[WonderMomma]

"Many Otokar Cobra II armored cars (filmed yesterday in Romania) are already in Ukraine" (Filmed 13 April, posted 14 April)

FROM WIKIPEDIA:
"The Cobra II (Turkish: Kobra II), a further development of the existing Cobra, is an amoured tactical vehicle designed and produced by Turkish company Otokar. Cobra II is a 4x4 wheeled armoured vehicle and has a capacity for nine personnel including the driver and the commander. It features high level of protection against threats from improvised explosive devices, land mines. Among its various functions are security and peacekeeping operations and border protection. The personnel carrier can be produced in different versions, according to different security requirements of the user thanks to its modular design.

The tactical personnel carrier's overall length is 5.6 m (18 ft) with its width 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) and height 2.2 m (7 ft 3 in). Run flat, CTIS, air conditioning system, blackout lighting system and towing eye are among the standard equipment of the vehicle. It can be additionally fitted with a self-recovery winch, a CBRN filtration kit, automatic fire extinguishing system, navigation system, intercom system and an auxiliary power unit. It can be optionally equipped with a remote controlled weapon system (RCWS) of up to 30 mm machine gun or grenade launcher."

[WonderMomma]

"Russia's GRU special forces lost 90-95% of its fighters in Ukraine, recovery will take up to 10 years - The Washington Post

According to US estimates, the Russian command over-relied on special forces and used them as part of advanced infantry formations that suffered huge losses.

It is indicated that four out of five brigades of the special forces of the Russian Federation suffered fatal losses."

[WonderMomma]

Source: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blog...es-to-unravel/

Putin cancels Victory Day parades as Ukraine invasion continues to unravel
April 13, 2023

With Russia’s annual Victory Day celebrations less than one month away, the Kremlin has taken the highly unusual step of canceling a number of military parades in regional capitals. Scheduled parades to mark the World War II Soviet victory over Nazi Germany have been called off in Kursk and Belgorod oblasts, which both border Ukraine. Victory Day celebrations in Russian-occupied Crimea have also reportedly been scrapped.

The cancellations are officially due to security concerns related to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, numerous commentators have speculated that Moscow is also increasingly short of tanks and is understandably eager to avoid highlighting the scale of the losses suffered by the Russian army in Ukraine. Whether the real reason is security issues or equipment shortages, the decision to cancel this year’s Victory Day parades represents a painful blow for Vladimir Putin that hints at the grim reality behind Moscow’s upbeat propaganda portrayals of his faltering Ukraine invasion.

Russia’s annual Victory Day celebrations are closely associated with Putin personally. Throughout his reign, he has placed the Soviet World War II experience at the heart of efforts to rebuild Russian national pride following the perceived humiliations of the 1990s. Putin has transformed traditional Russian reverence for the Soviet war effort into a quasi-religious victory cult complete with its own dogmas, feast days, and heretics. Victory Day itself has become by far the biggest holiday of the year, with the defeat of Nazi Germany elevated above all other events and achievements as the defining moment in Russian history.

This victory cult has long set the tone in Russian politics and public life. Domestic and foreign opponents of the Putin regime are routinely attacked as “fascists,” with all manner of current affairs issues viewed through the polarizing prism of World War II. This trend is nowhere more evident than in the official Russian approach toward Ukraine. For years, the Ukrainian authorities have been groundlessly branded as “Nazis,” while the current invasion of the country is portrayed as a modern-day continuation of the fight against Adolf Hitler.

The significance of Victory Day for national identity in Putin’s Russia and the holiday’s close associations with the war in Ukraine make this year’s parade cancellations especially embarrassing. Other public celebrations could be postponed or abandoned without much fuss, but failure to mark Victory Day points to serious problems that are difficult to disguise even in Russia’s tightly controlled information environment. While Kremlin propagandists continue to insist the invasion of Ukraine is going according to plan, the apparent inability of the authorities to guarantee security inside Russia during this most important of national holidays would suggest otherwise.

While traditional Victory Day events will not take place on May 9 in some Russian regional capitals, the country’s main holiday parade in Moscow is set to proceed as planned. However, Putin will likely have little to celebrate. In recent months, his invasion has met with a series of setbacks on both the military and diplomatic fronts that leave the prospect of victory more distant than ever.

In Ukraine, Russian efforts to launch a major offensive fell flat during the first three months of 2023, with the Russian military securing only nominal gains despite suffering catastrophic losses in both men and equipment. High casualty rates and a reliance on suicidal “human wave” attacks have led to plummeting morale among Putin’s invading army, with recently mobilized troops particularly prone to demoralization. Since the beginning of the year, dozens of videos have been posted to social media featuring groups of Russian soldiers addressing Putin and other state officials while complaining of poor conditions, cannon fodder tactics, and heavy losses. This is fueling doubts over the Russian army’s ability to mount major offensive operations.

Meanwhile, Russia’s winter bombing campaign against Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure appears to have ended in failure. Putin had hoped to destroy the Ukrainian energy grid and freeze Ukrainians into submission, but a combination of creativity and enhanced air defenses enabled Ukraine to keep the lights on. In a sign that the worst of the crisis is now over, Ukraine resumed electricity exports to neighboring European countries in early April.

Nor is there any indication that Western support for Ukraine is in danger of weakening. On the contrary, during the first three months of 2023, Ukraine’s partners expanded their military aid to include previously taboo items such as modern battle tanks and Soviet era fighter jets. Putin still hopes he can outlast the West in Ukraine, but international opposition to his invasion currently appears to be stronger than ever. Indeed, this continued Western resolve was the key message behind US President Joe Biden’s February visit to Kyiv.

There was further bad news in March when the International Criminal Court in The Hague charged Putin with war crimes over his role in the mass abduction of Ukrainian children. While the Russian dictator is not expected to appear in court anytime soon, the indictment is a serious blow to Putin’s prestige that undermines his status both domestically and on the international stage. Weeks later, Finland joined NATO in a move that more than doubled the length of Russia’s shared borders with the military alliance. Even Xi Jinping’s much-hyped visit to Moscow failed to lift the mood, with the Chinese leader offering plenty of platitudes but little in the way of concrete support.

These unfavorable circumstances will make Putin’s job all the more difficult as he attempts to strike the right note in this year’s Victory Day address. With little to look forward to, he is likely to seek inspiration from the glories of the past. However, comparisons between World War II and Russia’s present predicament may not prove very flattering. At the height of the Nazi advance in late 1941, Moscow famously staged the annual October Revolution parade on Red Square with the might of the invading German army located a mere few miles away. In contrast, Putin is evidently now unable to defend Russia against the far more modest threat posed by a country he expected to conquer in just three days. Throughout the Putin era, Victory Day has served to showcase Russia’s resurgent strength, but this year’s holiday may become a symbol of his regime’s growing weakness.

[WonderMomma]

"Yevgen Prigozhin is proposing to end the war.

“For the authorities and for society as a whole, today it is necessary to put some kind of bullet point in the NWO. The ideal option is to announce the end of the NWO, to inform everyone that Russia has achieved the results that it planned.

Russia cut off the Sea of Azov and a large piece of the Black Sea, seized a fat piece of Ukrainian territory and created a land corridor to the Crimea. Now there is only one thing left: to firmly gain a foothold, to claw, "- writing wine in the program statistics,

The logic of a reasonable type of robber.

They stole enough, you need to zupinitis. Bo you can eat on a zugunder."

[WonderMomma]

"The new Russian "Shushpanzer", self-made, at the front.

The Russian military began to install 2M3M naval gun mounts on ATS-59G land tractors.

2M3M is a 25-mm gun, which is on boats of project 1204 "Bumblebee".

ATS-59G model of 1969 is a crawler tractor without any reservations.

The most important thing in this news is that even this outdated junk is being taken from storage for the army in Russia."






"China buys goods from the occupied territories, it bought copper from the Debaltseve plant of metallurgical engineering , Reuters.

After the start of the Russian invasion, Quzhou Nova purchased 3,220 tons of copper alloys for $7.4 million . The sanctions prohibit international trade with the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine."

[WonderMomma]

More trolling of Russia.

"The Polish special service advises Medvedev to continue combining alcohol with drugs after his words about the "disappearance" of Poland in the event of a war between the Russian Federation and NATO."

[WonderMomma]

"Russia continues to equip trenches in the temporarily occupied Crimea

This is evidenced by new satellite images from Maxar."

[WonderMomma]

1."A rather rare Ukrainian BMM-4S in service⚔️ 92nd OMBr. Capable of receiving up to 10 wounded."

2. "Star Wars actor and United24 ambassador Mark Hamill spoke to the Ukrainian military

Mark Hamill raised $705,000 for RQ-35 Heidrun drones. The military thanked him for his help. The warriors told Mark how reconnaissance drones save the lives of not only the military, but also civilians."

[WhiskeyOutpost]

Originally Posted by WonderMomma ↗

Video update from Magyar showing all their "candies". There are a couple of drone drops in the middle but not enough to merit posting this in the media thread.

"THE CONFECTIONERY is gaining momentum; first of all - thanks to your efforts, thank you."

This is fascinating. Great post

[WonderMomma]

"Mine trawl made in Kryvyi Rih

A mine trawl made in Kryvyi Rih was tested yesterday, it was created at Kryvyi Rih enterprises."