Ukraine Open Thread 2022-148
News & views related to the Ukraine conflict.
Please stick to the topic.
The current open thread for other issues is here.
Posted by b on September 8, 2022 at 10:48 UTC | Permalink
next page »Falco | Sep 8 2022 11:37 utc | 1
New Ukraine thread, new troll.../ username. You are correct Falco. The combined NATO forces in Ukraine are little more than a sideshow for the Russian Federation.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 8 2022 11:46 utc | 2
never mind. this is the right thread.
Bernhard your titles at the top can be confusing as the link to the non thread title, is larger than the title of the thread itself.
Food for thought on making it easier to see what is what.
anywho, my original comment on Ukraine for the day
Russia is playing the long game. as she always does.
the west is throwing everything it has to Ukraine, only to still see a defeated ukronazi failure. Russia continues to set the trap for Ukrainians around izum kharkov and kherson regions. although the south is pretty much already wiped out. The same will happen in the Izum attack in the coming days. with MASSIVE amounts of Ukrainian hardware being taken out. Expect a major Russian push by the end of September or early October. with the Russians taking the Donbass by the end of this winter. there will be nothing left of Ukrainians forces come spring time, and that is when we can expect Russia to take Odessa.
The Russians let the Ukrainians commit suicide time and time again, The izum offensive is no different.
Simmer Down Concern Trolls...
Posted by: BurnEye Minds3rdEye | Sep 8 2022 11:53 utc | 3
From IntelSlava Telegram:
"According to CBS News, Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, ethnic Ukrainian Chrystia Freeland is being considered for the post of NATO Secretary General."
Yes!!! It gets her out of Canadian politics and will hasten the downfall of NATO. Win-Win!!!
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Sep 8 2022 11:54 utc | 4
as a Russian Canadian, There is truly no one i hate more than that C-U_n-T Chrystia Freeland!
I vote for her being sent to the donbass front lines! Don't give her Nato General power. that bitch is INSANE and will Nuke us all! I live in her country, and still fear her nuking me!
Posted by: BurnEye Minds3rdEye | Sep 8 2022 11:58 utc | 5
Are they getting serious for another set of foreign aids ? The MSM is inconspicuously silent on this so seems all indications are negetive. I am sure a set of people are sweating profusely seeing the results coming out from the frontlines(err meat grinder) but can not do anything to alter the outcome. Nevermind because Zelly is busy on opening bell for NYSE anyway.
Posted by: KD | Sep 8 2022 11:59 utc | 6
⚡️🇷🇺🇺🇦⚔️ Situation in the #Kharkov direction at 13.30 on 8 Sep 2022⚡️
The situation near #Balakleya remains difficult. Nevertheless, the enemy has not yet succeeded in fully mastering the road network to the north and west of the city, cutting off the supply of the Russian grouping near #Izyum.
▪️ The AFU is trying to storm the village of #Shevchenkovo on the Balakleya-Kupyansk trunk road. The deployed reserves of the Russian Armed Forces have so far repelled the Ukrainian attacks on the village. The enemy is not trying to launch an offensive to the north.
▪️ #Balakleya remains operationally encircled and all access roads are shot. However, the city remains under the control of Russian forces: according to some sources, they have even managed to bring reinforcements there. There is also information about the successful withdrawal of SOBR units from the encirclement.
▪️ Throughout the night, the Russian Air Force operated in the air, carrying out intensive missile and bomb attacks on the advancing AFU units and their reserves. The artillery of the Russian forces, including heavy TOS-1A flame-thrower systems, also continuously struck targets. These measures partially contained the enemy, causing casualties and slowing the pace of advance.
The Ukrainian command's closest objective is to reach the villages of #Veseloye and #Kunye and further to the Oskolskoye water reservoir. This would practically encircle the Russian Forces grouping near #Izyum, so the AFU will throw all forces to achieve the plan in the near future.
If this does not succeed, the fighting will turn into positional fighting and the Russian forces will be able to use local superiority in artillery and aviation to inflict heavy losses on the enemy.
Posted by: unimperator | Sep 8 2022 12:06 utc | 7
https://twitter.com/Silvia_Amaro/status/1566943592236560384
Indian Petroleum Minister: "We will buy oil from Russia, we will buy from wherever"
I wonder how the US will react against India? US and India are supposed to hold the ‘Yudh Abhyas’ joint exercise in the Himalayas in October.
Posted by: regale | Sep 8 2022 12:15 utc | 8
What does Truss announce on her first day in the drivers seat? That she's accepted an invitation to visit 'Keev'. At least she follows orders promptly.
Posted by: Steve Darkmatter | Sep 8 2022 12:16 utc | 9
To be honest it is now pretty clear that Nato is committing continuously deeper in Ukraine. Russians must to some degree build up more forces, but whether it would require "real mobilization" idk. Ukraine has already been at almost full mobilization for a while now.
In this context purchasing drones, artillery shells etc. from other BRICs countries seems about right. Some domestic production capacity can be released to make other stuff.
Posted by: unimperator | Sep 8 2022 12:16 utc | 10
G7 securities trading and regulation (wut regulation?!) UPDATE!
(UA $6b/mo working capital, $600B-$700B re-cap pkg d/b/a "recovery" ask) background:
• DW | EU to set up a PLATFORM for Ukrainian reconstruction, 4 July
• euractiv | EIB to raise €100 billion to help rebuild Ukraine, 4 July
• v1.Ukrinform | Ukraine Recovery: Lugano Conference participants sign Outcome Declaration, 5 July
"guarantors": EU-EC, AT, BE, HR, CY, ET, FI, FR, DE, GR, HU, IE, IT, LA, LT, LI, LU, MT, MD, NL, MK, PO, RO, SK, SI, ES; SE, NO, DK; CH, UA; US, UK, CA, TR, IS; JP, AU, KR, IL, AL; COE, EBRD, EIB, OECD
• v2. July 4-5 Ukraine Recovery/Reconstruction Conference in Lugano, CH
NEW! IPO prospectus inna *flation "environment":
Economic Truth | Zelensky opened trading on the New York Stock Exchange, 6 Sep
President Volodymyr Zelensk* virtually opened stock trading at the New York Stock Exchange and presented the Advantage Ukraine portal with opportunities to invest in the Ukrainian economy. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Economy.
[...]
The Advantage Ukraine initiative is aimed at attracting investments to the country. The platform collects investment projects and opportunities in 10 industries such as: defense-industrial complex, metallurgy, energy, agro-complex, woodworking and furniture manufacturing, innovative technologies, logistics and infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, natural resources, industrial production.Ukraine offers everyone interested a menu of potential opportunities worth more than $400 billion. The portal covers public-private partnerships, privatization[,] and private enterprises. It is noted that the Ukrainian delegation presented an investment plan in Lugano, and currently the list of real projects is increasing and becoming more diverse.
[...]
In order to create a safe and transparent environment for attracting business, Ukraine seeks to obtain investment guarantees from the "Big Seven" [ie. G7] countries and [?] the EU, and also wants to reform the tax system and is forming a legislative framework.
ROI? never o'clock
Posted by: sln2002 | Sep 8 2022 12:16 utc | 11
Posted by: sln2002 | Sep 8 2022 12:16 utc | 13
So basically the "reconstruction platform" is a transfer of wealth from EU-rope to the US military industrial complex, in the hundreds of billions of $s. Little to do with Ukraine is my guess.
Also the plan seems ironic considering that the EUrocrats are hell-bent in destroying their own domestic manufacturing capacity of everything. Now they want to "invest in Ukraine to make stuff"? That's friggin' delusional.
Posted by: unimperator | Sep 8 2022 12:22 utc | 12
Re: Post #1
The twin Ukrainian offensives have indeed been a smashing success.
It would have taken weeks and months to winkle out that many Ukrainian/Polish/NATO tanks and planes.
The Ukrainian wood is definitely successfully pushing back against the Russian circular saw...
Posted by: c1ue | Sep 8 2022 12:35 utc | 13
Posted by: Steve Darkmatter | Sep 8 2022 12:16 utc | 9
Her name is Elizabeth O'Leary
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Sep 8 2022 12:38 utc | 14
Report of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine - as of September 8, 2022
🔻 In the Nikolaev-Kryvyi Rih direction, due to heavy losses in the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which formed the basis of the strike force, no offensive operations were carried out by Ukrainian troops.
▪️The Russian Aerospace Forces, missile troops and artillery continue to deliver precision strikes on units and reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in this direction.
▪️The command posts of the 63rd mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of BEREZNEGOVATOE of the Nikolaev region, the manpower and military equipment of the 46th airmobile, 57th motorized infantry and 28th mechanized brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of DRY STAVOK, PETROVSKOE, the tract Plotnitskoye of the Kherson region were hit , MURAKHOVKA and THORNY PODS of the Nikolaev region. In the MURAKHOVKA area of the Nikolaev region, an ammunition depot was destroyed.
▪️Fighter aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down a Su-25 of the Ukrainian Air Force in the area of KONSTANTINOVKA, Mykolaiv region.
▪️ As a result of heavy losses from concentrated fire strikes of the Russian Armed Forces on the positions of the 59th motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of UKRAINKA, ZELENY GAY and NOVOGRIHORIEVKA of the Nikolaev region, Ukrainian servicemen refused to carry out combat missions and began an unauthorized retreat to the rear areas.
▪️In total, in the Nikolaev-Krivoy Rog direction, the enemy lost 2 tanks, 6 infantry fighting vehicles and 5 other armored vehicles, 7 pickup trucks with heavy machine guns and more than 190 military personnel per day.
▪️High-precision strikes of the Russian Aerospace Forces defeated the points of temporary deployment of units of the 95th Airborne Assault Brigade in the SLAVYANSK region and the 81st Airborne Brigade in the KRAMATORSK region of the Donetsk People's Republic. Up to 120 Ukrainian servicemen, 15 units of armored and motor vehicles were destroyed.
🔻The strikes by operational-tactical and army aviation, missile forces and artillery on military facilities on the territory of Ukraine continue.
▪️Five command posts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were hit during the day, including the 72nd mechanized, 58th and 53rd motorized infantry brigades in the areas of the settlements of DZERZHINSK, SOLEDAR and ARTYOMOVSK of the Donetsk People's Republic, the 1st tank brigade in the area of the settlement of NOVONIKOLAEVKA, Zaporozhye region, as well as fifty-one artillery units, manpower and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 167 districts.
▪️Five depots of rocket and artillery weapons and ammunition were destroyed in the areas of the settlements of LABOR in the Zaporozhye region, KURAKHOVO, KONSTANTINOVKA, SEVERSK of the Donetsk People's Republic and BALAKLEYA in the Kharkiv region.
▪️In addition, in the area of the settlement of BELAYA KRYNYTSA, Mykolaiv region, a launcher of the Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile system was destroyed, and in the area of MALOMIKHAILOVKA, Dnepropetrovsk region, a radar station for detecting and tracking air targets.
▪️The air defense systems of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down 13 unmanned aerial vehicles in the areas of the settlements of CHERVONOSELOVKA, OCHERETOVATE and ALEKSANDROVKA in the Zaporozhye region, VLADIMIROVKA, the railway station MANDRYKINO, KIRILLOVKA and NOVOANDREEVKA in the Donetsk People's Republic, LYUBIMOVKA, KRESCHENOVKA, KIROVALOVKA in TOMSON BIROVOVKA region, ALISOVKA in Kharkiv region, SENKOVKA in Chernihiv region, as well as the Tochka-U ballistic missile in the area of RAKOVKA in Kherson region.
▪️In addition, 19 rocket launchers of multiple launch rocket systems were intercepted in the air, including 16 - HIMARS in the areas of NOVAYA KAKHOVKA, YOUTH, Kherson region, NOVOSINOVO, GRUSHEVKA, Kharkiv region and 3 rockets of the Alder multiple launch rocket system - in the area of ANTONOVKA, Kherson region .
▪️In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 293 aircraft, 152 helicopters, 1910 unmanned aerial vehicles, 374 anti-aircraft missile systems, 4863 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 826 combat vehicles of multiple launch rocket systems, 3369 field artillery guns and mortars, and also 5387 units of special military vehicles.
Posted by: Summary | Sep 8 2022 12:41 utc | 15
Strelkov being proved right from the beginning as time goes by.
Wish I were surprised.
From a Twitter comment:
"Maybe a doomer, but smart, and besides, doomers are way more useful than cheerleeders. Actually, cheerleaders are the ones that bring the doom."
Don't expect the usual grifters, pick up artists, paedophiles, and other totally unqualified pundits who quote each other to amplify their echo chamber to say anything other than the usual nonsense. They increasingly remind me of "Baghdad Bob".
But at least Baghdad Bob was working directly for his country, as opposed to selling books and advertisements to gullible, histrionic people.
For whatever reason the RF strategy is with a force insufficient to meet their stated goals.
Funnily enough, everyone criticised Rumsfeld for the same mistake in Iraq back in 2003-2006. Then there was something called a "surge".
Seems like RF need to consider such a "surge". Hopefully it is already underway.
Posted by: moaobserver | Sep 8 2022 12:41 utc | 16
btw
EC | EU-U.S. LNG TRADE a/o Jan 2022, illustrated
Europe is currently importing around 90% of the gas it needs [...] Since the meeting of US and EU Commission Presidents in 2018, U.S. LNG exports into Europe increased by 2240%.[...]The fact is that U.S. LNG, if priced competitively, can play an important role in EU gas supply, enhancing diversification and EU energy security.Then, three (3) miracles occurred!
• the discovery of EU "Russian gas embargo" price-fixing and bid-rigging
Yellen said she would use the forum to continue to push for a cap on Russian oil prices that would limit Moscow’s ability to finance its war and while curbing global inflation.• APsplainin
Russian pipeline gas accounted for 40% [~ 155 bcm] of all imported gas into Europe before Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February but now only accounts for 9%, von der Leyen [eh?]. Norway now delivers more gas to the bloc than Russia.• Ukraine will increase electricity exports to EU to 300 MW during peak hours
The European Network of Transmission System Operators ENTSO] for Electricity has increased the available capacity for the export of electricity from Ukraine to the European Union
[...]
On the first day of delivery on September 5, it will be distributed in the direction of Romania in the amount of 125 MW, and Slovakia - 175 MW in the day and night hours of the auctions for access to interstate crossings.As Ukrainian News reported, since the end of June, Ukraine has earned UAH 2 billion [EUR 54,690,849] from exporting electricity to Europe.
Posted by: sln2002 | Sep 8 2022 12:52 utc | 17
So basically the "reconstruction platform" is a transfer of wealth from EU-rope to the US military industrial complex ...
Posted by: unimperator | Sep 8 2022 12:22 utc | 12
umm, no. You skipped a couple of steps: The Underwriters alias banks that set risk rate and the p/s per "project" at umm an entry point attractive to "safe haven" pension and "bond vigilante" hedge fund managers. Remember, children: The greater the risk, the greater the reward!
Posted by: sln2002 | Sep 8 2022 13:02 utc | 18
A very interesting op-ed at RT today by Dmitry Trenin. He argues that Russia's strategic objectives expanded after Ukraine-at NATO insistence- ended peace talks earlier this year. In particular he says, to 'de-Nazification' and 'de-militarisation' it is now necessary to add the return of all the Russian territories transferred by the USSR to the Ukrainian SSR. For those who cannot access RT here is a taste:
"....From the spring of 2022, as the fighting continued, Moscow expanded its aims. These now included the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine, meaning not only the removal of ultra-nationalist and anti-Russian elements from the Ukrainian government (increasingly characterized by Russian officials now as the “Kiev regime”), but the extirpation of their underlying ideology (based around the World War Two Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera) and its influence in society, including in education, the media, culture and other spheres.
"Next to this, Moscow added something that Putin called, in his trademark caustic way, the “de-Communization” of Ukraine, meaning ridding that country, whose leadership was rejecting its Soviet past, of the Russian-populated or Russian-speaking territories that had been awarded to the Soviet Ukrainian republic of the USSR by the Communist leaders in Moscow, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev. These include, besides Donbass, the entire southeast of Ukraine, from Kharkov to Odessa.
"This change of policy led to dropping the early signals about Russia honoring Ukraine’s statehood outside Donbass, and to establishing Russian military government bodies in the territory seized by the Russian forces. Immediately following that, a drive started to de facto integrate these territories with Moscow. By the early fall of 2022, all of Kherson, much of Zaporozhye and part of Kharkov oblasts were being drawn into the Russian economic system; started to use the Russian ruble; adopted the Russian education system; and their population was offered a fast-track way to Russian citizenship.
"As the fighting in Ukraine quickly became a proxy war between Russia and the US-led West, Russia’s views on Ukraine’s future radicalized further. While a quick cessation of hostilities and a peace settlement on Russian terms in the spring would have left Ukraine, minus Donbass, demilitarized and outside NATO, but otherwise under the present leadership with its virulently anti-Russian ideology and reliance on the West, the new thinking, as Putin’s remarks in Kaliningrad suggest, tends to regard any Ukrainian state that is not fully and securely cleansed of ultranationalist ideology and its agents as a clear and present danger; in fact, a ticking bomb right on Russia’s borders not far from its capital.
"Under these circumstances, in view of all the losses and hardships sustained, it would not suffice that Russia wins control of what was once known as Novorossiya, the northern coast of the Black Sea all the way to Transnistria. This would mean that Ukraine would be completely cut off from the sea, and Russia would gain – via referenda, it is assumed – a large swath of territory and millions of new citizens. To reach that objective, of course, the Russian forces still need to seize Nikolaev and Odessa in the south, as well as Kharkov in the east. A logical next step would be to expand Russian control to all of Ukraine east of the Dnieper River, as well as the city of Kiev that lies mostly on the right bank. If this were to happen, the Ukrainian state would shrink to the central and western regions of the country...."
https://www.rt.com/russia/562349-moscow-is-aiming-ukraine/
Posted by: bevin | Sep 8 2022 13:11 utc | 19
@moaobserver #16
I really don't know why people give Strelkov any credence in areas like economics, or national planning, or strategic warfare etc etc.
As for "surge" - even more idiotic.
If Russia is accomplishing its aims of demilitarizing and deNazifying Ukraine with an expeditionary force - why exactly is a surge needed?
And why is it a bad thing when Ukraine seems so eager to discredit its own government and winnow its own population by advancing on Russian positions over open terrain, then occupying self-made cauldrons for artillery to rain down on?
Posted by: c1ue | Sep 8 2022 13:13 utc | 20
For those interested, the official Kremlin transcript in English of Putin's speech to the Eastern Economic Forum is on the Saker site.
Here in France, media Russophobia is becoming - if that's possible - more vicious, more mendacious and more lying-evil-monster-Putin-obsessed, perhaps through desperation. A poll shows over 70% of people believe sanctions are ineffective and over 50% think the war will be long.
Almost the only information on the Ukrainian 'counter-offensives' is what Zelensky trumpets about them. Apart from that, we are now largely being fed sob stories: the brave Ukrainian military drone pilot who lost an arm but can't wait to get back to the front to 'kill orcs' (he actually said that - an own goal, in my opinion); the brave Ukrainian lady who went through the hell of Russia's 'filtration camps' at Mariupol (it is not explained that the Russians were looking for Azov Nazis); the father and son bravely fighting together in an artillery unit; the wife of an Azov fighter weeping over her husband's capture by the Russians; a teenage girl in a 'remote Siberian village' lamenting the death in combat of a local youth and wondering tearfully what it is all for (implicit subtext: Russians do not understand or support the SMO). The sob stories are tending to replace the previous 'Russian atrocity' stories, which are now taken for established truth.
I am not saying Ukrainians aren't brave, just that there is never one single honest MSM report on the war, nothing even remotely objective on the Russian viewpoint or which actually informs the public of the geopolitical stakes outside NATO's idea of them. The only exception is the monthly Le Monde Diplomatique newspaper, but even they are treading carefully.
PS - Ségolène Royale is a former socialist minister and presidential candidate (she lost to Sarkozy in the election runoff in 2007). She was the long-time partner of François Hollande, French president from 2012-17 - although never formally married, they had several children, but were separated by the time Hollande was elected. In any case, she is a political heavyweight in France. In a recent TV interview she cast doubt on the reliability of some 'Russian atrocity' reports, and got seriously dumped on in the media. She has since backtracked somewhat. In this shining beacon of Freedom and Democracy, it is simply impossible to contradict the official narrative.
Posted by: B. Wildered | Sep 8 2022 13:21 utc | 21
Posted by: Steve Darkmatter
"What does Truss announce on her first day in the drivers seat? That she's accepted an invitation to visit 'Keev'. At least she follows orders promptly."
As a linguist, I recognize that the Russian pronunciation of Ukraine's capital is 'Ki-ev', shown in its spelling. Language change hits vowels, so in the Ukrainian dialect, the capital is 'Kyiv', where the 'yi' signifies a vowel sound (we call it palletized) as in "Fuck you" but isolating the 'ky'. Pre-SMO, all media used the Russian pronunciation, but post, the pundits tried to accommodate Ukraine but their ears are not good enough to discern the palletized vowel and they resort to 'Keev'.
Posted by: Teder | Sep 8 2022 13:23 utc | 22
German Press show Natural Gas Price at retail now 39 cents a kWh. In 2020 retail price was around 7 cents.
39/7 = 5 1/2 times increase.
Let that sink in.
Posted by: Exile | Sep 8 2022 13:23 utc | 23
While Grossi, an Italian, from the IAEA covers for Ukraine by blatant omission and blind denial, and the Italian press dutifully obfuscates, here is how Ukraine's army repays Italian loyalty: by sending Italian journalist into mined areas.
https://t.me/ZandVchannel/30041
Italian journalist Mattia Sorbi stepped on a mine and was subsequently allegedly rescued by Russian troops.
Let's hope that he makes a recovery, and that the facts of the incident will not go unnoticed or silenced by his pro Ukrainian colleagues.
Posted by: Et Tu | Sep 8 2022 13:27 utc | 24
According to intelslava (well, consider the source!) the offensive in south Ukraine/Kherson has been halted by the AFU in order to redirect troops to the Kharkiv/Izyum front. They're reporting that from pro-Ukrainian sources.
Very interesting if that's indeed the case and this isn't some kind of feint. But it would track with predictions made here that the Kherson offensive was stalled militarily. We'll see if pro-Ukraine war mappers quietly return territory lost by Russia during this offensive on their maps.
Posted by: fnord | Sep 8 2022 13:27 utc | 25
c1ue | Sep 8 2022 13:13 utc | 20, re: moaobserver
Might be a troll, the tone is very different from the usual moaobserver, and b posted that some troll(s) use established usernames these days... if it's idiotic, don't pay attention
Posted by: htyul | Sep 8 2022 13:32 utc | 26
Posted by: c1ue | Sep 8 2022 13:13 utc | 20
Viewpoints expand a very wide range, like light and colors, from the Ukraine is winning pole to the Russia should just demolish Ukraine with a general mobilization and economy on war footing camp. And in between there are all shades. I watch almost daily a fellow known as Vladlen Tatarsky, he is not so extreme as Strelkov but belongs to the camp convinced of a Russia victory but truly impatient and pissed of by the great price Russia is paying for victory. Somehow I like his opinion better than Strelkov, maybe wrongly but I perceive a bit of sour grapes on the side of Strelkov. All viewpoints should be considered, truth will prevail even if it takes time.
Posted by: Paco | Sep 8 2022 13:34 utc | 27
Posted by: fnord | Sep 8 2022 13:27 utc | 25
Ukraine has advantage of interior lines (and shorter distance) to shift troops around from Nikolaev to Kharkov. Do they still have a functioning rail system? Reports by RUMOD were indicating that the other reason for Kherson halt was unsustainable losses.
Posted by: unimperator | Sep 8 2022 13:35 utc | 28
The force in Khakov was surprisingly small. MoD for 2 consecutive days have reported no operations in Kherson. It's a costly feint which didn't really appear to pull anything significant from the Donbas front? MoD said they took Kodema yesterday( finally?) which puts forther pressure on Bakhmut. If you don't capitalise on the intial thrust,attrition favours Russia,especially in the east.
Posted by: Bob | Sep 8 2022 13:37 utc | 29
@26; The tone is the same.
"War is not courtesy but the most horrible thing in life; and we ought to understand that and not play at war. We ought to accept this terrible necessity sternly and seriously. It all lies in that: get rid of falsehood and let war be war and not a game." - Tolstoy, War and Peace
Posted by: moaobserver | Sep 8 2022 13:43 utc | 30
Stick with me, I’ll get to the point shortly.
The library of Cardiff High School for Boys in the 1950s had an almost complete set of bound volumes of Punch, a satirical magazine founded around 1842 and which eventually died in the 1980s. Some of us would slope off there to avoid unpopular lessons (particularly PT) and I got well into the study of antique humour. Just one example has stuck with me over the years and has just come back to me, which appeared in about 1926. It took the form of three cartoon frames poking fun at the vagaries of current fashion, and if Punch were still published today it could be running an updated version something along these lines.
Two people are commenting over a period of time on what they are seeing, and one says:
FRAME 1: “Good heavens, there’s someone displaying an Ukraine flag.”
FRAME 2, later: “Good heavens, there’s someone NOT displaying an Ukraine flag.”
FRAME 3, later still: “Good heavens, there’s someone STILL displaying an Ukraine flag.”
For the record, I have yet to see a single flag displayed either in China or the Philippines. It’s a western obsession.
Posted by: Walt | Sep 8 2022 13:58 utc | 32
Breaking news Blinken (US Minister) changes program and traveled straight from Rammstein to Kyiv to speak to Zelensky in person!
Official reason : I have another $ 2 billion to commit .
Why he suddenly changed his rice program remains unclear, according to the reporter from Rammstein!
Posted by: Mo3 | Sep 8 2022 14:00 utc | 33
Germany has found ammunition (155 mm grenades) from GDR stocks. Thus at least 35 years old ammunition, and wants to deliver it to Kyiv!
Suicidal ammunition for gunners !!
Posted by: Mo3 | Sep 8 2022 14:03 utc | 34
ICYMI
ICYMI
Norway
Norway does not plan to sell gas at below market price, as some analysts and media have proposed.[...]He added Norway did not plan to introduce a windfall tax on Norwegian oil companies, despite them reaping record-high cash flows.UPDATE!Qatar, May, Qatar, Aug; OPEC+ agrees small oil production cut
Economic Development in Africa Report 2022
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) published a message in July guided by G7 concern trolls who had previously condemned tax regimes of "vulnerable" UNCTAD members. Its board recommended that "resource-rich" African nations "diversify exports" with "the increased use of financial services and technology," AKA debt marketing. Ostensibly, this structural adjustment will mitigate future "price volatility and global shocks" to downstream supply chain profit margins on which the so-called national security of developed countries' GDP growths depend.
UPDATE! 'We are not the problem'—Africa insists on gas as transition fuel
EU Weighs Gas Price Caps and Benchmarks to combat ["shrinking"] Russian [GAS EMBARGO]
As part of preparations for the gathering, the European Commission is also assessing options to subject the Dutch Title Transfer Facility -- the virtual gas marketplace whose main index is used for long-term contracts in Europe -- to financial supervision to avoid speculation, according to internal EU documents seen by Bloomberg News on Monday.UPDATE! Global gas-to-oil [!] fuel switching to jump 80% as European [TTF], Asian [JKM] gas prices soar; EU sends Global Gateway envoy to ASEAN seeking collusion in LNG prix fixe and bid-rigging, possibly "extra capacity" in exchange for Ukrainian KORN.
[...]
As a last resort in case of supply disruption in Europe, the EU could also explore temporarily pegging the TTF to the JKM Asian benchmark as a dynamic cap. Yet that would require the use of other hubs or mechanisms to allocate gas inside Europe, the commission said in the document on benchmarks for The Wholesale Gas Market.
Posted by: sln2002 | Sep 8 2022 14:06 utc | 35
Queen of England is dying!
Does that give the English the moral rest ?
Posted by: Mo3 | Sep 8 2022 14:06 utc | 36
the system of networks in the shape of a rectangle called the “island” was made up of a series of communicating rooms, five in all.
It started from the "large chamber" located on the north side, through which the tuna were sent to the last, located to the west, called the "death chamber", the only one to have the net also on the bottom.
The big trap with no way out was triggered only when enough tuna had entered and the absolute great leader, called "raìs", ordered the terminal part of the "cannamu" (mobile net) to be lifted which, when raised, closed the chamber.
The Tonnara was supported by a series of boats, the largest of which "U Caparrassu" ("Capo Rais"), was the one from which all orders left. The boats of the tonnara, heavy barges blackened by the "tar", had their own specific nomenclature, depending on the tasks to be performed.
Once the tuna were trapped in the "death chamber" the so-called "slaughter" took place.
The tiring action that the sailors carried out in harpooning and hoisting the big tuna on board the boats, proceeded to the rhythm of the song of an ancient dirge, "A levata".
here is my impression the ucronazi are the tuna sent to the capture chambers the tonnarotti slaughtering on the orders of the rais (command) begin the slaughter of the tuna.
Posted by: A.cagliostro | Sep 8 2022 14:10 utc | 37
Being that allied forces are outnumbered by Ukrainian forces it would behoove the Russian military to not only buying North Korean artillery shells but to "invite" a 100K or so NK troops to help clear out the ukronazis from the Donbas.They desire combat experience so this is a perfect opportunity also it would free allied forces to exert more to the west.
Posted by: Lou Cypher | Sep 8 2022 14:17 utc | 38
36
she is dead jim she is dead.
kirk out
in fact she was never a dejour queen because of the theft of a rock a stone under the thrown in 1950
it was all an act and it passed more than a year ago.
Posted by: gordon | Sep 8 2022 14:17 utc | 39
Posted by: Et Tu | Sep 8 2022 13:27 utc | 24
Imagery Support for the ISAMZ (Photo: Maxar): "Russian Military Equipment (Damaged During UAV Strike)"Care to guess on which page that appears?
Or this:
On 2 September, the [ISAMZ] team verified that all safety systems for Unit 6 were in normal condition during the visit to the main control room of Unit 6. [CAPTION: Military vehicles on the ground floor of the turbine hall of Unit 2 of ZNPP (Photo: IAEA)]which is nice, because SNIRU had made no inspections on site since March.
39. The team observed the presence of Russian military personnel, vehicles, and equipment at various places at the ZNPP, including several military trucks on the ground floor of the Unit 1 and Unit 2 turbine halls and military vehicles stationed under the overpass connecting the reactor units. The team also observed the presence of an expert group from Rosenergoatom. It was explained to the [ISAMZ] team by the Ukrainian plant staff and managers that the role of this expert group was to provide advice on nuclear safety, security, and operations to the management of the ZNPP.
On 13 March, Ukraine informed the IAEA that at least 11 representatives of the Russian Federation's State Atomic Energy Corporation "Rosatom" were present at the site. On 29 April, the Ukrainian authorities reported that Rosenergoatom—a unit of Rosatom—had sent a group of nuclear specialists to the ZNPP. These specialists requested daily reports from plant management about "confidential issues" on the functioning of the NPP, covering aspects related to administration and management, maintenance and repair activities, security and access control, and management of nuclear fuel, spent fuel and radioactive waste. The IAEA considers that the presence of Rosatom senior technical staff could lead to interference with the normal lines of operational command or authority and create potential frictions when it comes to decision-making. Energoatom operating teams at the plant have been able to rotate in three shifts per day, but the situation has had a negative impact on staff. [...] the operating staff did not have unrestricted access to some areas, such as the spray cooling ponds, roofs of the buildings, and structures in the area of the water intake, and that access to the cooling ponds area was required to be granted by the military personnel at the site.
[...]
normal staffing level was 1230 for three shifts, whereas there were currently 907 staff for three shifts
Posted by: sln2002 | Sep 8 2022 14:23 utc | 40
Her name is Elizabeth O'Leary
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Sep 8 2022 12:38 utc | 14
Shurely shome mistake ??
Her name is Mary E. O'Leary
Posted by: Lapin | Sep 8 2022 14:30 utc | 41
Posted by: B. Wildered | Sep 8 2022 13:21 utc | 21
Your picture of France is correct.
Posted by: Parisian Guy | Sep 8 2022 14:40 utc | 42
Bicolor is flying over the district admin building in downtown Balakliya. The town appears to be liberated.
Further east, Ukrainian troops have reached the outskirts of Shevchenkove.
Posted by: Yenwoda | Sep 8 2022 14:41 utc | 43
prayers and wishes ...
may all the lying presstitutes and canadian nazis step on a mine
Posted by: ld | Sep 8 2022 14:51 utc | 44
Yenwoda @43
Probably worth adding:
It looks like a large amount of Ukrainian forces have been pulls from Artemovsk/Donbass for this offensive. The Chechens have taken full advantage of this weakness and gone on the offensive. If Artemovsk falls it will cause a major collapse in the Ukrainian controlled DPR. Its incredibly difficult to go on two separate costly offensives when you’re running out of well trained infantry and armour. If you’re looking at the whole map and not just where the Ukrainians are trying to pull your attention, things are not looking so great.
https://t.me/DonbassDevushka/23665
Posted by: aquileia | Sep 8 2022 15:01 utc | 45
Posted by: aquileia | Sep 8 2022 15:01 utc | 45
My understanding is main UA force is still fighting for Baleklayva, while the advances somewhat north and SE are made by relatively small mobile forces. So it wouldn't take much to bog them down. That is also a reason why air strikes have been relatively in effective (apparently), less force congestion per area in the areas of advance, and woods covered terrain. Unlike Kherson where you have clear site most of the area.
Posted by: unimperator | Sep 8 2022 15:06 utc | 46
Why are you replying to retards like Shitoda? Ignore trolls, it's easy
Posted by: rk | Sep 8 2022 15:07 utc | 47
@ Teder | Sep 8 2022 13:23 utc | 22
And hence the mockery of them.
Posted by: Figleaf23 | Sep 8 2022 15:15 utc | 48
Ukraine expects to transport up to 2M tonnes of vegetable oil through pipeline annually – Solskyi
ewwwwwwww
Posted by: sln2002 | Sep 8 2022 15:24 utc | 49
Report at 5:25 p.m. on German TV
Ukraine surprisingly captured 50 localities, including Kharkiv !!!
The Russians have massive problems and are retreating ???
Lie ????
Posted by: Mo3 | Sep 8 2022 15:26 utc | 50
@aquileia #45, I'm not sure we can say exactly where the troops currently on the offensive north of Izyum were previously, but you are correct in general and that's the push-pull of war. Russia drew down forces in the east to reinforce Kherson, which may have created this opportunity... while Ukraine's concentration of troops for its offensives may create weaknesses elsewhere in its line. Everything is fluid, contingent, etc.
Posted by: Yenwoda | Sep 8 2022 15:27 utc | 51
"The United States has announced another $2.7 billion in aid and weapons for Ukraine and 18 of its neighbors.The breakdown of the funds includes $675 million in weapons for Ukraine and $2 billion from the Foreign Military Financing program to bolster the security in countries "most potentially at risk for (blinken on surprise visit to ukraine 8th sept)
Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Sep 8 2022 15:33 utc | 52
https://t.me/ETAgenda/2674 - Telegram channel Expose the Agenda posted a leaked memorandum by the U.S. Army on NATO training in Europe of conscripted Ukrainians
"Under the bilateral arrangements, Ukraine authorities had to provide 10k personnel who had had at least basic military skills and experience. However, the cross-examination of 1214 armed servicemen showed that 100% lacks any combat experience. The reason is that servicemen joined the armed forces of Ukraine due to coercive mobilization procedures. That fact aggravates the education process as the express basic course program requires already trained soldiers."
"...According to the data gathered from the instructors and advisors Ukrainian servicemen fail to reach our lowest military standards in Close Quarters Combat exercises and PE..."
Conclusion:
"Taking into account the comprehensive assessment result, I can state that Ukrainian personnel fails to get necessary combat skills and knowledge under the current express basic training program. In my opinion that fact would lead to heavy casualties in the event trainees face the enemy during an engagement..."
Dated 08/22
This Kherson advancement by Ukraine military was obviously planned in the spring.
Following several Russian telegram channels daily, many uploads included Ukraine's SBU chasing men down on the streets of Ukraine in the spring and early summer. The individuals caught by the SBU were drafted immediately into the Ukrainian army.
Once the military met the 10k man goal, those uploads ceased. One doesn't see them anymore and haven't for some time.
This is Z's 10k man force who lacked any combat experience let alone meaningful military training prior to being scooped up and held hostage by the SBU then trained in an "express basic military" course by NATO. A good majority of these allegedly 'trained' souls were nothing more than warm bodies and cannon fodder to the Ukrainian military and political leadership. They knew in the spring Ukrainian enlistment numbers were paltry so they literally chased these boys/men down the streets, held them hostage until trained and then physically sent them to the frontline.
Ukrainian military and political leadership would have known they sent boys/young men with no military training whatsoever to the NATO training so as to prepare them for the Kherson advancement. The U.S. military certainly knew.
If this was the plan on the part of the Ukrainian military then they absolutely knew their Kherson offensive was more for show than decisive military advancement. And if Ukraine's political leadership knowingly orchestrated this tragedy knowing full well the men they conscripted, trained and sent to the frontline, were utterly unprepared, as this memo states, then they also knew casualty rates would be off the charts high.
It doesn't get any darker than this. Pure evil...
It has a last throw of the dice feel. Whether it leads to a collapse in the south or it's just the last gamble before winter.Winter will put addtional pressure on everything both inside and outside of Ukraine.It is something to show NATO ,although the funding commitment from the US was low. Midterms for the US and winter for Europe. Ukraine under pressure to do something. Have to wait a few days to see if it was worthwhile,or simply hastened the inevitable.
Posted by: Bob | Sep 8 2022 15:42 utc | 54
Blinken is in Kiev today bearing gifts for Zelensky. Surely the American public must say enough is enough we need this cash to and aid to stay at home and help our own people who are suffering. Is the US now have corporatocracy government.
"US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has made a surprise visit to Kiev. Washington has approved $2.7 billion in military aid to Ukraine and its allies.
Blinken traveled in secrecy on Thursday on his second trip to the Ukrainian capital since Russia commenced its “special military operation” in the ex-Soviet country on February 24. He met with his Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba."
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/09/08/688862/Russia-US-Ukraine-Blinken-military-aid-Zelensky-
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Sep 8 2022 15:53 utc | 55
sln2002@11
This desperation move by the regime in Kiev to essentially roll over and lube up for the financier predatory class means that the common people of that mangled country will forever be in hock to those alien economic hegemons. What this signifies is that Russia will need to go whole-hog against the economic imperium by a full and total re-conquest of Ukraine---with the notable exception of the Banderite fools in Galicia and somewhat so in Volhynia. Those nutcases should be politely allowed to stew in their own juices and become totally detached from Ukraine as due to their near total toxicity.
Huge tracts of farmlands have been essentially given by the Kiev regime, an outfit which openly seeks baksheesh on a massive scale. Bribery has given away the heritage of the Ukrainian people. Thus Russia, as brother Slavs have the moral duty to rescue the Ukrainian people from all their bonded indebtedness to the financial elite who rule in the West and seek to make their hegemony right across the planet.
So the replacement Ukrainian government would be granted a clean slate by Mama Bear. The people of Ukraine would thus be as freed as the serfs by Alexander II in 1864. Perhaps Moscow would suggest that the new government set up a Slavic "homestead act" for both families who would like their private piece of ground and for new "Mir" villages which as a new commons would operate large-scale crop production on a basis as organic as humanly possible.
Posted by: aristodemos | Sep 8 2022 15:53 utc | 56
Republicofscotland @ 56
It will never be enough. The tempo will increase with time and eventually NATO troops will be introduced as volunteers. NATO will be in this on the ground in large numbers eventually.
Posted by: circumspect | Sep 8 2022 16:03 utc | 57
Hi Aristodemos,
That is a nice fantasy. What actual army is supposed to be doing such conquering?
Right now the RF is struggling to hold on to their gains over the summer.
Most of the brother Slavs in central and Western areas are quite happy to become Western serfs etc. as long as they can call themselves "Ukrainians".
That is unlikely to change as long as the only other option is exchanging "their" oligarchs for "Putinist" ones.
If the RF does not make a major change towards reviving the Soviet Union of course..
Posted by: moaobserver | Sep 8 2022 16:03 utc | 58
Blinken is in Kiev today bearing gifts for Zelensky.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Sep 8 2022 15:53 utc | 55
---
A Cornucopia of Consequences issues forth.
Posted by: too scents | Sep 8 2022 16:10 utc | 59
this concern troll stupidity has to stop. like it or not russia is loosing ground in ukraine. there are already photos of ukrops in the center of balakleya...and gues what, they have ready kill list of russia traitors...meanwhile putin is having fun watching stupid vostok war games with imaginary enemies? yeah, he is playing 5-d chess...
Posted by: denazi | Sep 8 2022 16:12 utc | 60
Have the Ukrainians succeeded in jamming the meat grinder with the bodies of their countrymen yet? After all, even industrial scale grinders have a limit to how much meat and metal they can dispose of at once. The Nazis must be getting close to that limit right about now.
Posted by: William Gruff | Sep 8 2022 16:12 utc | 61
Man, the pablum the lefties/globalists/corp media feed to their few followers is something to behold. You can't reason with them. Educate them. Debate them. Because no matter their drivel they truly believe they are right.
Lou Cypher@38
"Brilliant minds?" Same thought about Russia financing North Korean "volunteers" to get some valuable blooded combat experience occurred also to me in the last few days. Seems logical. N.K. could use the financial assistance and whatever goodies Russia would choose to sweeten the pot. Russia would be relieved from a higher level of mobilization.
Best part is that the Western pre$$titute media would be driven bonkers by this arrangement. What they would never acknowledge is that "sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander". All that U$$A and NATO support for the Ukies would now be balanced off by a Korean equivalent.
Posted by: aristodemos | Sep 8 2022 16:23 utc | 63
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are galloping along at a breakneck pace. The Four Horsemen being the de-population project going on; war being one of the four. The breathless ground war speculation in Ukraine is amusing, like Biden shaking hands with his imaginary friend, but these are rings in the circus as billions of useless human eaters are shuffled off this mortal coil in favor of billionaires and their robots, while their servants spend their time in Matrix pods, when not cleaning toilets.
Posted by: gottlieb | Sep 8 2022 16:25 utc | 64
Yentawoda @ 43
You are a world-class expert at getting things precisely bass-ackwards. Congrats. You win yet another Big Brass Ringalingadingdong.
Posted by: aristodemos | Sep 8 2022 16:26 utc | 65
Maybe the plan really is to weaken the US, the UK, EU and NATO ... and throw away as many weapons in a lost cause as possible ... so that BRICS emerges as a coalition for a new currency and countries no longer controlled by the deep state.
Posted by: Snoopy | Sep 8 2022 16:28 utc | 66
Mall of America Observer@58
"Most of the brotherly Slavs..." How do you know that? Is it nothing more than an ex-cathedra pronunciamento? Or are you just blowing gas?
"Putinist Oligarchs"? This is yet another of your many digs at the world's leading statesman. His people in the main regard him as a "Good Tsar". However, he is neither a dictator, nor an oligarch. Undoubtedly there are plenty of honest and able Ukrainians biding their time until the regime's army collapses and Mama Bear can rescue her wayward cubs.
You do appear to be a disinformation agent for the hidden powers...or a deeply deluded boobtoob addict.
Posted by: aristodemos | Sep 8 2022 16:38 utc | 67
DeNazi@#60
Salivating over the "kill list of Russian traitors"? WTF is wrong with you. The people of that region are ethnically Russian. How can they possibly be "traitors" to their motherland? Do you happen to be a Ukie, or are you one of the many media-mesmerized morons...or perhaps even working for pay?
Posted by: aristodemos | Sep 8 2022 16:41 utc | 68
The Guardian's latest article is full of Ukrainian & Western "experts" praising the Ukrainians' great successes on the battlefield.
I guess we'll know in a month or so whether these are solid gains or ephemeral last gasps.
Posted by: Observer | Sep 8 2022 16:47 utc | 69
... BTW, if the Ukies do gain ground, this will be considered evidence that "we" in the West need to redouble our aid, as they're "winning".
whereas... if the Ukies lose ground, this will be considered evidence that "we" in the West need to redouble our aid, as they're "losing", and we're not doing enough.
Posted by: Observer | Sep 8 2022 16:49 utc | 70
there's been a surge of pro Nato trolls at the bar lately. the original surge was a PR exercise to allow the Bush Administration to claim some success in Iraq. now some trolls are citing it as an example of what Russia should do. the truth is the US is losing this proxy war as Ukraine is being decimated, but the US doesn't care, any more than it cared about the Kurds or the Mujahideen or the Hmong or any of the other tools it has used over the decades.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Sep 8 2022 16:54 utc | 71
#38
That would not work, NKns can't just go to Ukraine, to an unfamiliar environment, with people speaking unfamiliar languages and doing unfamiliar things, white people that all look the same to them, having to deal with tech they are not used to, etc.
They would be more of a problem than a solution to Russia.
Posted by: Nico | Sep 8 2022 16:56 utc | 72
@Paco #27
Everyone is entitled to their viewpoint - but nobody is entitled to credibility.
My issue isn't what Strelkov posts - he can say whatever he wants.
What puzzles me is why anyone believes it.
He is obviously a loose cannon with no grasp of anything beyond the range of the weapon he is presently using.
Posted by: c1ue | Sep 8 2022 17:05 utc | 73
@William Gruff #61
Short answer: not even close.
Taking of empty towns and irrelevant corners of the battle stage is typical Kiev Twitter Warefare - except they're paying the price in real bodies and equipment.
As I noted earlier: it would have taken weeks and months to winkle out the large numbers of tanks, aircraft and what not which has been destroyed in these World War 1 style attacks.
Posted by: c1ue | Sep 8 2022 17:10 utc | 74
What I find somewhat surprising right now, is that the Russian command apparently didn't withdraw Russian troops from Balakleya. There are videos of street fighting going on.
So, they are choosing to try to hold the towns as long as possibile even though the Russians are surrouded. Are reinforcements on the way while the troops in Balakleya are buying time? Because otherwise it feels like a pointless sacrifice.
Posted by: Leonardo | Sep 8 2022 17:23 utc | 75
@68
you are either stupid or you have reading comprehension? no one is salivating about anything, i just want to say situation is serious and america is getting more brazen by the day...thanks to amateur hour at the russian army hq. it is time for serious discussion not for mindless cheering.
Posted by: denazi | Sep 8 2022 17:25 utc | 76
Posted by: c1ue | Sep 8 2022 17:10 utc | 74
Problem for RU side stems from the fact that there are limited forces overall. You can do only a handful of local operations, be it defense or attack at one time. This SE Kharkov direction had been a relatively quiet front for a while, naturally when you don't have a lot available it makes no sense to place them to defend some backwater where some attack may or may not form.
During WW2 Soviets had to, more or less keep 15 rifle divisions, some special mountain and tank/mech division sitting on the Manchurian border despite having the non-aggression pact with Japan. Just think what they would do in the west. Now there is no such luxury, keep them sitting just on a half-suspicion.
Posted by: unimperator | Sep 8 2022 17:26 utc | 77
«Here in France, media Russophobia is becoming - if that's possible [...] Almost the only information on the Ukrainian 'counter-offensives' is what Zelensky trumpets about them. Apart from that, we are now largely being fed sob stories»
Again and again: it is called "home front morale" management.
The european NATO governments are well aware that their populace is not happy with high inflation and huge energy bills, so they need to be motivated to endure these troubles with three arguments:
* The "orcs" are monsters.
* The ukrainians are "martyrs".
* The "martyrs" are winning so the troubles will be over soon.
No government allows morale-reducing opinions during a war. It is something well established in history.
Which means that the NATO governments think that this is not just a proxy war, but that NATO countries are far more directly involved in the war against the Donbas than for Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria.
Posted by: Blissex | Sep 8 2022 17:28 utc | 78
" they have ready kill list of russia traitors..." denazi@60
Like the one they had in Bucha, where they slaughtered anyone suspected of having cooperated with the Russians?
Posted by: bevin | Sep 8 2022 17:31 utc | 79
c1ue | Sep 8 2022 17:10 utc | 74 and William Gruff #61
Like flies to honey... ;~)
Posted by: donten | Sep 8 2022 17:37 utc | 80
@all
I don’t rely on any one source. MoD Ukraine/Russia, Rybar, Cassad, Grey Zone, etc. most English speaking pundits are useless except for b.
My general impression is shared by Russian speaking commentators. More or less “wtf are stavka doing” and concern about corruption. English speakers appear to be terrified of any criticism or negativity.
From Grey Zone, 16:25 today:
Alas, a day later, information about the withdrawal from Balakleya begins to be confirmed. The Armed Forces of Ukraine raised the Ukrainian flag over the building of the city administration and the central park of the city. Fighting is reported to be taking place on the outskirts of the city.
In turn, the commander of the Akhmat regiment, Apty Alaudinov, through the prism of his experience, said:
“What is happening today was planned. This is a tactical ploy that helped us to pull all their forces and means to the territory where it is convenient for us to fight with them. If someone believes that the leadership of the Russian Federation, the leadership of the Defense Ministry did not know that the enemy was gathering forces, then these people do not understand anything either in politics or in military affairs.”
Posted by: Moaobserver | Sep 8 2022 17:38 utc | 81
@79
i don't know, probably. and it's not much of a help to call everyone who cast some doubts about russian moves as concern trolls. we are reading every day how russia army is destroying 15.000 tanks daily, countless HIMARS, shoot down 1400 planes every day, kill 500.000 ukros, 10.000 of them daily, and yet that zombie army is still making counter offensive and made some serious gains...more and more sophisticated weapons are coming into ukraine daily and every one here singing lalalalala, i can't hear you...
Posted by: denazi | Sep 8 2022 17:44 utc | 82
“Maybe the plan really is to weaken the US, the UK, EU and NATO ... and throw away as many weapons in a lost cause as possible” - Snoopy | Sep 8 2022 16:28 utc | 66Could be, as the venerable Larry Johnson observes. In his most recent post, he lays out some basic facts about the war worth reviewing:
At risk of being accused of beating a dead horse, I want to re-emphasize some critical points:After pointing-out the flaws in a couple of the most recent commentaries, Johnson - who has an extensive background in Western Intelligence - provides his analysis:Russia attacked Ukraine with a small force that was one-third the size of the defending Ukrainian force. Advantage Ukraine and yet, despite the fact that Russia was outnumbered, Russia steadily pushed Ukraine back, taking Mariupol, Kherson and Luhansk.
At no point did Russia declare any kind of timeline for accomplishing its stated mission of demilitarization and denazification.
The bulk of the fighting from the Russian side is being handled by the militias from the Donbas. Russia has committed only a small fraction of its troops.
Despite a massive influx of western military aid, Ukraine has been unable to force the Russians to retreat.
Those who want to point to the current Ukrainian offensive as a stunning success are ignoring Ukraine’s massive losses in men and equipment during the past week. Capturing a couple of isolated, unihabited rural villages is not exactly a 21st Century version of Omar Bradley’s Operation Cobra, which was led by General Patton and broke out of hedge row country in Normandy.
Let me suggest an alternative explanation for Russia’s slow, methodical approach in Ukraine. Russia is committed to the demilitarization of Ukraine. Russia’s current campaign not only is destroying Ukraine’s army and the tanks, planes, helicopters and vehicles, but it also is forcing the United States and NATO to strip themselves of weapons that will not be quickly replaced in the near term. In other words, without risking a direct confrontation with NATO, Russia also is weakening NATO. And Putin does not have to turn Ukraine into a smoldering, nuclear wasteland with millions of dead Ukrainians. Seems like a reasonable approach to me.Check out the link above; his SONAR blog is generally good and worthwhile.The weakening of NATO also is being accelerated with economic weapons–i.e., cutting off the sale of gas and oil. Without gas and oil, Europe’s war industry is grinding to a halt. I do not know if this is part of the Russian plan for the Special Military Operation or just a happy serendipity that serves Russia’s interests. Regardless, the effect hurts NATO.
I do not pretend to know what plan Russia’s General Staff is following. What I do know is that none of the weapons supplied by the United States and NATO have changed the strategic goal of Russia to demilitarize Ukraine and eliminate a NATO threat on the western border. That means Russia’s ability to continue moving west is not eliminated and Ukraine’s prospects grow more bleak.
Posted by: DocHollywood | Sep 8 2022 17:45 utc | 83
.thanks to amateur hour at the russian army hq. it is time for serious discussion not for mindless cheering.
Posted by: denazi | Sep 8 2022 17:25 utc | 76
To to taken seriously, you must wear a green tee shirt and be unshaven. Preferably with suitable prior experience as a comedian.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 8 2022 17:51 utc | 84
Further to this topic, The Guardian has an amusing article out today:
Strelkov has the best last word.
Posted by: Moaobserver | Sep 8 2022 17:52 utc | 85
@Moaobserver | Sep 8 2022 17:38 utc | 81
The RF strategy hasn't changed for a long time, it's on autopilot. you can easily skip all news for a month and you're not missing anything.
Balakleya is only useful for nazi social media propaganda, they can't keep it for long. It's suicide mission after suicide mission to show photos on Western MSM and get more money, it's crowdfunding.
Other places are a bit more interesting, for example the attacks at ZNPP have increased. Energodar was left with no power this evening.
Posted by: rk | Sep 8 2022 18:04 utc | 86
Posted by: denazi | Sep 8 2022 17:25 utc | 76
How it's been explained millions of times Russia has no hurry in conquering anything..the aims of the SMO are demilitarization and denazification..whatever it takes..time,losses,tactical retreats.etc.All is done without rush and will be achieved in the right times.
Posted by: LuBa | Sep 8 2022 18:08 utc | 87
Where will the Cossacks go now...when all the troops of Ukraine are employed in the same place?
Now four Cossack battalions take part in a special military operation: "Don", "Tavrida", "Kuban" and "Ermak". The "Ermak" battalion is completed by the Cossacks of the Orenburg and Volga Cossack troops.
From August 31 to September 2, the Cossack detachment was in a training camp in Orenburg.
Posted by: Mo3 | Sep 8 2022 18:10 utc | 88
Locals cheering their liberators somewhere around Balakliya:
https://twitter.com/GirkinGirkin/status/1567935609737461768
Posted by: Yenwoda | Sep 8 2022 18:12 utc | 89
Strelkov is a maximalist and has always been. He is not a detached analyst. He is someone that has always wanted an escalation and that would like to bring the fight to the Ukrainians in a much more brutal way.
In 2014 he was compelled to give up his position because of his maximalist ideas.
He has an interest in depicting a lost situation in order to pressure the Russian Government to escalate the fight and call for a general mobilization. And that's the same kind of perspective of most of the Russian nationalists Telegram writers which are looking for a quick victory and are frustrated by the slow progress.
It's good that people that are so impulsive are not in a position to decide strategy and tactics.
Posted by: Leonardo | Sep 8 2022 18:14 utc | 90
Boris Rozhin:
Comrades, end with alarmism and the search for the guilty. Now the main task of the command is to stabilize the front and the lamentations "oh, everything is bad" does not help the cause at all. There is no need to do their work for TsIPSo. Debriefing will be after the completion of the Balakley-Kupyansk defensive operation.
Over the years of covering various wars, I have long been convinced in practice that not a single war consists only of victories. Learn to accept failure like a man.
Posted by: Moaobserver | Sep 8 2022 18:15 utc | 91
For the concern trolls, this map puts the mighty Ukrainian propaganda offensive in a little more perspective.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1V8NzjQkzMOhpuLhkktbiKgodOQ27X6IV&ll=49.4685683441372%2C36.89900361035666&z=11
Another few thousand lives to try and nip the end off a Russian salient for a great propaganda victory. With the captagon fueled Ukroids out of their holes it is a turkey shoot for Russia. Doesn't matter much if Russian forces fall back a bit from the tip of the salient. Ukraine loses bigtime.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 8 2022 18:33 utc | 92
How is it possible that Russians are surprised with Ukrainian attacks in the north?
Posted by: mario2 | Sep 8 2022 18:53 utc | 93
”How is it possible that Russians are surprised with Ukrainian attacks in the north?”
It is not possible that the Russians are surprised. Why would anyone think the Russians are surprised?
Posted by: William Gruff | Sep 8 2022 18:57 utc | 94
Looks like the Ukies' Big Push got a town... while still being pummeled on the other 1200 km field of battle. Kinda embarrassing to have to wave that banner as your only Big Win. Every day that The Grind chews up NATO assets without the real horror of a declared war is a Big Win for the Allies.
I'm sad for losses for our side, hoping the death of the west is their reward.
Posted by: comrade simba | Sep 8 2022 19:12 utc | 95
Locals cheering their liberators somewhere around Balakliya:
https://twitter.com/GirkinGirkin/status/1567935609737461768
Posted by: Yenwoda | Sep 8 2022 18:12 utc | 89
Judging by past actions, they might as well been threatened to get along the road and wave. Nobody wants a repeat of Bucha.
Posted by: unimperator | Sep 8 2022 19:15 utc | 96
Frequency of opponent voices will become high (like yenwoda), even deafening, as they have been on the receiving end of the war for quite a while now but got something to hang on to and confirm their worldview (the feeling of “see, I am right!”).
Its normal and will reverse again when the fortunes reverse. He was nowhere to be found when they took Severodonestk and Lyschiansk.
These people scour the internet and collect stories that they then post on hostile places to demoralize and simply provoke the others. It is the way of the internet and its assorted bubbles. There are such people in real life as well. Annoying but necessary to keep us real. They have no further purpose.
Especially loud are the voices claiming a reversal in the course because of HIMARS and more advanced missiles that broke the back of the RF forces. Funny how that was supposed to happen on the southern front.
What actually happens is that Ukraine is using their numerical advantage to maximum extent. The technological advantage of RF is now gone, NATO took care of that. They will be doing this for a long time now with a danger that the war devolves in a back - and - forth going on for years with varying intensity until some sort of balance is achieved (like in Syria).
It has become clear to me that the solution to the conflict will not be found on the Ukrainian battlefield as the match had become too even. NATO and the West actually wanted to achieve exactly that, they were open about it, in order to give Ukraine a better place at the negotiating table. Its what war is about: who can get better terms at the table at the end.
Some wars havent really ended, like the Koreas.
It has also become clear to me that Ukraine is now fully dependent on NATO support (like the areas in Syria) and if that is gone then they instantly lose. How long can the West pour resources in the war? Can the russians outlast them?
Posted by: alek_a | Sep 8 2022 19:17 utc | 97
reply to 96
It may be like the Old Man in Catch 22. You cheer all "liberators". It's a lot safer.
Posted by: Eighthman | Sep 8 2022 19:34 utc | 98
The hour of the smooth speakers and brave dilettantes has arrived.
The sheer incompentence of russian military leadership is breathtaking.
I feel sorry for the people of donbass and russian fighters.
They re paying the price for this militarily senseless and ineffective SMO
This world war one style forth and back COST MORE CIVILIAN and fighters lifes than any other strategy.
The front line has moved by at least 50KM from 3 days ago.
Without filter, THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN THIS WAR THAT RUSSIAN ARE GETTING STRAIGHT UP FUCKED. This is due to the change of tactics. They will adjust, no doubt about that but the front line will keep moving until they do. Now to push them back, lives will be lost again, for no reason.
Funny thing is that we, and many other channels wrote about many of the things, tactics and developments that are happening now — weeks ago. How the Russians did not see this coming is beyond us.
Posted by: Chessmaster | Sep 8 2022 19:37 utc | 99
After yesterday's Ukrainian offensive, which at least partially ended with the occupation of Balakleya and the advance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to the outskirts of Kupyansk, Izyum has come under serious threat. Especially if the enemy went to the n / a kunya, but at least at the moment the Ukrainians did not do this.
During the night and this afternoon, the Izyumsky garrison delivered and carries out the heaviest artillery strikes against enemy concentrations south of Izyum, where yesterday the ridges were used in attack formations (they did not abandon their intentions). The enemy launched harassing fire at Izyum itself, in the forests on the border of the DPR and the Kharkov region, our soldiers fought, but did not let the enemy through. Khokhols tried to attack the forest, got a good pendulum and retreated.
Army aviation carried out strikes on clusters of APU devices in the territory of the settlement of Staroverovka, and indeed today there are many aircraft in the sky. However, it must be borne in mind that ridges pass through forest plantations or in small mobile groups and to some extent level the consequences of the FAB-500 arrivals.
Kupyansk is preparing to defend and I hope they have taken into account the bitter experiences of the past few days. Izyum itself is also preparing for defense, ridges, in turn, are trying to cut roads and isolate our garrisons. The Vushniks have not yet sent all the reserves into battle, and I think that at night and in the next few days they will try to hammer at us with high-precision shells from cannon and rocket artillery, since Excalibur has already been delivered to them .
If anyone thinks that the Izyum warriors are in a panic, they are greatly mistaken. Yes, the first part of the battle was not ours, to put it mildly, but that happens in war, and military luck is an extremely windy young lady. The main thing now is a competent analysis of what is happening and the right conclusions from it. Either way, the enemy is defeated, and the resulting slap in the face is bound to bring to life those who have lost touch with reality.
Posted by: Mo3 | Sep 8 2022 19:54 utc | 100
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All is good, don't panic.
All summer I read excellent analyzes that the Armed Forces of Ukraine can only sit on the defensive, it doesn't need much attention because they will not be able to attack, it requires martial arts, organization, coordination, etc.
All these authors could not be wrong. So there is no attack.
For two weeks they told how our rockets and shells smashed to pieces the Ukropov reserves that were accumulating in the direction of Izyum. It turned out that the AFU offensive started there anyway and even had some successes
Today, against the background of two enemy offensive operations, the strategic exercises "Vostok-2022" were successfully completed. The conditional enemy was completely defeated and all cardboard targets were completely smashed.
Two short, one long:Hurra! HURRA! Hurra!!!
Posted by: Falco | Sep 8 2022 11:37 utc | 1