluster munition follow-up. Possibly first use of US donated cluster munitions.

Seems to be true, at least according to the WashPost.

Source (paywall): https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...ne-war-russia/

Ukraine begins firing U.S.-provided cluster munitions at Russian forces
By John Hudson and Isabelle Khurshudyan
July 20, 2023 at 7:07 a.m. EDT



KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine has begun firing U.S.-provided cluster munitions against Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine in a push to break up well-fortified Russian positions that have slowed Ukraine’s summer offensive, according to Ukrainian officials familiar with the matter.

The use of the U.S.-made weapons, which has not been previously reported, follows President Biden’s “difficult decision” to order the delivery of the widely banned munitions last week, a move that human rights groups, European allies and some Democrats criticized due to the risk of civilian casualties.

The debut of the U.S. weapon comes as Russian missiles pummeled Ukraine’s Black Sea port region of Odessa for the third night in a row, while an attack on the nearby port city of Mykolaiv left 19 people wounded, including five children. The barrages appeared to be in response to Ukraine’s strike on the bridge connecting Russia to Crimea earlier this week. Shortly after that, Russia withdrew from the U.N.-brokered deal securing the flow of Ukrainian grain exports to the world.

The impact the cluster munitions will have on the battlefield was not immediately clear. On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to retaliate against Ukraine with the Kremlin’s own supply of the cluster munitions “if they are used against us,” although Russia has already used them in populated areas of Ukraine at least 24 times since the start of Moscow’s invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, according to the United Nations.

Cluster bombs, outlawed in more than 120 countries, explode in the air over a target, releasing dozens to hundreds of smaller bomblets across an area potentially as big as several football fields. Children are particularly vulnerable, as the submunitions can fail to explode until they’re picked up, potentially years after a conflict has ended.

But Ukrainian officials have long requested the munitions, which they say will compensate for their significant disadvantage in artillery, weaponry and troop numbers.

Earlier this week, Col. Oleksandr Bakulin, commander of Ukraine’s 57th Brigade, told BBC News that cluster munitions were needed to “inflict maximum damage on enemy infantry,” although he acknowledged they would not “solve all our problems on the battlefield.”

Others have been more bullish, including Brig. Gen. Oleksandr Tarnavsky, who told CNN last week that the munitions “can radically change” the battlefield in the first report confirming the delivery of the munitions to the country.

In addition to front-line positions in southeast Ukraine, the cluster munitions are also expected to be used near the Russian-controlled city of Bakhmut, the site of the war’s longest and bloodiest battle.

Russia’s strongholds in the east and south have been densely mined with antitank and antipersonnel mines and trip wires in areas between three and 10 miles deep. The defenses have been successful in stalling Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which began about a month ago.

A Ukrainian official told The Washington Post that the munitions have been fired at Russian positions to break up the trenches slowing down Ukrainian forces seeking to retake territory. The official, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

Biden’s decision to send the munitions followed months of debate within the administration. The president’s decision bypassed U.S. law prohibiting the production, use or transfer of cluster munitions with a “dud rate” of more than 1 percent. The dud rate refers to the share of munitions that remain unexploded.

Biden circumvented the law under a rare provision of the Foreign Assistance Act, which allows the president to provide aid, regardless of arms export restrictions, as long as he determines that doing so is in vital U.S. national security interest.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin defended the decision last week, saying the cluster munitions provide a “bridging capability” to keep pressure on Russian forces until Western arms production picks up and Kyiv will no longer need the hazardous weapon. Austin said Ukraine committed “in writing” not to use the munitions against population centers and that efforts would be made to try to clean up areas where the weapons are deployed.

“They will record the places that they use them, and they will prioritize demining efforts, and we’ll help them do that in those places where they have used these,” Austin said.

While Russia has used cluster munitions far more extensively, Ukraine has also allegedly deployed these weapons during the war, using its Soviet-era stocks or shells obtained from other countries. A Human Rights Watch report released earlier this month said Ukraine’s use of the weapons “caused numerous deaths and serious injuries to civilians” in attacks in the city of Izyum and other locations in 2022. Ukraine has denied using the munitions.

Most of Washington’s NATO allies have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a compact that bans their use and production, but the United States, Russia and Ukraine never signed the treaty.

This week, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan pushed back on the idea that sending the munitions called U.S. moral authority into question.

“Our moral authority and Ukraine’s moral authority in this conflict comes from the fact that we are supporting a country under a brutal, vicious attack by its neighbor with missiles and bombs raining down in its cities, killing its civilians, destroying its schools, its churches, its hospitals,” Sullivan said. “And the idea that providing Ukraine with a weapon in order for them to be able to defend their homeland, protect their civilians, is somehow a challenge to our moral authority — I find questionable.”

Western officials stepped up condemnations of Russia’s decision to pullout of the U.N. grain deal on Thursday, with the European Union’s top diplomat accusing Moscow of deepening a global food shortage by increasing prices. “This is going to create a big and huge food crisis in the world,” Josep Borrell told reporters.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said ships headed to Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea could be considered potential carriers of military cargo to Kyiv and thus “involved in the conflict” — a statement that could reduce the number of vessels willing to transport Ukraine’s grain.

German officials are trying to prevent Ukrainian grain from rotting in silos, working with allies to get the grain out by rail, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Thursday on the sidelines of a European Union foreign ministers meeting.

The extraordinary levels of violence in the conflict continued to take a toll on civilians and civilian infrastructure.

A Chinese consulate building was damaged during the Russian attack on Odessa, the regional governor said. A drone attack in Crimea, meanwhile, killed a teenage girl, Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-backed head of occupied Crimea said on Telegram.

Khurshudyan reported from Kramatorsk, Ukraine. Niha Masih, from Seoul, and Ellen Francis, from London, contributed to this report.

[WhiskeyOutpost]

✴️ Drone dropped grenade lands at the feet of a RU soldier (looks like a LNR/DNR guy) and it detonates. Kreminna area, Luhansk oblast

✴️ Drone dropped F-1 grenade onto a RU excavator, did it break the window and make it inside the cab?!

✴️ HIMARS arrival right next to a RU Pantsir-S1/S2, somehow they manage to drive away albeit with considerable damage. Crew is very lucky

#dronedrop #luhansk #himars #spaagm

[WonderMomma]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyOutpost ↗

✴️ "And here is the same attack on the mine near Krasnogorovka, the video of which was the last for Misha, as well as its consequences from the fighters of the 79th ODShBr" (2 vids)

Damn... your post didn't really register with me earlier saying that MishaDonbass died. But it's true. Holy shit.







This is a post on his channel about his death from one of his administrators.

Originally Posted by WhiskeyOutpost ↗

✴️ RU MT-LB hit with an ATGM then another misses. Both vehicles then targeted by artillery, crew flee.

Found more info about the video in the above quote:

"The Russians continue to intensively lose equipment and personnel during the assault on the mine near Krasnohorivka in the Mariinsky direction.

Even the Russians themselves write that this assault does not serve the purpose for which it is necessary to lose so much strength.

Video from a Russian copter."

#highprofile (kinda) #journalist (kinda)

[WonderMomma]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyOutpost ↗

✴️ RU infantry receive a single HE shell then a cluster munition follow-up. Possibly first use of US donated cluster munitions.

⫸Russia published the following video also confirming their use by Ukrainian artillery. As well as the following message:


⫸"A fragment of the assault in the Bakhmut direction, the 2nd assault battalion 3rd OSHBr is working. The extreme positions of the 72nd brigade and "Storm Z" were completely cleared.

This operation lasted more than 12 hours, the Russians were pushed back 1,800 meters. They tried to counterattack, but ended up being completely defeated and demoralized. Neither reserves nor artillery helped.

40 two hundred Russians. From our side - without losses."

#cluster #bakhmut #fpv #closecombat #droneviewassault #deadru

[Caduceus]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyOutpost ↗

✴️ Drone dropped F-1 grenade onto a RU excavator, did it break the window and make it inside the cab?!

Definitely broke and went through the front tempered glass. I believe I saw a pink puff. Probably occupied.

[WonderMomma]

⫸"Osinter and a fighter of the Armed Forces OSINTua publishes a video of the destruction of a Russian BMP-2 in the direction of Zaporozhye.

In general, the fighter writes that only on the 17th, with the help of 6 FPV drones, BMP-1, BMP-2 and BTR-82A were destroyed.

The total amount of expenses amounted to 2.1 thousand dollars , which is hundreds of times less than the cost of the destroyed equipment."

⫸Video from the same "section" according to the source. A Russian T-90M "Breakthrough" tank is destroyed with a drone drop resulting in an immediate cookoff

⫸"The destruction of a Russian tank and an armored evacuation vehicle by the soldiers of the 77th brigade of the DSHV

If you look closely, I assume that the tank was hit by a Smart | projectile Bonus (you can see the cumulative charge at an almost vertical angle). Yagidne (northern suburb of Bakhmut)"

#dronefpv #apcifv #zaporizhzhia #t90 #dronedrop #cookoff #bakhmut #artillerymortar #cluster #bonus

[WonderMomma]

⫸(2 videos) "Minus the Russian missile defense system "Strela-10" GMLRS"

⫸"Aerobombers of the 10th brigade share the moment of the destruction of the 132nd omsbr brigade Denis "Tashkent" Ivanov with the help of an FPV drone."

Ivanov was a Colonel and commander of the 132nd OMSBr of the Armed Forces of Russia. I've included an article about this below.

#airdef #mlrs #cookoff #highprofile #dronefpv

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/russian-col...kraine-1814001 (first one I came across when I googled him, there are many articles)

"Russian Colonel in Charge of Rifle Brigade Killed in Ukraine
BY BRENDAN COLE ON 7/19/23 AT 7:57 AM EDT

A high-ranking Russian Army officer has reportedly been killed in the eastern Ukrainian oblast of Luhansk, according to Russian and Ukrainian outlets.

Noel Reports, which tweets about the war, said that there is some uncertainty about the circumstances of the death of Denis Ivanov, the commander of the 123rd motorized rifle brigade with the call sign "Tashkent."

It was among Ukrainian channels that said he was killed either due to a kamikaze drone or a missile strike on a car he had been traveling in. Other sources said he was killed in a missile strike on a base in the Lugansk oblast.

The state-backed Russia 1 channel would not give Ivanov's full name but confirmed that the commander known as "Tashkent" had been killed. Many people in Luhansk know that the liberation of Rubizhne, Severodonetsk and many other settlements was "associated with his name," according to the channel.

In a report also carried by the outlet Luhansk News, the channel said that Ivanov was 42 and due to celebrate his birthday next week. He had received the honor "Hero of Russia" and was a father of two. "He was always at the front next to the soldiers," said the outlet, "he was such a fighter."

"Officers are always close to the fighters. Unfortunately, it doesn't come without losses," said the Luhansk News. "He was not one of those who seeks fame in the media, but he was one of the most respected commanders among the fighters of his unit."

The Twitter account of KIU, which tracks Russian officers it says have been killed in Ukraine, said that Ivanov was a former separatist. It noted how the brigade he commanded was a tactical unit of the Ground Forces of the Russian Forces and was formerly the 2nd Brigade of the People's Militia of the so-called Luhansk People's Republic.

KIA's tally as of Wednesday showed the Ukrainian Armed Forces had killed at least 2,529 Russian officers based on publicly available data from Russia.

Ukrainian internal affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko wrote on Telegram that Ivanov was often praised by "Russian propagandists, in particular, Olga Skabeeva. In their stories, they called Ivanov 'the legendary brigade commander.'"

Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the security of ports in Ukraine would be strengthened following two days of strikes on Odesa by Russian forces using missiles and kamikaze drones.

Zelensky said in a press conference that Ukraine needs additional SAMP-T or Patriot air defense systems to protect Odesa.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment on Wednesday.

Update 07/19/23, 11 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with further information."

[WonderMomma]

⫸"Assault battalion "Aidar" (fighting as part of the ⚡️ 5 OShBr in the Bakhmut direction) began to use tactics of mobile medical evacuation of its soldiers on quad bikes.

They say that thanks to this, combat medics can quickly reach hard-to-reach areas of the front."

⫸"JDAM at the headquarters of the Russians, which they set up in Soledar"

⫸"The 3rd separate special purpose regiment of the SSO shares a snapshot of its work"

⫸"The Italian 105-mm mountain howitzer OTO Melara Mod 56 handed over by Spain works against the enemy"

#wounded #jdam #soledar #basehit #compilation #dronedrop #dronefpv #artillerymortar #rupow #howitzer

[WonderMomma]

⫸"The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko publishes a video where the Kara-Dag NSU brigade (formed on the basis of the 9th operational regiment) uses the M58 MICLIC demining unit in the Zaporizhzhia direction.

According to Ihor Klymenko, last week, in some areas, the fighters of the brigade advanced 1,700 meters."

⫸"Fresh trophy T-72BV model 22."

#miclic #zaporizhzhia #thermal #t72