Re: Transnistria
@Ludovic | Feb 10 2023 11:56 utc | 212 (in previous thread)

Apparently a Russian cruise missile has crossed into Moldovan airspace. Could this be the beginning of a Russian invasion of Moldova in order to further destabilize the European Union, following what NATO alleges was Russian destruction of the Nordstream 2 pipeline?

No. The cruise missile allegedly flew in Transnistrian airspace, not in Moldova proper. This may be a signal that Russia considers Transnistria part of Russia.
Russia will not “invade” Transnistria. Russian troops already control Transnistria and have done so for the last 30 years. So far Transnistria, or the Russian troops there, are not a party to the war. NATO would like the conflict to spread to Transnistria.

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Feb 10 2023 16:45 utc | 3

Our source reports that one of Zelensky’s main real requests at meetings with Western leaders was not even new weapons, but an increase in the transfer of ammunition, which became in short supply from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Ammunition is the most expensive and costly part. If at the peak of hostilities the Armed Forces of Ukraine spends about 6,000 thousand artillery shells (one shell of 155 caliber from $ 5,000), this is 30 million per day. Add here the logistics for the delivery of 6,000 shells (this is at least $ 1-2 million). Also storage and distribution.
In a month of intense fighting, the cost is more than $ 100 million.
Add to this the cost of air defense ammunition, aviation, small arms, UAVs, equipment, etc. In addition, fuel electricity, etc.
The figures are fabulous, and the West ceases to provide extensive funding for this “holiday”.

https://t.me/legitimniy/14754

Posted by: Down South | Feb 10 2023 16:52 utc | 5

Bakhmut is being encircled by the Russian forces (mainly the Wagner PMC troops).
For now only one major road remains open in/out of Bakhmut. There is some question that this road may already be under Russia’s fire control. Whenever, all the roads are occupied or under Russian fire control to/from Bakhmut, the city will be in operational encirclement.
Even though the Russian forces are pushing all along the zero line, I count the Bakhmut battle as being the most significant because of the buildups of troops and equipment at that location. I have often heard from Alexander Mercouris and others that Bakhmut is the linchpin of defense for Ukraine.
The Western media is already prepping their followers for the fall of Bakhmut by falsely reporting that Bakhmut is not that important. From this false reporting, one can see that the Western media is getting their followers prepped for the coming fall of Bakhmut. One thing you can learn from the lying Western media is the truth if you have some understanding of why they are lying in certain ways.
After Bakhmut is operationally encircled, I don’t think the Russians are going to wait until it falls before moving on. Instead, the Russians will surround Bakhmut with regular Russian army troops. Russia’s regular troops will set up artillery to grind down the trapped Ukrainain troops until they are either eliminated or they surrender.
Meanwhile, the Wagner troops and other more aggressive troops will quickly move on to cut off even more strategic areas of the Donbas. This approach will cut out weeks or even months out of Russia’s time table to take and secure the Donbas.
These rapid moves by the Russians will prevent the Ukrainian army the time they need to build new, strong defenses as they retreat.
I have been saying that “as soon as Bakhmut falls, the rest of the Ukrainain positions within the Donbas will unravel quickly”.
I am changing this statement to “when Bakhmut is operationally encircled, the rest of the Ukraianian positions within the Donbas will unravel quickly”.
Watch for accurate news of when Bakhmut is operationally encircled. When this happens, watch the Russians continue to quickly take strategic roads and high ground and other strategic locations to more quickly take the Donbas.
There are many good sources which accurately present the battlefield in Ukriane/Russia. I frequent the following for this information: Weeb Union, Alex Christoforu and Alexander Mercouris from the Duran, the military summary channel (Dima), Defense Politics Asia (Wyatt), Theti mapping, History Legends, Brian Berletic at the New Atlas, NWE War Reports, Military and Foreign Affairs Network, etc.
One reason Russia is moving fast to take all of the Donbas is because of the increased rate of Western escalation in the last few months. The escalation is going exponential. So, Russia’s time table to take the Donbas has shortened.
When all of the Donbas is taken, get ready for the USA to be taken down soon after. Russia will launch. And that launch will mainly be upon the USA and her territories.
Just because Russia has not yet done so does not mean the West has not already crossed too many of Russia’s red lines. The Russians are waiting for the best time for them. Part of that waiting is for Russia to first take out the hostile Ukrainian (NATO) army on its Western border.
Whenever the Donbas is taken, the bear (Russia) will launch against the USA. The USA will be destroyed within one hour. I base this upon the initial stated directives of Putin for the SMO, continual statements by leaders within Russia, the logic that Russia wants the Ukrainian army off its Western border before it engages with the USA, and the prophetic words of Daniel 7:5.

Posted by: young | Feb 10 2023 17:05 utc | 7

From reports on here it sounds like it won’t be long before that big Russian hammer comes down,i believe once the Ukrainian defences start to fall to pieces on a wide front it will be game over.

Posted by: Englishman | Feb 10 2023 17:10 utc | 9

Zakharova’s weekly briefing notes that the 8th anniversary of the Minsk Accords is almost upon us. Her’s what Maria says about that:

February 12 marks the eighth anniversary of the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements. In 2015, it was signed by all members of the Contact Group – representatives of Ukraine, the DPR and LPR, the OSCE and Russia in the presence of the leaders of the Normandy format countries – Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine. At that time, it was an outstanding and effective activity of diplomatic thought, consolidation of the capabilities and resources of countries, a demonstration of how the world could unite efforts to overcome the crisis.
Donetsk and Luhansk agreed to return to Ukraine on the terms of granting them a special status and autonomous rights, much smaller than those of the regions of Belgium or the cantons of Switzerland. But still: six months before that, referendums were held there on the intentions of people. Whatever they were called in the West, it was the will of the people. The DPR and LPR stated that under the terms of the Minsk agreements, they are ready for reintegration as part of Ukraine.
The Package of Measures was a real and achievable road map. Someone will say easily doable, someone – with certain costs and compromises for the parties. You can look at it in different ways, but it was a realistic “road map” for overcoming the crisis (definitely not aggravation). There was a guarantee that the implementation of the fundamental points of the Minsk agreements would “insure” everyone against further degradation of the situation. On February 17, 2015, it was approved by UN Security Council Resolution 2202. It was then that the Minsk Package of Measures became an integral part of international law, binding on all.
As it turned out later, neither the Kiev regime, nor its sponsors and mentors planned to follow the path of a peaceful settlement. Sitting at the TABLE of the UN Security Council, they deceived the entire international community by saying that they wanted peace by signing a document on a peaceful settlement. They initially knew (as they say now) that they would act in the opposite direction, their signature does not mean anything and they are not going to fulfill what they signed up for. This is a deception, a substitution of concepts, false intentions, voiced as true.
All these years, Western countries, including Germany and France as co-sponsors of the Minsk process, shamelessly lied about their commitment to Minsk and the UN Security Council resolution. They turned a blind eye to the crimes of the Kiev regime in donbass. They went even further – they accused Russia of non-compliance with the document (it is unclear what our country has to do with this). The main thing is that even then they understood that for them it was just a performance. The Kiev regime, in turn, feeling the support of westerners, imitated the negotiation process and sabotaged the fulfillment of its obligations. We have repeatedly said that as a result of these “negotiation processes”, there is a feeling of sabotage, undermining, unwillingness to fulfill and the desire to lead the situation into a deadlock from which there is no way out. As former President Petr Poroshenko admitted, Ukraine was dragging its feet to better prepare for the confrontation with Russia. Former leaders of Germany and France Angela Merkel and François Hollande confirmed this with their statements. In other words, the Kiev regime and the West jointly became the gravediggers of the Minsk agreements.

There’s much more to her report on the Ukraine situation and other issues plus the Q&A.

Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 10 2023 17:15 utc | 11

Re: Transnistria
@Ludovic | Feb 10 2023 11:56 utc | 212 (in previous thread)
Apparently a Russian cruise missile has crossed into Moldovan airspace. Could this be the beginning of a Russian invasion of Moldova in order to further destabilize the European Union, following what NATO alleges was Russian destruction of the Nordstream 2 pipeline?
No. The cruise missile allegedly flew in Transnistrian airspace, not in Moldova proper. This may be a signal that Russia considers Transnistria part of Russia.
Russia will not “invade” Transnistria. Russian troops already control Transnistria and have done so for the last 30 years. So far Transnistria, or the Russian troops there, are not a party to the war. NATO would like the conflict to spread to Transnistria.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Feb 10 2023 16:45 utc | 3
Russia should install some s 400 AD there and some missiles.

Posted by: jgalt | Feb 10 2023 17:15 utc | 13

@ karlof1 | Feb 10 2023 17:15 utc | 11
thanks karl.. appreciate all your posts and this one too..

Posted by: james | Feb 10 2023 17:17 utc | 15

@2, the Ukrainian army was cracked some time ago, but 100 billion dollars and tens of thousands of soldier/mercs covered it up.
If that cracks it’ll get nato regulars in nato equipment under a blue and yellow flag. They’ll all be medics and humanitarian volunteers of course but there won’t be any dam open, so don’t get your hopes up.
Russia can only try to leverage its home field advantage more to survive. It’s more about Russia cracking more, nato has barely touched its inventory and dead Ukrainians don’t add to war weariness. They are expendable and better off dead than red from natos view point. Already nato is assuming the adversarial role to the hilt. No more pretending it’s just some concerned neighbour’s.

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Feb 10 2023 17:37 utc | 17

Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 10 2023 17:15 utc | 11
The charming and often powerfully irritated Mrs. Zakharova is the teacher here, because repetition is the mother of all learning, especially for such personalityless people as Macron, Scholz, Baerbock and the English Indian.
The whole circus, which these lickspittles Mr. Bidens at the expense of their taxpayers, shows us more than clearly, how it came to the WK II.Who were the string pullers.Berthold Brecht warned once: The lap is still fertile, from which that crawled.
Either Mr. Scholz is mentally underexposed-or else, and that would be far worse-he has crawled out of this womb.
The vast majority of us East Germans reject arms deliveries against Russia, because we are Germans and not Americans like our Western relatives.
Thank you karlof for your contributions.
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) from german original

Posted by: Oberbayer | Feb 10 2023 17:38 utc | 19

@18 of course there is. Radiation dies down quick after 48 hours and stays at background cancer levels after 2 weeks. Much of it ends up in water which can be diluted.
Strategies to hold on and adapt are readily conceivable to the right kind of mind and if you hang on while your opponent disintegrates, then you’ve won. If it’s worth it depends how much you hate.

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Feb 10 2023 17:44 utc | 21

“Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Feb 10 2023 17:44 utc | 21”
You are talking about surviving a nuclear attack. LoL
Thats completely different from winning a nuclear war (ie a war where multiple nuclear missiles are exchanged between rivals)
There is no winning from that. There MIGHT be surviving. But not winning. Both rivals would be obliterated beyond recognition.

Posted by: Comandante | Feb 10 2023 17:52 utc | 23

@23 lol OK you’ll survive but i win.
I really don’t want to try though, of course.

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Feb 10 2023 18:00 utc | 25

Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 10 2023 17:15 utc | 11
The usual, by now, widely-known western perfidy.
If you piss on a peace agreement, and shit on another, you’re obviously asking for war.
If then you get it, don’t fucking complain.

Posted by: Arganthonios | Feb 10 2023 18:07 utc | 27

Have to give it to Prigozhin, his info war has a lot of panaché. Interviewed by warGonzo’s Pegov I saw the spoiler, a couple of years to the Dniepr, year and a half to close all Donbass and if needed we go to La Manche, I have a great plan to do it he said.
I’m gonna watch the full interview, here:
Gonzo – Prigozhin
Good that it is not on the tube, otherwise censored.

Posted by: Paco | Feb 10 2023 18:16 utc | 29

Does anyone know anything about whether Bakhmut is connected to any other cities via tunnels, caves, mineshifts?
I read that there are gypsum mines in the area and huge underground spaces for storage, but nothing on precisely where the entrances to these mines are.
The Russians are good at tunnel warfare, remember when they took and held the Roki tunnel in South Ossetia?

Posted by: GoFast | Feb 10 2023 18:21 utc | 31

Thomas Sharpe@14- Yes, young’s is silly thinking. But there is an important grain of truth behind it.
One of the results of the Cold War was that conventional war between nuclear armed peers became impossible. The only conventional wars involving nuclear powers were asymmetrical, and generally unsuccessful, attempts to suppress popular uprisings by military force.
This was a situation that was abhorrent to the Pentagon, NATO and military everywhere: it meant that there would be no more big wars, no more conscript or even mass volunteer armies. No More Parades!
It also meant that military budgets would be heavily weighed towards the production of delivery systems for nuclear weapons and the means of defending against them. Again, for the Pentagon etc this was very ominous- it meant the virtual automation of warfare with the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of military jobs, not to mention the disappearance of the largest clothing contracts, shipbuilding, small arms orders, ammunition production and the entire web-from home construction to military education- of related jobs and positions.
A planet minutes away from MAD needs very few soldiers, hardly any ships at all and even manned aircraft are obsolescent (of course they always are).
Ukraine has seen the re-emergence of the war between Great Powers or blocs. And, curiously it has found everyone unprepared.
NATO, champing at the bit for war since 1949, now turns out to be an empty shell- extremely well equipped in the General and Staff level but embarrassingly short of squaddies, the poor bloody infantry.
As to Russia. Its problem is that it had had the sense to realise that wars of the sort now developing in Ukraine were outdated, irrational and doomed to lead to a resort to nuclear weapons. It realised that spending on the level of the US and NATO had no real military purpose and was explicable only in the narrowest partisan political terms (see Bernie Sanders on the F-35). That is why it chose to spend the money it raised in taxes (please hold off here MMT fans) on projects benefitting its constituents (the people and the kleptocrats alike) rather than on a strategy that could only find its consummation in a radioactive Armageddon.
That was why it cut the size of its armed forces dramatically and concentrated its expenditure of missile defence and the perfection of its nuclear weapon delivery system. Which, after all is what these hypersonic missiles are really about, nobody builds a khinzal to deliver an HE warhead to a transformer station. And Russia never did. When it uses a khinzal it is telling the “west” that it has the capacity, at any moment, to put an end to all their nonsense.
But the Pentagon, NATO and our cultures are divided into those who are calling Russia’s bluff, convinced that nuclear war is as impossible as the defeat of capitalism or the end of the Empire, and those who have long since given up trying either to understand or to influence the world.
The Pentagon (and yes those carefully coiffed and elegantly dressed ‘Generals” and silly sounding Admirals actually are allowed to take the decisions, there) is calculating that US policy is forcing Russia into mobilising its population and economy-devoting everything to winning a war which it must win in order to survive. It is a calculation based upon the belief that such a shock to Russian society will make it easy for the ‘soft power’, ‘colour revolution’ forces to get to work and bring about the collapse of Russia’s system of government and the permanent removal of the challenge that an independent Russia still poses to imperial hegemony.
This leaves Russia three alternative courses-so far as I can see- the first is to defy NATO’s calculation, re-arm in an intensely nationalistic war for survival and crush the imperialist proxies.
The second is to mirror the imperialist strategy- put military bases in Latin America, take the continent under its nuclear umbrella, transform its militaries (it would not be hard the gringo is not a popular figure even among Colombian fascists) into an alliance to defend the continent against US bullying and exploitation. Activate a Eurasian military alliance, using the enormous potential of the Asian powers and Russia, to make alliance with the imperialists an expensive and dangerous game, even for such satraps as Japan and south Korea. And, in effect, tell the “west” that Eurasia doesn’t want to fight, But, by jingo, if they (must) do, they have the men (billions of them), the guns and they have got the money too.
The third alternative is for Russia to follow the logic of its longstanding policies which is to resign itself to the inevitability of undertaking, without warning or notice, a massive first strike designed to decapitate its enemy. The only alternative, which Moscow has placed its bests on since 1946, being World Peace and humanity’s concentration on the things which really matter, such as poverty, environmental degradation and disease.

Posted by: bevin | Feb 10 2023 18:28 utc | 33

The website technology.org (google “how much does a 155mm howitzer shell cost?”) quotes a deal for 10K shells for approximately 3,300 euros per shell. It’s small deal, and probably doesn’t reflect any sort of volume discount. The site mezha.media.en estimates about $2K per unit with a mix of higher end shells included. Given the above, a reasonable estimate for the cost for a barebones shell now, in the midst of very high demand is at least $1K (pre-war estimates were the barebones shell without fuses, etc was around $500). Of course shipping everything to Ukraine is also very expensive, so $2K may not be too far off for an all-in price. This would yield a cost of $12 million per day for 6,000 shell, or about $360 million per month. Considering that’s just shells, and doesn’t include barrels, maintenance, etc. on those howitzers, that’s a lot of money.

Posted by: CoupLeeBob | Feb 10 2023 18:29 utc | 35

@oldhippie | Feb 10 2023 18:02 utc | 26
155mm ammo cost – here is a 2021 article on the general subject. A quick search comes up with a range from $2k to “less than $10k” with the lower estimates likely referring to ‘regular’ shells rather than high explosive or extended range versions.

Posted by: the pessimist | Feb 10 2023 18:32 utc | 37

Took a 400 mile round trip from Portland area to southwestern BC last week. Saw exactly 1 UKR flag sticker on the trip. Spent several days in Whistler. Saw exactly 1 smallish poster with UKR flag on shop windows.
I participate in several online groups where the tide is turning as more lurkers chime in with realistic analyses.
Posted by: Paul Spencer | Feb 10 2023 18:22 utc | 31

Yep, and the political class will be the last to notice the shift.

Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 10 2023 18:34 utc | 39

Neofeudal @21
So how much do you hate? To whom is your hatred directed?

Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 10 2023 18:35 utc | 41

More censorship.
TASS today:
“UK will chair a summit of 30 nations to coordinate an international response to fears that Russian and Belarusian athletes will be able to participate in Olympics,’ according to the statement.
Lucy Frazer, the Secretary of State for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), said commenting on the statement that ‘We cannot allow Russian athletes to line up alongside Team GB and everyone else on the world stage.’ ”
Pathetic. UK gets The Most Valuable Toady award.

Posted by: Elmagnostic | Feb 10 2023 18:55 utc | 43

re: citizens vs. politicians
…from Edward Abbey, anarchist. . .
“Democracy–rule by the people–sounds like a fine thing; we should try it sometime in America.”

Posted by: Don Bacon | Feb 10 2023 19:06 utc | 45

The price of gold has been surprisingly resilient given the big increase in interest rates. 3 month Treasuries are paying 4.6%.
De-dollarization happening in slow motion ?

Posted by: Exile | Feb 10 2023 19:19 utc | 47

Posted by: Eighthman | Feb 10 2023 16:55 utc | 6:

(….)Whatever the case, it looks like Russia is far in the lead. And that by itself should give the West pause.

The West would not pause! Period. The sanctions didn’t work, did the West pause? The battle field results were horrid, did the West pause? Food and energy related inflationary trends flew into the skies all over the West, did they pause?
The West doesn’t know how to pause, or does not want to pause. Some of them has no dogs of their own in the field, they don’t need to pause. Some of them have a gun at their head, they wouldn’t dare to pause. Some of them are so stupid that they simply don’t know how to pause.
They may pause when the last Ukrainian hit the 6 feet underground pit, only because now that they have exhausted the fuel to keep on keeping on. But they will start again soon after, because Poland is right there, the Baltic sillies are right there, The Bulgars/Slovens/Slavaks/who-so-ever et al. are right there. They have plenty fuel to go on even after the last Ukrainian.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Feb 10 2023 19:33 utc | 49

via MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/ —
“About 90% of all military equipment sent to Ukraine goes through Poland, which acts as a sort of a transit corridor for its transfer” Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreyev said on Russian TV Friday.
Should the Russia-Ukraine conflict geographically enlarge Poland will suffer first from it. Then which nation? I’d predict the EU member with the largest industrial capacity, and so forth.

Posted by: MOSCOW, February 10. | Feb 10 2023 19:37 utc | 51

@Oberbayer | Feb 10 2023 17:38 utc | 19:
The charming and often powerfully irritated Mrs. Zakharova is the teacher here, because repetition is the mother of all learning, especially for such personalityless people as Macron, Scholz, Baerbock and the English Indian.
…..
Berthold Brecht warned once: The lap is still fertile, from which that crawled.
Either Mr. Scholz is mentally underexposed-or else, and that would be far worse-he has crawled out of this womb.
_________________________
Just two remarks concerning the two snippets of text above:
1.»Repetion is the mother of all learning«. There is a much nicer Latin saying for this issue: »Repetitio mater studiorum est!«
For that matter: Mrs. Sacharova – despite the seriousness of things – surely more often than only one time seemed to a bit pull the legs of the current Western political geniuses named above. Wouldn’t it be really nice, if she prospectively could attach mottoes like above to her further »lessons« in a widely visible fashion?
2. Despite certain other possible misgivings concerning Mr. Scholz, I think most people would rather see him unsuspicious especially in terms of your remarks. Though its in itself surely embarassing to see him on the current Value-Western bandwagon towards war with Russia, nonetheless he is well aware of the »global«oney currently going on. As far as he seems to simply be compelled taking part in this shit, to me its a great deal of really bad luck he’s cursed by, being German chancellor just now plus the country’s general status given.

Posted by: Yogi | Feb 10 2023 19:42 utc | 53

Biden will party in Poland Feb 20-22

Posted by: rk | Feb 10 2023 19:47 utc | 55

@37,40 Aristodemos
I don’t hate anything enough to justify everyone dying, mostly because I’d like my enemies to see how I seize power and grind them into dust and out of memory. Top 10 cities destroyed though is quite conceivable, in theory depending on the circumstances.
It’s like make Berlin the front time, given the stakes, anything can be considered expendable, if not quite everything.

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Feb 10 2023 19:53 utc | 57

via Moscow, February 10,,,, 90 % of arms to Ukraine come via Poland . One would think that the Poles by now would tire of being the ‘ Bullseye ” of conflicts in Eastern Europe. Poland currently is rebuilt, a progressive , growing Nation. Why are you tempting destruction again ? GO, TOTALLY NEUTRAL !

Posted by: leocz | Feb 10 2023 19:55 utc | 59

When French, Germans and Ukrainians signed the Minsk treaty, they have no intention of implementing the treaty. A peace treaty between Ukraine and Russia may receive a similar fate. When regions of Ukraine vote in referendum they wish to join the Russian federation, the US does not recognize the referendum. What to do?
Perhaps the solution is simple. The president of Ukraine sells four regions of Ukraine to Russia. A sales contract is made, a price is paid, and the matter is settled forever. One can point at Alaska, Louisiana, Florida, or even parts of various European countries as precedents. If the US or the EU contest the sale of Ukrainian oblasts to Russia, then part of their territory can also be contested.

Posted by: Passerby | Feb 10 2023 19:59 utc | 61

@35, 49, 53
Probably not refering to Peresvet at all. I bet they are actually talking about the Krasnopol Laser Guided 152mm Shell. I’ve been seeing plenty of videos of these shells hitting MOVING point targets from 15 klicks away. Pretty sure RF is using the Iranian drones with laser designators to guide these shells. Also agree with 49, armor gets the Krasnopol rounds and the infantry gets saturated with thermobaric hellfire from TOS-1. These 2 weapon systems are doing the bulk of the work for Russia.
As soon as I saw RF regularly hitting moving vehicles with freakin howitzers I knew there is no chance for NATO. Yeah NATO has similar munitions, but no way they can mass manufacture this specialized ammo and apply it at scale like RF has.

Posted by: Angry Minuteman | Feb 10 2023 20:08 utc | 63

Yeah NATO has similar munitions, but no way they can mass manufacture this specialized ammo and apply it at scale like RF has.
Posted by: Angry Minuteman | Feb 10 2023 20:08 utc | 62
*************************************************
Yeah, but they pay 10X times as much for it as RF does and NATO ‘junk” is 5X as unreliable as RF!!!

Posted by: Garry Owen | Feb 10 2023 20:21 utc | 65

# 46 4.6 return for three months, very appealing. Thanks .

Posted by: Dingo | Feb 10 2023 20:21 utc | 67

@Elmagnostic | Feb 10 2023 20:21 utc | 65

“The US has allegedly shot down a second high-altitude balloon over northern Alaska”
You can’t make up this stuff.

I suspect they did just that.

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 10 2023 20:33 utc | 69

There is evidence of more active use of RF attack aircraft, and this means the end of dug-in Ukrainian resistance in urban areas of the Donbas. The 10 story concrete apartment blocks that can withstand howitzer and tank fire will be collapsed by heavy aircraft bombs. This is how ISIS was crushed in Raqqa. An airstrike obliterated every building in which there was stiff resistance.

Posted by: HH | Feb 10 2023 20:40 utc | 71

Biden will party in Poland Feb 20-22
Posted by: rk | Feb 10 2023 19:47 utc | 54
Perhaps Poland could Anwar Sadat him and blame Putin. Polish “Leaders” seem bent on being partitioned again.

Posted by: kupkee | Feb 10 2023 20:45 utc | 73

Video of Russian underwater drones hitting a bridge in Odessa region.
https://t.me/s/Slavyangrad/32900

Posted by: chunga | Feb 10 2023 20:54 utc | 75

I think the hyperbolic reaction of Ukraine’s media supporters to the ‘disaster at Ugledar’ is a telling indicator of how badly the conflict is going for them. It reminds me of the die Deutsche Wochenschau commentary from late 44-45, grasping at any evidence that the unfolding nightmare can be reversed. If the Ukrainians were fighting as well as they and the Western media claim there would be no need to magnify the significance of a modest tactical setback and there would be plenty of other evidence available of similar Russian repulses. Where, for instance, is the footage of the 120 Russian tanks claimed destroyed on the Kherson front, or corroboration of the human wave attacks being shot down in Bakhmut?
Warfare is a gruesome exercise in profit and loss accounting and the side that has to exaggerate its gains and conceal it’s losses is rarely winning. Perhaps the operation was led by Col Fukitup, whose G2 was more interested in his Fortnite account, but, equally, perhaps it was planned and executed as an operation to force the deployment of reserves and the revealing of artillery assets. From memory, they lost 6+ tubes, a number of ammo dumps, over two brigades engaged and severely attrited and had to call on reserves from Kremmina; not a bad return for less than a BTG damaged, with very few TK’s, mostly MK’s from mines and therefore recoverable and their crews and dismounts largely unscathed.
As for the battlefield killers, the TOS 1A and CLGP are deadly but, historically, I think the humble mortars (120mm and auto 82mm) are the unsung killers, especially as their FO’s have access to drones and their crews GPS.

Posted by: Milites | Feb 10 2023 21:10 utc | 77

just a tricky question
if poland so itchy for parts of ukraine
can’t germany just give berlin to poland?
I mean win win

Posted by: Macpott | Feb 10 2023 21:20 utc | 79

Putin responds to the Hersh article on the Nordstream pipelines.
His ultimatum is if the negotiations that underway fail then the West has 72 hrs to evacuate everyone from the Nuclear Strike Zones he picks.
https://warnews247.gr/apantisi-rosias-stis-apokalypseis-s-chers-an-oi-diapragmatefseis-apotychoun-o-v-poutin-tha-dosei-prothesmia-72-ores-prin-tin-chrisi-pyrinikon-oplon/

Posted by: jgalt | Feb 10 2023 21:24 utc | 81

Outraged
Not to nitpick, but a FEBA is not the same as a FLOT, as it does not include covering or screening forces. I’m wondering if any poster here knows the Russian terms or if they even differentiate between the two.

Posted by: Milites | Feb 10 2023 21:32 utc | 83

Today a so-called “Aktuelle Stunde” was held in the German Bundestag, regarding the destruction of the Nordstream pipelines. It was called for by the AfD fraction on the occassion of Seymor Hersh’s article.
In this session (which I quit watching the live stream while the SPD MP was talking, since I almost got ear cancer) the CDU MP Jürgen Hardt said the following according to an article of the “Berliner Zeitung” ( https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/wirtschaft-verantwortung/nord-stream-debatte-im-bundestag-wo-sitzt-der-feind-li.316499 ):

Jürgen Hardt, a member of parliament from the CDU, said during the question time that he was proud that all speakers from his parliamentary group were members of Atlantikbrücke e.V., because he could not remember that the Americans had ever done anything wrong

Now….seriously. This does it. This quote puts the final point under my alienation from Germany and the western world as a whole.
Finished. Period. I had it now.

Posted by: Helmuth von Moltke | Feb 10 2023 21:36 utc | 85

Russian Market@runews
Old habits die hard

https://twitter.com/runews/status/1624086703160930307
The video speaks for itself
Slava Cocaini (as rk likes to say)

Posted by: Down South | Feb 10 2023 21:38 utc | 87

@85 watcher
“Result: for $60,000 the USA expends about $10 million on missiles to launch at the balloons.”
I’m fairly certain a single F-22 Intercept mission would exceed $10m

Posted by: Angry Minuteman | Feb 10 2023 21:43 utc | 89

The situation in Artyomovsk (Bakhmut): On the night of February 10, assault groups of the RF Armed Forces crossed the E-40 highway and made their way to the settlement of Orekhovo-Vasilyevka, 20 km from Artyomovsk (Bakhmut).
Safe supply of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and movement along the Artyomovsk-Seversk, Artyomovsk-Slavyansk, Artyomovsk-Konstantinovka, and Khromovo-Chasov Yar routes is impossible. The roads are under the control of attack aircraft, Orlan-30 drones, rocket and self-propelled artillery of the RF Armed Forces. “>https://t.me/ukraina_ru/131781

https://t.me/geromanat/5065

Posted by: Down South | Feb 10 2023 21:45 utc | 91

@ Milites | Feb 10 2023 21:32 utc | 82
Analogous.
A FLOT may, or may not, include screening or covering forces. It simply means the frontline, being where the forward most bustard is. FLOT is typically used where a light screen is deployed … forward … such as armored cavalry elements or use of armored recon elements as a screen. Am not aware of RF doing either, which doesn’t mean diddly-squat.

Posted by: Outraged | Feb 10 2023 21:47 utc | 93

The non-verbal propaganda is insidious. Just watched a little bit of AC Milan vs Torino in the Italian Serie A football league and for a few minutes I was wondering what on earth Milan had done to their kit, it was a hideously dull shade of green. Then the penny dropped, it was what I can only describe as ‘Zelensky T-shirt’ green.
I changed the channel once I realised what was going on.

Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 10 2023 21:52 utc | 95

Richard Medhurst interviews Pepe Escobar on his live stream.
Pepe Escobar and Richard Medhurst on BRICS, Ukraine War, Russian Oil & Much More (1 hour 51 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3gEJPc3Zl8
The Duran guys talk with Jeffrey Sachs on the Nord Stream sabotage.
Nord Stream pipeline & sabotaging peace w/Jeffrey Sachs (Live) (30 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySNyAaw4VEI
Brian Berletic’s latest live stream.
New Atlas LIVE: Missiles, Earthquakes & Pipelines – US Hegemony Fighting on All Fronts (1 Hour, 5 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlcsko6resY

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 10 2023 21:57 utc | 97

@Down South | Feb 10 2023 21:38 utc | 86

The video speaks for itself
Slava Cocaini (as rk likes to say)

If you take too much cocaine, your nose will fade away. Ze is far gone down that path.

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 10 2023 21:58 utc | 99