Ukraine Open Thread 2023-131

Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict.

The current open thread for other issues is here.

Please stick to the topic. Contribute facts. Do not attack other commentators.

Open (Not Ukraine) Thread 2023-130

News & views (not related to the war in Ukraine) ...

Drones Strikes In Moscow - Missile Strikes In Ukraine

Today the Russian government revealed some numbers and information about its 'Special Military Operation'.

Today's 'clobber report' by the Ministry of Defense leads with this (machine translation):

During the day, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out group strikes using long-range high-precision air-launched weapons at central decision-making points where, under the guidance of specialists from Western intelligence agencies, terrorist acts were planned on Russian territory.

All assigned objects are hit.

'Central decision-making points' are ministries and main headquarters. These had so far not been targets. More to that below.

Defense Minister Shoigu had a conference call with the military command and noted:

"Russian forces continue to inflict an effective fire impact on the enemy. Its losses this month alone totaled over 16,000 troops, 16 aircraft, 5 helicopters, 466 drones, over 400 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, and 238 field artillery pieces and mortars," Shoigu said during a conference call.

He added that 196 HIMARS rockets, 16 HARM rockets and 29 Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles were intercepted and destroyed during the reviewed period.

The numbers are, with the exception of the downed Storm Shadows,  largely consistent with the numbers from the daily 'clobber report' in my spreadsheet. But I have only counted 17 reported Storm Shadow kills over the last month. I do not know where Shoigu's 29 is coming from.

Shoigu also spoke of targets of the recent drone attacks in Ukraine (machine translation):

Cont. reading: Drones Strikes In Moscow - Missile Strikes In Ukraine

Egg In Their Face - Two Anti-China Claims The Wall Street Journal Made Last Weeks Were Fake

On May 26 Amnesty International published one of its usual aggressive accusations against a government the U.S. is hostile to.

Hong Kong: Government must reveal whereabouts of Uyghur student detained at airport (archived)

Hong Kong authorities must reveal the whereabouts and fate of a Uyghur student who has been missing since he arrived in the city from South Korea earlier this month, amid fears he has been unlawfully extradited to mainland China without due process and is at risk of arbitrary detention and torture, Amnesty International said today.

Abuduwaili Abudureheman has not been heard from since he sent a text message to a friend on 10 May. In the message, Abudureheman said he was being interrogated by Chinese police after arriving at Hong Kong airport.

“The unknown fate of Abuduwaili Abudureheman is deeply worrying, given the background of crimes against humanity committed against Uyghurs by the Chinese government in Xinjiang, and its ongoing pursuit of Uyghurs who have travelled overseas,” said Alkan Akad, Amnesty International’s China Researcher.

The accusations seem to be based on claims made by a single anonymous source:

Cont. reading: Egg In Their Face - Two Anti-China Claims The Wall Street Journal Made Last Weeks Were Fake

The Reconnaissance Strike Complex

The Reconnaissance Strike Complex
Lester Grau and Charles Bartles - May 30, 2018

The Soviet Union, and now Russia, have long worked on the development of twin concepts for the detection and assured destruction of high-value targets in near-real time. The Reconnaissance Strike Complex (разведивательно-ударный комплех-RYK) was designed for the coordinated employment of high-precision, long-range weapons linked to real-time intelligence data and precise targeting provided to a fused intelligence and fire-direction center. The RYK functioned at operational depths using surface-to-surface missile systems and aircraft-delivered “smart” munitions.

It took some time for the Russian reconnaissance-strike-complex to improve its reaction time. But it now seems to be quite fast.

First the reconnaissance element:

The Ukrainian Air Force Formed A New Strike Squadron—By Arming Reconnaissance Bombers With British Cruise Missiles
Forbes - May 28, 2023

Working closely with the United Kingdom, the Ukrainian air force has equipped at least some of the recon section—which flies two-seat, supersonic Sukhoi Su-24MRs from the regiment’s base in western Ukraine—with British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
...
All the pre-war bombers and recon planes—as many as 16 of the former and nine of the latter—belonged to the 7th Bomber Regiment at Starokostiantyniv air base.

In a year and three months, the regiment has written off at least 17 Su-24s. Victims of Russian air-defense missiles, mostly.
...
It’s that simplicity [of the conversion] that apparently allowed the Ukrainian air force and its British supporters to form what amounts to a new long-range strike squadron—eight or more Storm Shadow-armed Su-24MRs—inside the battle-battered 7th Bomber Regiment ... in just three months’ time.

After reading yesterday's Forbes piece about Storm Shadow launching airplanes stationed at the Starokostiantyniv air base the commanders at the operation center of the Russian Special Military Operation, decided to have them destroyed.

The strike:

Cont. reading: The Reconnaissance Strike Complex

Ukraine Open Thread 2023-129

Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict.

The current open thread for other issues is here.

Please stick to the topic. Contribute facts. Do not attack other commentators.

The MoA Week In Review - (Not Ukraine) OT 2023-128

Last week's post on Moon of Alabama:

• May 22 - Media And Politicians Throw So Much Bullshit At Us That It Is Difficult To See Through It
  Related:
  - Most Propaganda Looks Nothing Like This - Caitlin Johnstone
  - Durham exposes FBI role in Clinton's Trump-Russia deception - Aaron Maté
  - FBI misused surveillance authorities to investigate Black Lives Matter protesters - Politico

• May 23 - F-16s To Ukraine
  Related:
  - Post-Bakhmut scenario in Ukraine war - Indian Punchline
  - Latest Headlines Digest - The West's Tone Drastically Shifts - Simplicius
  - 36 Hours in Bakhmut: One Unit’s Desperate Battle to Hold Back the Russians - WSJ via Archive.org

> Over the 36 hours he spent in brutal house-to-house combat in the eastern Ukrainian city, 11 of the 16 men from Malkovskiy’s group of draftees were either killed or captured, according to surviving soldiers and relatives of the missing. <

• May 24 - Mearsheimers Latest Talk On The War In Ukraine
  Related:
  - The EU Is Over-Invested in the Ukrainian War-Project - Alastair Crooke / SCF
  - European Parliament to Join the Militarisation Path - Socialist Project
  - The Economic Suicide Of EU Countries: Data Reveals That Germany Has “Sanctioned” Itself Into Recession- Kolozeg

• May 25 - Why Are These Biden Officials Leaving Their Top Posts?
  Related:
  - US Geopolitics: Believing Impossible Things - Naked Capitalism
  - White House Official: Biden’s Migration Is an Economic Strategy - Breitbart
  - Woke Imperium: The Coming Confluence Between Social Justice & Neoconservatism - Peace Diplomacy

• May 26 - Closing The Case Of Regime Changer Roman Protasevich And His Ryanair Flight To Minsk
  Related:
  - Belarusian activist accused of informing on former girlfriend Sofia Sapega as he's pardoned - Telegraph

---
Other issues:

Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review - (Not Ukraine) OT 2023-128

Ukraine Open Thread 2023-127

Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict.

The current open thread for other issues is here.

Please stick to the topic. Contribute facts. Do not attack other commentators.

Ukraine Open Thread 2023-126

Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict.

The current open thread for other issues is here.

Please stick to the topic. Contribute facts. Do not attack other commentators.

Closing The Case Of Regime Changer Roman Protasevich And His Ryanair Flight To Minsk

Two years ago a Ryanair flight from Athens to Lithuania was diverted after the Belorussian flight control informed the pilot that it had received an email which said that the plane carried a bomb and would explode during landing in Lithuania.

The plane diverted to Minsk. All passengers stepped off board and where bused to the terminal. When they passed through passport control the immigration officers found that two of the passengers had outstanding arrest warrants against them. These were one Roman Protasevich and his Russian girlfriend and co-worker Sofia Sapega.

The 'western' media and politicians were up in arms over the 'unprecedented' incident. But the event was far from unprecedented.

Western media also failed to report that Roman Protasevich had been a western government financed neo-nazi who had fought with the fascist Ukrainian Azov battalion before working for U.S. sponsored regime change media in Poland. He was one of the persons who had directed the failed 2020 color-revolution in Belarus.

Cont. reading: Closing The Case Of Regime Changer Roman Protasevich And His Ryanair Flight To Minsk