[Roosta]

Originally Posted by WonderMomma ↗

Someone points out all the mirrors in this huge Lancet drone factory. All that's missing is the smoke. English subs

[WonderMomma]

Lukashenko went to Moscow for a meeting with Putin today. This is his arrival at the airport. Red carpet and sweatpants.


_____

"This is why Russian propagandists in the occupied territories of Ukraine are considered legitimate targets

Anyone who participates in reloading guns, rides on military vehicles, has no identifying marks, but carries a weapon becomes a combatant.

The video shows Sergei Zenin, a propagandist for the Kremlin's "Russia-1" channel."

[Faust]

Didn’t find it but found this:

“Ukraine’s Lack of Weaponry and Training Risks Stalemate in Fight With Russia
U.S. and Kyiv knew of shortfalls but Kyiv still launched offensive

When Ukraine launched its big counteroffensive this spring, Western military officials knew Kyiv didn’t have all the training or weapons—from shells to warplanes—that it needed to dislodge Russian forces. But they hoped Ukrainian courage and resourcefulness would carry the day.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine...russia-f51ecf9

Most people still cheered but others like myself and the US officials apparently, knew it would be suicide




**moved from the mobilization thread -WM

[WonderMomma]

"At the moment, the armed forces of the Armed Forces may have several dozen Wolfram mobile launchers based on the Supacat machine for British Brimstone guided missiles .

The news is interesting, because until now there was no data that Brimstone missiles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are fired from a specialized launcher. It was believed that improvised launchers based on homemade Gazelle cars were used to launch such missiles.

ℹ️ It is worth noting that such installations were transferred to us last year, but it became known about it only now."



"Sniper training of the 77th brigade of the DSHV. They practice damaging equipment with armor-piercing bullets."

[WonderMomma]

"KRAKEN TANK FIST

Between the execution of combat tasks, the tank crews of our unit conduct constant training to improve their skills and more effectively destroy the enemy.

System coordination and training on training grounds are the key to success in offensive operations at the front.

One of these trainings is in the new video."

[WonderMomma]

Originally Posted by Faust ↗

Didn’t find it but found this:





https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine...russia-f51ecf9

Most people still cheered but others like myself and the US officials apparently, knew it would be suicide

**moved from the mobilization thread


Another thread derail so it will be moved into the proper thread. What's with you posting links behind paywalls? If you're not going to paste the entire article, the links are useless. It's rather deceptive to paste only a portion that even half ass supports your narrative. Therefore, it's out of context.

What choice do they have? Other than to do nothing and allow defeat. There are thousands of western/NATO trained Ukrainian soldiers. 36,000 alone in the last several months that are fully trained and equipped to enter the counteroffensive. It's been happening since March or so of 2022 and training continues to this day, as I've reported many times in the briefing thread.

People keep talking about how "slow" the counteroffense is going and people like you keep spreading lies about western support stopping because of it, how they're underequipped, and undertrained. It seems your information intake processes are selective and for whatever reason, you're not seeing the whole picture.

Even in the article below it mentions "what if" scenarios if the counteroffensive stalls... whether support will continue. But that is simply a question of "what if". I haven't seen any officials stating anything about it stopping. Why? Because they too, cannot read the future. Know one knows what is going to happen.

It's good that they are not just going into the counteroffensive balls to wall, like Russia did the first month of the invasion. It lessens their losses of both humans and equipment. After months of talking about the counteroffensive, too many people are expecting too much too soon.

It's prime time for the Ukrainian Army. Time to truly show Russia, the world and most importantly, themselves, exactly what they are now capable of. But it's going to stretch out over weeks to months.

Source (behind paywall): https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/23/u...-training.html

Ukraine’s Western-Trained Brigades Begin to Enter the Fight
The arrival of new units could be pivotal. But progress has been slow for Ukraine in the early stage of its counteroffensive.

By Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt
Reporting from Washington

June 23, 2023


They are fighting more effectively at night than their Russian counterparts, U.S. officials say.

They are using American-made Bradley fighting vehicles to destroy Russian armor with anti-tank missiles. And they are deploying combined arms tactics — synchronized attacks by infantry, armor and artillery forces — that they learned from American and other Western troops.

It is, finally, showtime for the 36,000 Ukrainian soldiers — nine brigades — that have been armed, equipped and trained outside of Ukraine over the past several months by the United States and its NATO allies.

How these Western-trained troops perform over the next few months, military experts say, will help determine the success of Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive to push Russian forces out of occupied territory. Their performance will also demonstrate whether the tens of billions of dollars in weapons that Ukraine has received from its allies, including $40 billion from the Biden administration, is managing to transform the Ukrainian military into a NATO-standard fighting force.

Biden administration officials are hoping the nine brigades will show that the American way of warfare — using combined arms, synchronized tactics and regiments with empowered senior enlisted soldiers — is superior to the rigidly centralized command-structure that is the Russian approach.

But the going has been slow for Ukraine, and even proponents of the American way acknowledge that the beginning of the counteroffensive has not yet provided any swift breakthroughs like the Ukrainian military’s one-week retaking of Kharkiv last fall.

“This is the hardest part of the counteroffensive for the Ukrainian military, and it’s also the stage where Russian forces are able to bring their remaining advantages in artillery and air support,” said Dara Massicot, a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. “If the Ukrainians are able to breach, then the dynamics could shift.”

Ukrainian troops have had some small successes, breaking through a first line of Russian defenses and reclaiming several villages. But they have lost some of their newest Western tanks and armored vehicles, and both sides have suffered a high number of casualties, according to a British intelligence report.

“This is very hard work,” said Frederick B. Hodges, a retired lieutenant general and former top U.S. Army commander in Europe. But, he added, “That’s what they’ve been training to do for many months.”

The early stages of the training focused on specific weapons systems supplied by the United States, such as the howitzer. Conducted by the 7th Army Training Command in Germany, the sessions included classroom instruction and field work that began with small squads and later involved larger units, culminating in more complex combat exercises bringing entire battalions and headquarters together.

Other countries, including Britain, Germany and Spain, have also trained Ukrainian brigades for the counteroffensive.

The bulk of the nine Ukrainian brigades has yet to be committed to the fight, but the vanguard of that main assault force is already making its mark.

Pentagon officials and military analysts say Ukraine has gained an advantage by fighting at night. Using night-vision optics, Bradleys and German-supplied Leopard tanks can identify and attack Russian targets in darkness at longer ranges than the Russians.

The difference is even more acute now that Russia is using older, less capable tanks after many of its newer, more advanced versions were destroyed in earlier battles, analysts said.

Ukraine has reinforced the new units with battle-hardened battalions as they prepare to maneuver through Russian minefields and breach other heavily fortified defenses. As part of their weekslong training, soldiers in the brigades briefly rotated into frontline combat units before their entire units deployed.

Ukraine does not discuss military losses, but the battlefield conditions pose a serious challenge for the Ukrainian troops. Russian forces have built a network of minefields, tank traps and other defenses, and the flat terrain, with little cover along much of the southern front, leaves the advancing forces vulnerable to Russian artillery.

In the early days of the counteroffensive, several Bradley fighting vehicles and German Leopard tanks were abandoned by Ukrainian troops or destroyed by Russian forces, based on videos and photographs posted online by bloggers and verified by The New York Times. But the Ukrainian tank crews have generally survived the attacks, and many of the damaged Bradleys and Leopards can be recovered and repaired, U.S. and Ukrainian officials say.

“The Bradleys and Leopards are performing well,” said Rob Lee, a Russian military specialist at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia and a former U.S. Marine officer. “They’re more survivable than the other options Ukraine had. Ukrainian soldiers can be more confident in future battles knowing they’re more likely to survive.”

Ukrainian troops have broken through initial fighting positions along a part of the front and continue to look for Russian vulnerabilities, but they remain several miles from Russia’s main defensive lines. The Russians are waiting to see if the Ukrainians make significant advances before making major movements or adjustments, U.S. officials and military analysts said.

Ukrainian forces have already faced minefields, trenches, anti-tank ditches, air assaults and artillery fire. Bad weather last week, which made muddy fields impassable for heavy armored vehicles, has also hampered both militaries’ efforts, officials said.

For the newly trained troops, speed will be of paramount importance. “They need to keep moving, because the slower they go, the more exposed they are,” said Seth G. Jones, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

For more than a year, Biden administration officials tried to keep facets of the training secret, for fear of providing fuel to the idea that it is the United States, and not Ukraine, that is at war with Russia.

In January, the administration allowed reporters to watch portions of the training in Grafenwöhr, Germany, but they could only follow Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and watch his interactions with Ukrainian and U.S. troops and commanders. They were not permitted to report specific conversations between General Milley and Ukrainian forces, or take photos or video.

On the day he visited, officials said, General Milley exhorted Ukrainian troops to defend their country. As he met with commanders, he said that “this is one of those moments in time where if you want to make a difference, this is it.”

Ukraine is counting on the brigades to help break through Russian defenses, regain some of the nearly 20 percent of the country the Russians occupy, and possibly sever the land bridge connecting Russia to the strategically important Crimea Peninsula.

One Pentagon official said that a lot of training involved teaching Ukrainian troops how to go on the offensive, rather than stay on defense. For years, Ukrainian troops have worked on defensive tactics as Russian-backed separatists launched attacks in eastern Ukraine. When Moscow launched its full-scale invasion last year, Ukrainian troops put their defensive operations into play, denying Russia the swift victory it had anticipated.

If the counteroffensive stalls and the conflict turns into a prolonged insurgency, there are questions about whether Western countries will continue supporting Ukraine at current levels of military aid. Upcoming elections in some of those countries, particularly the United States, pose another potential pitfall for future support.

But if Ukraine can muster a series of tactical victories and string them into successive pivot points, Kyiv might be able to force Moscow’s hand at the negotiation table, U.S. officials say.

“Ukraine’s success in the counteroffensive would do two things,” Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said in Washington last week. “It would strengthen its position at any negotiated table that emerges, and it may have the effect as well of actually causing Putin to finally focus on negotiating an end to the war that he started.”

[WonderMomma]

Originally Posted by WonderMomma ↗

Lukashenko went to Moscow for a meeting with Putin today. This is his arrival at the airport. Red carpet and sweatpants.

"Lukashenko meets with Putin in St. Petersburg

At the meeting, self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that the Wagner PMC fighters were "stressing him out" because they wanted to attack Poland.

Media reports say that Lukashenko brought to the meeting with Putin a map of the deployment of Polish troops to the borders of the Union State: a brigade near Brest and Hrodna.

The meeting between the dictators is expected to last two days."

[WonderMomma]

"Ukraine has already begun using U.S.-supplied cluster munitions against Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine in an effort to break up the heavily fortified Russian positions that slowed the summer offensive by Ukrainian troops.

However, this is not the first time Ukraine has used cluster munitions on the battlefield.

In this video, I covered the following topics: the legacy of cluster munitions from the USSR, supplies to Ukraine, needs of Ukraine, threats to civilians.

If my English is difficult to understand, you can turn on subtitles - they are available"



The video is extremely technical. YT video if you want subtitles:


#cluster

[WonderMomma]

NO MEDIA:
"Ukraine will receive F-16 fighter jets, but their delivery will take several months, - US Secretary of State Blinken.

Source: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/p...-jets-timeline

Antony Blinken says sending Ukraine F-16 jets would take 'months and months'
by Rachel Schilke, Breaking News Reporter |
July 23, 2023 05:57 PM

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it would take "months and months" to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, but assured that the the United States's support for the nation in its war against Russia has not wavered.

During an interview Sunday with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, Blinken said the U.S. has provided Ukraine consistent support, whether through financial assistance or equipment to help repel Russian forces.

"At every step along the way, in fact, going back before the Russian aggression when we saw the storm rising ... we made sure, going back to Labor Day before the war, Christmas before the war, that they started to get in their hands the equipment they would need if the Russians went forward," Blinken said. "Every step along the way ever since, we've worked to try to get them what they need, when they need it."

"But it's not just the equipment itself. It's the training, it's the maintenance, it's the ability to use it in combined arms operations. All of that takes time," Blinken continued. "If a decision were made to actually move forward on the F-16s tomorrow, it would be months and months before they were actually operational."

Blinken's comments come as NATO allies work to arrange the training and transfer of F-16 jets to Ukraine. A senior European official told the Washington Examiner that they are aiming to send the fighter jets sometime during the fall.

The exact number of F-16s allotted for Ukraine remains unknown, but some reports suggest that Denmark, Norway, and Netherlands could come together to provide about 50 of the jets.

In mid-July, Joint Staff Director for Operations Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims confirmed that cluster munitions were delivered to Ukraine from the U.S. The defense department also said it had "hundreds of thousands" available to provide immediately.



______

"Greek consulate building and 50 houses damaged in Odesa strike - Zelensky

"Last night alone, almost 50 buildings in Odesa were damaged, 25 of them are architectural monuments. The historic center, a world heritage site, which was taken under the protection of UNESCO. The building of the Greek consulate was also damaged. This is the second consular institution to be affected by Russian terror," the President said."

[WonderMomma]

◉"Over the past three days, the enemy began pumping up his bridgehead near Karmazynivka under the cover of unlimited artillery shells

Katsap climbed from Karmazynivka , this section against the background of the rest was always calm and this significantly affected the events. An important role in this success of the enemy was played by a colossal advantage in artillery. The enemy "turned on the hail" even if he saw a couple of our fighters. Based on the situation, some units had to leave.

Now, the Defense Forces are carrying out stabilization measures: a reserve has been introduced, and artillery is firing on targets near the crossing.

This is all we can report for now. Wait for official comments, don't spread treason and don't believe doubograys.

In order to reduce speculation about events from channels that have no idea what's going on, but regularly spew insiders, we will comment on changes on the map in the form of publications more often."


◉"155-mm DM125 smoke artillery shells from the German concern Rheinmetall are used by Ukrainian artillerymen.

Such projectiles have a smoke-forming substance, when it bursts, a dense cloud of smoke is formed. It is used for blinding the enemy, setting up smoke screens, as well as for targeting or determining the speed and direction of the wind in the area of the target."