[kellyhound]

A Russian Mi-24 helicopter crashed into the Black Sea off the coast of Crimea, Russian state-controlled news agency RIA Novosti reported on April 10, citing the Russian Defense Ministry.

The news came hours after the Ukrainian Navy reported that a Russian Ka-27 helicopter had crashed over Crimea.

The Mi-24 allegedly crashed "while performing a scheduled flight over the Black Sea" near the western coast of the Crimean peninsula, RIA Novosti quoted a Russian Defense Ministry statement.

"The preliminary cause of the crash was an aircraft failure," the Russian Defense Ministry claimed.

RIA Novosti said that "search and rescue services are at the scene" but provided no details about whether the crew survived.

Ukrainian Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk said that the Ka-27 helicopter apparently fell out of the air due to an explosion on board.

"We can say that the helicopter fell. We have information that this disaster was preceded by an explosion. This means that the crash did not happen simply due to technical reasons, but something happened on board," Pletenchuk said.

Earlier on April 10, Ukraine's General Staff reported that Russia had lost 325 helicopters since the start of the full-scale invasion.

[marekparek]

KILL HOUSE is an FPV school from the Third Assault!

For the first time. We are opening recruitment for the training of operators of strike drones at the base of the Third Assault Brigade.

Own unique flight track and training course from combat instructors.

A civilian will be able to master the profession and gain skills in eliminating invaders from the sky. Military - go through training and start destroying the enemy with confidence.

[Roosta]

[kellyhound]

After battles on the outskirts of Krasnohorivka intensified in recent weeks, the invaders have secured a foothold in the southern and eastern neighbourhoods and carried out attacks into the centre of the settlement.

North of Avdiivka,the invaders have started to advance along the rail line to the edge of the settlement of Ocheretyne. Until now attacks have focused in a westerly direction creating a control buffer between Avdiivka and the frontline.

The invaders has also secured more territory west of Tonen'ke.

The invaders have continued its recent advances west of Bakhmut, taking positions close to the outskirts of Chasiv Yar and pushing Ukr. soldiers out of Bohdanivka.

They have also attacked between Ivanivske and Klishchiivka.

[kellyhound]

Ukrainian drones attacked the 590th Separate Radio Engineering unit of Military Unit 84680, located in the Russian city of Kovylkino in the Republic of Mordovia, on 17 April.

UP sources reported that the DIU carried out a special operation.

The target of the UAV strike was the 29B6 Container, an over-the-horizon radar with a target detection range of about 3000 km and a detection height of over 100 km.

The distance from the Ukrainian border to the strike location is approximately 580 kilometres.
https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/29B6_...r%27_OTH_Radar

The two-coordinate 29B6 Container over-the-horizon radar is part of the air and space reconnaissance and warning system. The first sample of the Container radar was constructed by the Russians in Kovylkino, Mordovia, in 2000-2002.

Residents report hearing explosions around 09:00 through messaging apps. Videos are also being shared online showing a pillar of smoke at the site of the Container radar after the drone strike.

This radar was developed over a period of ~ 5 years, and it took ~ 10-15 years to put it into service.

[kellyhound]

"For the first time, Ukraine will produce 10 self-propelled howitzers "Bohdana" already this month", Zelensky told.

"The share of own production is constantly growing. The state concludes serious, long-term contracts with our enterprises, which provide predictability, the opportunity to recruit people and attract investments", he added.

[kellyhound]

Lithuania announced the transfer of a new package of military aid to Ukraine, which includes the L-39ZA Albatros light attack aircraft

As noted by the Ministry of Defense of Lithuania, this attack aircraft was used in the Lithuanian army to train pilots in the control of fighter jets, such machines ensure the combat readiness of pilots. The provided equipment has already arrived in Ukraine.

[kellyhound]

The US House of Representatives has approved a $61bn (£49bn) aid package for Ukraine.

The vote had been delayed by Republicans for months, with some objecting to sending money overseas instead of the US-Mexico border.

Ukraine, which heavily relies on Western weapons, desperately needs the aid as it struggles to fight against Russia's invasion.

Ukrainian soldiers are running so low on munitions, they are having to ration shells on the battlefield.

Separate votes will be held on an aid package to Israel and to Taiwan to deter Chinese aggression.

The votes are a politically risky move by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to get Ukraine's aid package through.

The White House has just released a statement from President Joe Biden urging the Senate to pass the aid bills as soon as possible.

He says: "Today, members of both parties in the House voted to advance our national security interests and send a clear message about the power of American leadership on the world stage.

"At this critical inflection point, they came together to answer history’s call, passing urgently-needed national security legislation that I have fought for months to secure."

Biden says the vote comes at a moment of "grave urgency" for Israel and Ukraine, and he thanks Republican Speaker Mike Johnson and his Democrat counterpart for cutting a deal to get the vote passed.

Biden continues: "I urge the Senate to quickly send this package to my desk so that I can sign it into law and we can quickly send weapons and equipment to Ukraine to meet their urgent battlefield needs."

[kellyhound]

On March 12, the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden unexpectedly gifted to Ukraine a $300-million consignment of weapons—the last consignment paid for with funds the U.S. Congress approved before Republicans gained narrow control of the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2023.

Five weeks later, the Ukrainian finally put the weapons to good use.

The arms package reportedly included a small number of long-range M39 rockets, also known as Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS. On Tuesday night, the Ukrainian army fired some—maybe all—of the M39 ATACMS at a single Russian air base in occupied Crimea.

The damage was extensive. Imagery from the ground at Dzhankoy air base, 100 miles south of the front line, confirms the Russians lost at least four launchers belonging to an S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile battery. The Ukrainian defense ministry claimed the rockets also knocked out the S-400’s control center and four precious air-defense radars.

According to the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies, a regiment of helicopters and three squadrons of attack jets—dozens of aircraft in all—fly from Dzhankoy. It’s unclear whether any of the aircraft were damaged or destroyed on Tuesday night, however. “The enemy carefully hides the number of affected aircraft,” the defense ministry in Kyiv noted.

A video the ministry released on Thursday seems to depict seven or eight M39s streaking into the night sky, presumably somewhere around the free city of Kherson. Each 100-mile-range rocket carried nearly a thousand grenade-sized submunitions inside its 13-foot body—meaning as many as 8,000 individual explosions rocked the Russian base.

While the Ukrainian army’s wheeled High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems can each launch a single two-ton M39, the M270s can launch two. Considering the Ukrainians tend to operate their HIMARS and M270s in platoons of four launchers, it’s likely the latter carried out the raid on Dzhankoy.

The speedy HIMARS are media darlings in Ukraine: symbols of one of the Ukrainian military’s few technological advantages over the bigger and better-funded Russian military. The Tuesday raid was a rare chance for the lumbering M270s to shine.

The first consignment of M39s from the United States arrived in Ukraine last fall, a few weeks before the initial U.S. funding for the Ukrainian war effort began to run out.

Considering that aid package included just 20 or so M39s, it’s likely the belated aid package in March—which the White House paid for with unexpected savings from a previous contract for weapons for Ukraine—included fewer of the 1990s-vintage munitions. It’s possible there were just eight rockets, and that platoon of M270s fired all of them at Dzhankoy in a single fiery barrage.

If the damage was as bad as the Ukrainian defense ministry claimed, it may have been worth it to fire all the M39s. The Ukrainians can take comfort in knowing it’s highly likely they’re about to get more ATACMS rockets—potentially a lot more.

That’s because the Republican Speaker of the House, Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson, is finally bringing to a vote Biden’s proposal to spend $61 billion on weapons and other aid for Ukraine through the end of the year. The long-delayed vote, which is strongly opposed by a minority of Russia-friendly Republicans, is scheduled for Saturday—and is expected to pass.

A provision in the bill requires Biden to send more ATACMS to Ukraine. There are hundreds of the old rockets in the U.S. inventory, and their solid fuel is expiring soon. There’s no reason the White House couldn’t send all of them to Ukraine after the vote this weekend.

And there’s no reason the Ukrainian army can’t fire them at any Russian base within a hundred miles of the front line.

[marekparek]

I hope, this could change mind of Huilo, and make him to stop this genocidal war