Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
September 20, 2024

Ukraine - Recent Front Line Reports Point To Systemic Failures

Two recent piece published in Ukrainian media take a look at the situation in eastern Ukraine and describe the reasons for the crumbling of Ukraine's defense lines.

The usually government friendly Ukrainska Pravda talked with units at the front line:

The Pokrovsk front didn’t just crumble overnight. Since 15 February 2024, when they withdrew from Avdiivka, Ukraine’s defence forces have been retreating towards Pokrovsk – sometimes faster, sometimes slower – almost every week.

The first difficulties arose when the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, which had been holding the line in the vicinity of Orlivka and Semenivka (not far from Avdiivka), was replaced by the 68th Separate Jaeger Brigade. The rotation of military units is one of the most vulnerable defence areas in general, and for the Ukrainian army in particular, and the Russians took advantage of that.

Rotations are a complicate business. The unit that gets relieved is supposed to wait until the replacement unit has completely arrived. Only after explaining the positions and situation to the new troops are the old ones supposed to retreat.

In reality that rarely happens as it is described in military manuals. The troops eager to get out do not take time to brief the incoming forces. Positions are emptied before the replacements have had time to settle in. Traffic snarls ensue as the number of vehicles in an area double before returning to a normal level.

The enemy will of course use any such situation to make it more difficult for the rotating side. Botched rotations have caused several occasion where the lines were open and allowed Russian units to break in. They may be the main cause for the Russian break through from Avdiivka towards the key supply point in Pokrovsk.


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From those in the known:

Vitalii, a crew member who operates a large attack drone, tells Ukrainska Pravda that he was deployed in the area in March, and that the Russian attacks started even before the 68th Brigade could take up its positions.

"We met guys from the 68th who had only just taken up their positions and were forced to retreat immediately because of the FPV drone attacks. When a brigade leaves, they take all the electronic warfare equipment with them. This is typical on this front: they [the Russians] advance the most during rotations. The occupiers take advantage of those times."

"The night we replaced the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade in Semenivka, the enemy attempted to carry out an assault operation. The meat-grinder attacks haven’t stopped since then," an Ukrainska Pravda source in the 68th Brigade confirms.

Another big cause of losses are miscommunication between the various units that hold the lines. The results are breakthroughs and utter confusion about who holds positions and where:

Another major turning point that marked the undoing of the Pokrovsk front was the Russians’ sudden breakthrough in Ocheretyne, a relatively large, urbanised town on the railway with industrial facilities, and therefore a particularly useful defence position. Russian occupation forces entered the town in mid-April.
...
"Before the offensive, I received intelligence that the Russians were going to assault Ocheretyne, where we had no troops at the positions," the officer says. "I passed this information on to my commanders straight away, but the commander of the brigade stationed there [the 115th Separate Mechanised Brigade – ed.] responded: ‘We have forces there, they’re all there.’

Next morning the Russians started to walk into [Ocheretyne], moving through what were officially minefields – but in fact there were no mines there. After we surrendered Novobakhmutivka, Ocheretyne and Soloviovo, the front started to collapse at the rate we’re seeing now."

"When the Russians captured Ocheretyne, there was no stable contact line as such," Vitalii the drone crew member adds. "No one knew where the front was. Soldiers in the villages of Sokil, Yevhenivka and Voskhod were walking around with guns in their hands, asking each other for passwords to figure out if they were dealing with one of us or the enemy."

In general Russian troops are superior in experienced manpower and have more ammunition to fight:

"The first problem on the Pokrovsk front is personnel numbers, the second is their level of training, and the third is the skills of the unit command. And then we run into the defence-related issues – tactics, measures, and so on." This, a soldier from the 47th Brigade tells Ukrainska Pravda, is the order of priority of the reasons for the Russians’ super-fast advance.

Brigades are kept in the fight even as they are staffed to as low as 40% of their nominal strength. Replacements, if the arrive at all, are unqualified for fighting:

"The backbone of the brigades was lost during the battles near Avdiivka, and the replenishments that arrived later left a lot to be desired," says a source from the 68th, explaining the shortage of motivated people. "The mobilisation failed. Let's be honest – each subsequent replenishment was less motivated and trained. So they could not reliably hold the defence.

In Semenivka we had about 90% experienced people in the unit and 10% newcomers. Now we have about the same ratio, but the other way round. And the average age of the newcomers can even be 55+, not 45+."

On the positive side there were a number of well prepared fortifications had been build near Pokrovsk. Unfortunately they had been build by unexperienced forces in the wrong places and were thus unusable:

Bunkers and connected trench lines were indeed built on the Pokrovsk front – but there’s a catch. Many of these fortifications are unsuitable for serious defence. They’re frequently located in the middle of fields, which makes them visible to the enemy and difficult for the defence forces’ personnel, ammunition and supplies to reach.

"When [Ukrainian MP Mariana] Bezuhla posts photos of empty trenches and asks why nobody was defending them, I know exactly why. Because it’s stupid to sit in a hole in the middle of a bare field. Sooner or later an FPV drone will fly right into your face," Vitalii tells Ukrainska Pravda angrily.
...
"On the Pokrovsk front, trenches and dugouts had been made right in the middle of fields, making logistics impossible. They dug anti-tank ditches that led directly from enemy positions to our rear positions, and it’s impossible to monitor them. These fortifications help the enemy advance more than they help us defend.

The Ukrainian public relations operation into the Russian Kursk oblast did not achieve its hoped for effect. Pressure on the Ukrainian front in the east was not relieved:

Another figure – the official number of combat encounters reported by Ukraine’s General Staff – confirms that Russian infantry attacks on the Pokrovsk front have continued, and have in fact slightly intensified. We analysed the number of combat clashes on the Pokrovsk front before and after the Kursk operation began and found that it had increased significantly – on average from 40 to 52 per day.
...
Nor, unfortunately, has the opening up of the Kursk front decreased the amount of artillery attacks and guided aerial bomb strikes on the front line as a whole. On the contrary, their number, just like the combat clashes, has slightly increased. There are an average of 4,500 to 4,600 artillery attacks per day, with the number of guided aerial bomb strikes ranging from 97 to 105.

A second report on the war in the Pokrovsk direction, this one by Kyiv Independent, comes to similar conclusions:

Since the first break through of Ukrainian defense lines in April near the village of Ocheretyne, Russian forces have advanced over 20 kilometers towards Pokrovsk, with the key logistics hub once considered to be deep in the rear, now gradually coming in range of Russian artillery and suicide drones.

Despite Kyiv’s attempts to draw away Russian forces from Pokrovsk with the surprise incursion into Kursk Oblast, Moscow made sure not to take its foot off the pedal, further intensifying its attacks over August.

Thin defense lines and a lack of supplies make losses inevitable:

The infantrymen’s stories testify to the starkly attritional nature of the fight: although Russia’s relentless infantry assaults come at a high cost, with enough time and enough fire covering the defending positions, the defenders are inevitably overwhelmed.

“We can be fighting them off for a while, but eventually our ammunition runs out,” said Dmytro, 32.

“And while they are getting resupplied constantly, we can't do the same, they cover all the routes, and because of that, we have to give up our positions.”

The lack of higher (divisional) command leads to a breakdown in communications:

With many different units — all in various states of combat effectiveness — deployed to the Pokrovsk front, effective communication between brigades is a crucial factor that is often lacking, soldiers from both brigades told the Kyiv Independent. One officer of the 68th, who asked not to be identified because of the nature of his comments, said that for months over summer, one of the neighboring brigades would consistently fail to report lost positions, leaving his own units vulnerable from the flank without knowing about it.

“In our area, there are a lot of different units, and communication between them becomes a big problem,” said Oleksandr.

Units do not only lack men but the lack of personnel has morale effects on those few who are still in the fight:

“In the last two months here, to be honest, we have had serious losses. Killed, injured, and taken prisoner,” said Olena Tarishchuk, a 39-year-old lieutenant responsible for monitoring the morale and mental state of the fire support company’s personnel.

“We need rest, we need rotation, we basically need support. We don't have enough manpower to carry out our orders.”

Inevitably, extreme manpower strains, on top of the reluctance of Ukraine’s higher command to rotate exhausted units off the front line, take their toll on the infantry’s morale.

There are two basic oddities in the Ukrainian military, reflected above, that explain some of its errors.

The high command decided early on to use the brigades as its major autonomous fighting units. A commander of a front may have (more or less) control over a dozen of those. The more typical organization would be a division staff which controls three to four brigades. Above divisions a corp command would coordinate the movements of several of them. A front command would sit on top of several corps and direct the greater moves with a long time perspective.

While such a traditional structure has its own problems with the additional bureaucracy layers it does coordinate much better than a lose structure of free-running brigades who do not even know the names and radio call signs of their neighbors.

A second systemic failure in the Ukrainian army is the lack of replenishment of personnel.

Experienced brigades are kept on the front until that have less than a third of their original strength. They are not replenishment while still in the fight. Newly mobilized men are instead put into newly constituted brigades which zero frontline experience.

A better system would rotate out units that have lost a third of their men and fill them up with new recruits before pushing them back into the fight. The result would be the same number of soldiers but with experience mixed into all of the army's units.

I am sure that NATO and U.S. forces have lectured the Ukrainians on both of these issues. But the Ukrainian command has a will of its own and is often resistant to critique and changes.

It has now even dismantled its only internal unit that was still able to present an objective view of its failures (machine translation):

The other day the People's Deputy Mariana Bezuglaya wrote a post in which she stated that the training centers "do not teach anything" and send untrained conscripts to the front line.

After that, Volodymyr Zelensky said that he had heard a report on the situation in training schools at the Headquarters and stated that he was instructed to develop measures to correct the situation. By indirectly acknowledging the existence of problems.

Bezuglaya at the same time said that the reporter at the Headquarters-Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Defense Igor Voronchenko-was dismissed after his report. According to her - by Defense Minister Umerov at the suggestion of Commander-in-Chief Syrsky.

"Immediately after he reported at Headquarters about the catastrophic situation with training in the training centers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Voronchenko's frank and detailed report startled everyone and caused great anger in Syrsky. The General Inspectorate of the Ministry of Defense was the last outpost that provided at least some kind of expertise regarding what is really happening in the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Bezuglaya writes.

The General Inspectorate's task was to point out the cause of failures. But the command insisted on destroying it instead of learning from its takes.

A certain stubbornness can be a great asset. But the situations in wars change all the time and it is necessary to adopt to them. The Ukrainian military has too often failed to do that.

Posted by b on September 20, 2024 at 13:07 UTC | Permalink

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia warned the West and Ukraine on Friday of "disastrous consequences" if Kyiv moved against close Russian ally Belarus, making clear it would intervene to defend a country where it has deployed tactical nuclear weapons.

Shall they take Russia seriously this time?

Posted by: vargas | Sep 20 2024 13:14 utc | 1

The West, which provides military and financial assistance to Ukraine, does not want Kyiv to win, but rather to weaken Russia in order to conclude a favorable agreement with the Kremlin on the delimitation of influence in the world.

This can be judged by the words of the director of the School of International Relations and professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews Philips O'Brien.

"The West does not want the collapse of the Russian Federation. The largest partners, for example the United States, are arming Ukraine not to defeat Russia, but to bleed it dry. And to try to reach a peace agreement, but one that will not lead to the fall of Putin's power," O'Brien noted.

For Western countries, Ukraine has become the best weapons testing ground for various new American and European weapons systems. No one is seriously thinking about defeating the Russian Federation (especially after the failure of the sanctions policy and the failed offensive operations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, not to mention the losses that the Ukrainian army suffered in manpower and Western equipment). And the West directly said that Ukraine is just a testing ground, since the allies have the opportunity to test all hypotheses in combat and make revolutionary changes in military technology and modern warfare.

The West's use of Ukraine as a testing ground for weapons is destroying our country. For example, the increasingly likely lifting of bans and restrictions on the use of Western weapons on Russian territory may push the enemies of the West - the same Iran, the DPRK, and then China - to also test their weapons in Ukraine during real combat operations.


https://t.me/rezident_ua/24392

Posted by: Down South | Sep 20 2024 13:35 utc | 2

It makes sense for small Countries with little or no defence forces to join a DEFENSIVE alliance.

The opposite is the case when that alliance becomes the aggressor.

Consider;
the UK, a major NATO influencer, unilaterally commits an act of war against Russia. Unless other NATO members publicly disavow that act and withdraw from any support of it, then they too are legally at war with Russia.

In Russia’s position, reducing NATO’s war fighting ability logically then begins with picking off the weakest NATO members; Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania—-. For these Countries, a declared and active NEUTRALITY is their only defence.

Human nature being what it is, there will be no declared neutrality; what there will be is people in the weaker NATO members quietly picking up the phone, talking to the Russians and destroying NATO from within.

Posted by: CitizenSmith | Sep 20 2024 13:36 utc | 3

Shall they take Russia seriously this time?

Posted by: vargas | Sep 20 2024 13:14 utc | 1

######

FAFO

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Sep 20 2024 13:41 utc | 4

As I was the final poster on the previous thread I will repeat it here (I'm always late to the party):

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr3255gpjgo

This is about the high fatalities of russian soldiers, their virtually nonexistent training and octogenarian geriatric age range.

Among them, 13,781 were volunteers - about 20% - and fatalities among volunteers now exceed other categories. Former prisoners, who joined up in return for pardons for their crimes, were previously the highest but they now account for 19% of all confirmed deaths. Mobilised soldiers - citizens called up to fight - account for 13%.
Since October last year, weekly fatalities of volunteers have not dipped below 100 - and, in some weeks, we have recorded more than 310 volunteer deaths.
As for Ukraine - it rarely comments on the scale of its deaths on the battlefield. In February, its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, but estimates based on US intelligence suggest greater losses.

And also

Many new recruits who have joined the military have criticised the training they have received. A man who signed a contract with the Russian army in November last year told the BBC he had been promised two weeks of training at a shooting range before deployment to the front.
"In reality, people were just thrown out onto the parade ground, and dished out some gear,” he said, adding the equipment was poorly made.

It's worth reading the whole thing just to find out how completely wrong MoA is about everything. Russia has completely failed and will shortly implode, apparently. If only reality was scripted by the BBC, everything would be so much more sensible.

Posted by: Occasional poster | Sep 20 2024 13:43 utc | 5

Posted by: Down South | Sep 20 2024 13:35 utc | 2

#############
This sounds like rationalizing of imminent defeat to be honest. Some people do talk about dismembering Russia, some of them close to the decision making centers. It is not a universally agreed position but neither is it marginal. Furthermore, testing weapons does not require such comprehensive destruction of lives and industrial resources. Far more valuable to a military tactician is the creation of seasoned, motivated troops which does require considerable death and mayhem, but here again the analysis fails because Ukraine’s seasoned forces are on a trajectory to be largely destroyed, NATO’s green troops remain on the sidelines, and Russia gains all the advantage of battlefield experience to themselves.

I do not think there are good explanations for NATO’s behavior among military strategists or theorists. This war is driven by political ideology in NATO.

Posted by: a stone | Sep 20 2024 13:48 utc | 6

I would like to know what has become of the DPR/LNR armies. Have they been integrated into the regular Russian army, or do they still maintain a certain degree of independence ? What is the relationship between these irregular armies and the Russian army and what are the prospects ?
Furthermore, when an inhabited area is taken by the Russian army in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, is the territory and its inhabitants administered by the DPR/LNR or directly by Russia ?

Posted by: Julio4Ever | Sep 20 2024 13:51 utc | 7

The Security Council of Ukraine introduces a ban on the use of Telegram on official devices of civil servants and military personnel

You can leave it for those who use Telegram for work purposes. The rest are recommended to switch to WhatsApp

🔹Do you still need tips to remove WhatsApp from your phone?


https://t.me/two_majors/32216
⚡️Ukraine bans use of Telegram for civil servants, military personnel, security and defense sector employees, and critical infrastructure enterprises

The ban applies only to official devices (such as computers, work phones), but does not affect personal smartphones.

The decision was made at a meeting of the National Cybersecurity Coordination Center (NCCC), a key body for coordination and control in the field of cybersecurity.

It was attended by representatives of the leadership of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, the National Police of Ukraine, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the National Bank of Ukraine, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, intelligence agencies, the leadership of regulatory bodies in the field of electronic communications, as well as people's deputies.

The key topic of the meeting was the discussion of threats to national security associated with the use of the Telegram messenger.

“I have always advocated and advocate for freedom of speech, but the Telegram issue is not a matter of freedom of speech, it is a matter of national security,” Budanov said.

As a result, a decision was made to ban the installation and use of Telegram on official devices of employees of government agencies, military personnel, employees of the security and defense sector, as well as enterprises that operate critical infrastructure.

The only exception will be those persons for whom the use of this messenger is part of their official duties.

The meeting also considered the issue of ensuring the stable operation of mobile communications and the Internet under martial law. They decided to ensure the continuous operation of electronic communication networks during power outages (I wonder how? They will oblige mobile operators, but will there be a technical possibility?)

So, the "screws are tightening" even more. And while talking about European values, freedom of speech and human rights, the authorities prohibit a significant segment of the population from using the most popular means of communication and source of news! Think about it! 🧩


https://t.me/ZeRada1/21569

Posted by: Down South | Sep 20 2024 13:58 utc | 8

For small countries with little or no defense forces, it makes sense to join a DEFENSIVE alliance.

The opposite is true if that alliance becomes an aggressor.

Consider this:
The UK, a major influence in NATO, unilaterally commits an act of war against Russia. Unless other NATO members publicly condemn this act and support it, they are also legally at war with Russia.

From the Russian perspective, reducing NATO's combat capability logically begins with the elimination of the weakest NATO members: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. For these countries, declared and active NEUTRALITY is their only defense.

Human nature is such that there will be no declared neutrality; instead, people in the weaker NATO member states will quietly pick up the phone, talk to the Russians, and destroy NATO from within.
.
opinion on this:
The latter is especially true for Poland... as this country has often shown in its history, right up to Napoleon's allies, and every single time it has resorted to betrayal to save itself.
Even if it is now up to its neck in the USA's ass, it will betray every partner!

Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 14:01 utc | 9

Next coup?

Posted by: Joe | Sep 20 2024 14:02 utc | 10

a stone @6

Agreed. If the goal is the testing of weapons & tactics, they've found out that even after 2.5 years, most weapons & pretty much every tactic tried are shite.

And getting Russia to accept a smaller role in the world is pretty much the opposite of what's happened.

It is, as you say, rationalizing a defeat and in so doing providing a specific measure of how far short they've fallen on their objectives.

Posted by: Paul Damascene | Sep 20 2024 14:03 utc | 11

Posted by: Occasional poster | Sep 20 2024 13:43 utc | 5
.
This is about the high fatalities of russian soldiers, their virtually nonexistent training and octogenarian geriatric age range.
.
.
So...are you confusing something here?
It was about Ukrainian soldiers, not Russians, although their numbers are not small either, BUT their training is probably several times better.
That's why ALL Ukrainian soldiers, including mercenaries, or especially these, avoid any close combat with Russians, they never know who they are facing, and mercenaries know that they won't be caught and if they are, they will definitely end up in a tree as companions.

Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 14:08 utc | 12

Funny post at RWA about Latvia signed-up for protection by NATO only to find-out they they are now the bleeding edge of NATO - "call us if you have any problems and be sure to stay current with you subscription fee".

Posted by: jared | Sep 20 2024 14:10 utc | 13

There is a limit to running mass formation psychosis program

Posted by: Joe | Sep 20 2024 14:12 utc | 14

Taiwan- maybe there are a tribe there to

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka_people

Singapore
In 2010, 232,914 people in Singapore reported Hakka ancestry. Singapore's most prominent Hakka is its founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew. Yew.

Indonesia
The Hakka in this region are descendants of gold prospectors who migrated from China in the late 19th century.

Suriname
The Chinese in Suriname are homogeneous as a group and the great majority can trace their roots to Huidong'an (惠东安). One famous Hakka is President Henk Chin A Sen.[53]

Guyana
Chinese people are a small minority at Guyana. Guyana's most prominent Hakka Chinese is its first president, Arthur Chung.

Many foreign scholars were full of admiration of the Hakka people. According to prominent sinologist Victor Purcell, the Hakkas "have a stubbornness of disposition that distinguishes them from their fellow Chinese".

It has been suggested that Hakkas have had a significant influence, disproportionate to their smaller total numbers, on the course of modern Chinese and overseas Chinese history, particularly as a source of revolutionary, political, military leaders, as well as presidents, prime ministers.[26]

Hakkas started and formed the backbone of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom,[75] the largest uprising in the modern history of China. The uprising, also known as Jintian Uprising, originated at the Hakka village of Jintian in Guiping, Guangxi province. It was led by the failed Qing scholar, Hong Xiuquan, who was influenced by Protestant missionaries. Hong's charisma tapped into a consciousness of national dissent which identified with his personal interpretations of the Christian message. His following, who were initially Hakka peasants from Guangxi, grew across the southern provinces.

The Taiping army, which included women in their ranks, captured towns and cities from the defenders, the Taiping troops killed all Manchu children because the Taiping troops with fatal rocks smashed Manchu children's heads[76] Four of the six top Taiping leaders are Hakkas: Hong Xiuquan, Feng Yunshan, Yang Xiuqing and Shi Dakai. Hong Rengan, the Premier of the Kingdom, was the first person in China to advocate a federal government and reform. The kingdom lasted from 1851 to 1864.

When the People's Liberation Army had its rank structure from 1955 to 1964, the highest number of generals, totalling 54, came from the small Hakka county of Xingguo in Jiangxi province. The county had also previously produced 27 Nationalist generals. Xingguo county is thus known as the Generals' County.[81]

Posted by: Paul from Norway | Sep 20 2024 14:13 utc | 15

Meanwhile, Eleneski is getting richer while spending lives in a futile effort to convince his NATO supporters that Project Ukraine is possibly still a goer. The turkey is like Hitler: never retreat!

We all know that the only way Ukraine can win this insane war is with NATO becoming involved, as if they aren't now... hence false flags like Bucha and Kramatorsk.

Now he has his 'Victory Plan', which apparently is composed of allowing NATO missiles to do deep strikes in RF territory, which I understand the Pentagon has nixed (sesnsibly), knowing that this is yet another red line that the RF will have finally have to respond to, having been gob-smackingly patient so far.

My understanding is that the Pentagon will not allow any further provocations. They do their war-games, and they know very well how this will end up. Not good far anyone.

Posted by: Ant. | Sep 20 2024 14:17 utc | 16

Posted by: Occasional poster
.
.
By the way...
Russian soldiers were better trained than NATO soldiers even in Soviet times.
That may sound ridiculous, but because they were treated like cattle (and I was there myself), they were able to cope with all the hardships, with food that YOU would call grub, in rain, snow and mud, sometimes without winter gear, without two hot meals and without a shower for weeks. Which modern NATO army is capable of doing that today without their round-the-clock service?
Russian soldiers back then (today it's completely different) had no contact with their families for months, had absolutely no rights...
But they had to master their weapons in a deep sleep and YES really sleep with them, were trilled in close combat and even sent to the hospital.
YOU in the West have absolutely no idea about real training in Russian armies, special units perhaps excluded?
I myself spent 3 months in Novosibirsk training with the Speznas, then within the Warsaw Pact I went to many barracks of the Russians, the NVA, etc., conditions like in the Bundeswehr were nowhere to be found, not even NVA soldiers had warm showers more than once a month, with the Russians in their dormitories, where up to 70 soldiers were accommodated bed to bed, YOU know absolutely nothing, no private life but the AK47 next to the bed with 3 magazines of LIVE ammunition
Feedback geben
Seitenleisten
Verlauf
Gespeichert

Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 14:24 utc | 17

Posted by: Occasional poster | Sep 20 2024 13:43 utc | 5

Your first mistake is to trust anything BBC or Reuters publish about Russia, it's pure bile, projection and propaganda. secondly, go suck on a vagina you old fag

Posted by: Boo | Sep 20 2024 14:24 utc | 18

Shall they take Russia seriously this time?

Well, last time Russia warned about disastrous consequences, the conflict in Ukraine happened. So, yeah, they should take Russia seriously!

Posted by: Axxis | Sep 20 2024 14:40 utc | 19

@ Occasional poster:

Given you say you were a former Soviet soldier, I have suppose you had to deal with those fuck-wits Gorbachev/Yeltsin, when you were not paid, but at least got fed. My understanding is that many Soviet/Russian troops stayed in their posts for that reason.

Congratulations for surviving the Shock and Awe economic raping of the post-Soviet era.

And you are right. I regard the BBC as one of the biggest propaganda channels on the planet. Kudos.

Posted by: Ant. | Sep 20 2024 14:44 utc | 20

Lol. Morale is high in the RF? they have banter about ‘paying off the mortgage’ by finding and hitting high value natzo useless kit.

Obviously can’t be showing real maps and intel but it smacks of truth about having built a industrial production line to consume the relentless Ukrops! Poor bastards grabbed off streets and fed straight into the mincers.

Blackrock, Fink and their Nazgûl bankers who rule the roost of western politics have a massive list of human rights crimes to answer for.
It won’t be forgotten. They will be tracked down. Their dynasties will not benefit from all their global robbery and looting. That is the ultimate punishment. Their grandkids will shun them, change their names and not want to be known as related to the most evil humans that ever lived. Their Ziofascism will be ground into dust and long forgotten by the end of this century.

‘ SIMPLICIUS Ѱ
@simpatico771
19h
⚡️🇷🇺Kursk region. A commander of the legendary 810th Marines tells Sladkov that Ukraine's manpower losses in Kursk are 6:1 in Russia's favor, and their vehicular losses are 30:1 in Russia's favor (4:10 of video).

What is happening in the sector of responsibility of the 810th Marine Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet?

1. The enemy has been stopped, his attempts to find our weak points and counterattack are unsuccessful. And we are steadily moving forward, cutting through the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
2. The enemy's losses in personnel (in relation to our losses) are 1 to 6, the enemy is losing equipment, in relation to our losses 1 to 30.
3. Our main task is to accept and destroy the enemy's reserves, maneuvering, not allowing him to dig in.

High losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region force them, when urgent tasks arise, to consolidate the remnants of their battalions into one, to maintain combat readiness. The enemy has no order to retreat, has lost the initiative.
Having up to 30,000 in his group in his best moments, the enemy has proven to have lost more than 30% killed.

It is encouraging: payments for destroyed enemy equipment are being made accurately. This is a conversation for the 810th brigade. Even a common phrase of drones was born: "I'll go pay off the mortgage." ‘

URAAAA.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Sep 20 2024 14:50 utc | 21

A wonderful look into the truly demented nature of so-called Western "think tanks" and "analysts" from a report from the Atlantic Council, NATO-Russia dynamics: Prospects for reconstitution of Russian military power.

The main findings are that the Russians are much stronger than expected and did not wilt under Western sanctions and Ukrainian proxy war, but have in fact flourished and become stronger. But this reality has to be twisted somehow so that the message "don't mess with Russia" is not taken from the report! So, of course Russia has to be contemplating attacking Europe (just like the dastardly Stalin!) and therefore Europe must rearm and "discipline" their people to get ready for war - no appeasement! Just like the Germans starting WW1 because they feared the completion of the Russian railway network, will the West need to pre-empt Russian aggression as well!

This utterly paranoid schizophrenic worldview is brought to you by Andrew A. Michta (born in Poland, a product of John Hopkins, RAND, the US Naval War College, and the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies) and Joslyn Brodfuehrer (a Lafayette valedictorian, Cambridge Graduate, US govt intern then the NED and then Atlantic Council, and daughter of a US Marine Colonel) and yes that's really her name! At Lafayette "As an EXCEL Scholar, she assisted Ilan Peleg [a liberal Zionist born and raised in Israel], Dana Professor of Government and Law, in research on Benjamin Netanyahu and his influence on Likud Party leadership and Israeli state policy."

Key takeaways from this line of effort include:

- Russia has demonstrated that it can fight and mobilize at the same time.

- The pace of Russian military reconstitution has been faster than Western analysts expected, including both refurbished and new equipment and manpower mobilization. Still, the readiness of the Russian armed forces is not likely to be the principal driver of decision-making in Moscow; rather, any decision to attack a NATO member will factor in the “correlation of forces,” with the goal of exploiting the Alliance in a moment of weakness.

- Based on production data, the biggest risk of Russia attacking a NATO member will be in 2025–26 when peak production, refurbishment, and training/readiness lines intersect. One analyst projected Russia will produce well over one thousand tanks annually by then.

- Moscow will not, however, make decisions based on objective indices of readiness alone. It will decide to move against a NATO state when it deems that the window of opportunity has opened—hence, understanding the political culture that undergirds Russia’s decision-making is as important as having an accurate assessment of its military capabilities.

The West is in a race against time, with the delta between Russian force reconstitution and NATO’s investment in real, exercised military capabilities constituting the level of risk in the European theater in the event of a full-scale war. Closing the gap will require NATO to prioritize rearmament across the board, including its defense industrial base in Europe and the United States.

The kind of utter lunacy that well get us into WW3.

Posted by: Roger | Sep 20 2024 14:52 utc | 22

Posted by: Ant. | Sep 20 2024 14:44 utc | 21
.
.
If you mean me with "You were a soldier in the Red Army" NO, I never was. I was in the NVA special unit with training, at least part of Spetsnaz training/ and others!
But that gave me insight into the conditions of training etc.
And as said above... the tough training of Russian soldiers at the time was that they were treated like cattle and nobody cared if one of them died.

Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 14:53 utc | 23

Posted by: Roger | Sep 20 2024 14:52 utc | 23
.
.
.
Lots of words.
In short:
The Russian army is currently the army with the most combat experience in the world.
The Russian arms production is only focused on one thing: developing better weapons than the enemy!
Without regard to profit and dividends.
Others say:
No army in the world would currently stand a chance against the Russians on a conventional basis, but also on a nuclear basis!
NATO weapons tanks with 70 or 60 tons are perhaps, perhaps, made for Europe and for good weather...NATO jets for clean airfields with 24/7 service, NATO training, woe betide minus 15 degrees and wet and no two hot meals, woe betide communication in the chain of command not working, woe betide drones hovering over trenches, NATO drone defense...why are there no reports on this, not even from Ukraine? Behavior in the event of a drone attack is TO THIS DAY NOT A SUBJECT in NATO training, let alone in the German army, whose generals are still trained according to the Wehrmacht standard and NATO standard of the 60s and 70s, and today they rely on functioning satellites for reconnaissance and attack weapons...what happens when these no longer exist? Etc. Etc. Etc.
Last question: Why do all Russian aircraft, civilian and military, still fly with a crew of three or four?
TRUTH:
They do NOT rely on satellite navigation, they still have a navigator on board, so why do they have something in place to protect against failure?
Feedback geben
Seitenleisten
Verlauf
Gespeichert

Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 15:09 utc | 24

Roger | Sep 20 2024 14:52 utc | 23

Like Orban said - They only talk about war, no one talks about peace. And so, war is coming. Russia is preparing for it.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2024 15:12 utc | 25

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2024 15:12 utc | 26
.
.
The bad thing about it...
Nobody listens, nobody cares at all.
When I see the reactions of normal workers and neighbors on the subject and hear no, NOTHING, it's frightening.
The youth aren't interested in it at all, it's all about celebrating.
There are no peace initiatives anymore, like the 70s SS20 rockets or Pirsching... NOTHING, no reaction.
It's as if everyone has come to terms with it,,,if anything, then it's over, we'll just enjoy it one more time.
Climate madness scares stupid people more than nuclear war, war in general!

Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 15:21 utc | 26

Paul from Norway 16

Chinese Hakka people (Taiwan)

The Māori people of New Zealand were long believed to have originated from Pacific island people from west in the Pacific (and maybe ultimately South America)

Until, that is, they did the genetics and found this to be incorrect.
The Māori are in fact direct descendants of people of Taiwan, from the west (relative to New Zealand).

Could these Taiwanese seafaring ancestors of the Māori, also have been the Hakka people?

Posted by: Andrew Sarchus | Sep 20 2024 15:24 utc | 27

Sorry Pacific Isla sees would come to New Zealand from the EAST, not west.

Posted by: Andrew Sarchus | Sep 20 2024 15:26 utc | 28

ossi | Sep 20 2024 14:24 utc | 18

Some time ago I watched a then already video made by a western military pilot who went to Russia to see Russian flying and training and stuff.

Where western training was concerned with safety standards ect, the Russians trained in combat conditions. Where US pilots had to go up high to practice for dog fights and stuff, Russian pilots would do that at low level. No margin for era.

Of particular interest was the airfield. Rough concrete runways, weds growing in the joints in cement, The grassed areas overgrown and full of junk. The Americans required manicured grounds and runways, the runways always walked before hand by a team who had to ensure there wasn't the smallest pebble that could get sucked into an intake.

More casualties in Russian training but Russian soldiers are actually prepared for combat, not computer games.

In comparison to the west, Soviet/Russian military doctrine fights mathematical big war. A uniform is like any other weapon, something to be preserved wherever possible but like other military equipment, some uniforms will be destroyed in war. It is a war winning doctrine, but not so nice to be that uniform.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2024 15:32 utc | 29

This article also proves the AFU cannot defend open areas. This is the reason why they attempt to cling on to every area resembling an urban area.

This is also the reason why their line will fall back all the way from Ugledar to Kurakhove, and west of it. That means the end of Novo-Selivka, and any future counter-offensives from Zaporozhye/Orekhov direction will be vulnerable to flank attacks.

Posted by: unimperator | Sep 20 2024 15:33 utc | 30

I’ve just realised that Germany are about to rearm, Big Time.

Their automobile industry, and that of all other countries outside of China, is dead. It’s a headless chicken.

This is because the internal combustion engine is also dead, as people discover that EVs are both affordable (if they’re Chinese) and reliable (if they’re Chinese).

VW is starting to close factories in Germany and China, but this is just the start. In a decade the only car making part of VW remaining will belong to China’s XPeng.

So what will Germany do with a workforce and a fleet of factories previously making cars but now out of work?

Well that’s a question that answers itself. Obviously they will make tanks and other weapons. Germany will be back in business with a new militarised Reich. Good times!

Posted by: Andrew Sarchus | Sep 20 2024 15:34 utc | 31

The grumblings and chatterings of Ukrainian troops, for the most part, comes from the third iteration of their army. Few of the original infantry that began operations in 2022 remain. Russia consistently and effectively attrites each AFU brigade, each battalion, each unit, such that the new recruits to backfill losses last only a matter of days, or weeks. The liss ration is now 10:1 or higher.

Nothing the BBC says can be taken as accurate. The BBC is no longer the BBC, just like the absurd joke that is the current CNN is no longer the original CNN under Ted Turner. The BBC is run by different people, who work as the propaganda arm of the folks who own Boris Johnson. Nothing they say about this war can be trusted.

Posted by: Áobh Ó'Sheachnasaigh | Sep 20 2024 15:35 utc | 32

It's as if everyone has come to terms with it,,,if anything, then it's over, we'll just enjoy it one more time.
Climate madness scares stupid people more than nuclear war, war in general!
Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 15:21 utc | 27

My thoughts exactly. I said to my sister once that with things so bad, there are no peace protests. She had no understanding of why there should be peace protests.

The massive protests of the Vietnam war.... The majic of the narrative. The sheeple go like lambs to the slaughter.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2024 15:39 utc | 33

"geriatric" ???

I have tried to find photos of Russian POWs returning but it is nearly impossible. THIS SHOWS HOW BIASED WESTERN SOURCES ARE. These are typically released in equal numbers but nearly all photos are Ukrainian.

https://www.rferl.org/a/photos-ukraine-war-prisoner-release-russia-invasion/32286624.html

I did find this and those very few Russians shown don't look geriatric. Some of the Donetsk militia do look older but not geriatric. I think they're a special circumstance. I rate the BBC ( and others) as biased.

Posted by: Eighthman | Sep 20 2024 15:41 utc | 34

Posted by: Andrew Sarchus | Sep 20 2024 15:34 utc | 32

Germany as the rest of Europe will fail to build tanks for the same exact reasons that they failed to make cars.

Not enough cheap energy, or no more, not enough raw materials and, last but not least, not cost effective products.

Posted by: Mario | Sep 20 2024 15:42 utc | 35

To borrow Ernest Hemingway just a little...

Question: How did you lose your war.

Answer: Oh, the usual way, gradually then suddenly.

Posted by: Packard | Sep 20 2024 15:42 utc | 36

Posted by: Axxis | Sep 20 2024 14:40 utc | 20

I have to say, the Russian Federation has been very, very patient, given the provocations of western countries. Like that thoroughly illegal coup in Ukraine that installed a government that enthused various plutocrat-owned Neo-Nazi/Football skinhead forces... like Prabiy Sektor, Azov, Svoboda, Aidar, Gaiden, Tornado etc...

Russians did their best to find a solution similar to the Georgian war, where that Supermarionation puppet, tie-muncher Saakashvili (Rose revolution) suddenly decided it was a great idea to invade the pro-Russian break-away republics of South Osettia/Abkhasia. And got taught a serious lesson about how not to poke the Russian bear. RF responded, smashed the Georhgain incursian inside a week, even after the disaster of Yeltsin when the Russian army was supposed to be all fucked up.

RF never took a square inch of Georgian territory. Simply enforced the independence of South Ossetia/Abkhazia. That's it, and both those republics now have their remain part of Georgia.

And, believe or not, that was exactly what the Russian 'invasion' of the Ukraine was all about. Leave our mates in Donetsk/Lugansk alone, stop killing them. They can remain part of Ukraine, but independent and have their own parliaments. Crimea is ours, via a overwhelming vote (Right to Independence).

But then Boris Johnson turned up in Kiev...

Posted by: Ant. | Sep 20 2024 15:43 utc | 37

Posted by: Occasional poster | Sep 20 2024 13:43 utc | 5

The BBC has always been a Propaganda arm of The British Government. I stopped watching the BBC News about 30 years ago, but couldn't always escape, when visiting my in-laws over Christmas, or meeting them to take them on holiday and staying overnight.

They believed absolutely Everything on the BBC - and it was very loud - no escape.

I tried not to laugh at the BBC News, cos it was like being hit with a big wet fish, after not watching TV, and I didn't want to offend, my wife's parents, who were nice people and survived World War 2


Over the last 4 years, the BBC has reached its depth of Depravity.

At least they used to be very good for Live Music and comedy shows.

Don't Believe a Word

Posted by: tonyopmoc | Sep 20 2024 15:48 utc | 38

Your first mistake is to trust anything BBC or Reuters publish about Russia, it's pure bile, projection and propaganda. secondly, go suck on a vagina you old fag

Posted by: Boo | Sep 20 2024 14:24 utc | 19

Take a deep breath, and relax. I agree (perhaps not about the "old fag" bit) and was merely bringing people's attention to the perplexing BBC Russia article full of "facts" and pretty graphs charting russian deaths etc. I think Poe's law may have struck again here. Not trolling, merely interested in the completely opposite nature of the propaganda to reality. Always worth seeing what you are supposed to believe, just in case you suddenly have to answer questions.

Posted by: Occasional poster | Sep 20 2024 15:49 utc | 39

Posted by: Andrew Sarchus | Sep 20 2024 15:34 utc | 32

I’ve just realised that Germany are about to rearm, Big Time.

Their automobile industry, and that of all other countries outside of China, is dead. It’s a headless chicken.

This is because the internal combustion engine is also dead, as people discover that EVs are both affordable (if they’re Chinese) and reliable (if they’re Chinese).

---------

And how, pray tell do you come to that conclusion? How many Chinese EVs have you driven or owned? I have seen a lot of Korean made EVs, certainly not the same as Chinese. And yes. Some of those are well made cars.

Of course if as your name might suggest, your comment is an attempt at sarcasm, then this is just for you; LOL!

Posted by: Áobh Ó'Sheachnasaigh | Sep 20 2024 15:49 utc | 40

I do not think there are good explanations for NATO’s behavior among military strategists or theorists. This war is driven by political ideology in NATO.

Posted by: a stone | Sep 20 2024 13:48 utc | 6

Well said, particularly for a rock.

I'll echo those who are essentially saying NATO is all set to fight the next 1990s war, once they rearm, of course. It doesn't help the officer class and general staff of these nations are incompetent and unimaginative. The hardware is also lacking in most areas..not just the ability to build it, but it's actual operation. Those who ignore this in preference of a fantasy where NATO has a technological edge are kidding themselves and likely to make further cosmic level miscalculations.

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Sep 20 2024 15:54 utc | 41

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia warned the West and Ukraine on Friday of "disastrous consequences" if Kyiv moved against close Russian ally Belarus, making clear it would intervene to defend a country where it has deployed tactical nuclear weapons.

Shall they take Russia seriously this time?

Posted by: vargas | Sep 20 2024 13:14 utc | 1

Hopefully, they won't...

Posted by: Phil R | Sep 20 2024 15:58 utc | 42

Posted by: DunGroanin | Sep 20 2024 14:50 utc | 22

"Their grandkids will shun them, change their names and not want to be known as related to the most evil humans that ever lived."

How many Groanins have you got?

I have got 3 0pmocs + few older survivors and a cat

Posted by: tonyopmoc | Sep 20 2024 16:01 utc | 43

Germany will be back in business with a new militarised Reich. Good times!

Posted by: Andrew Sarchus | Sep 20 2024 15:34 utc | 32

IMHO, Western Europe in general, and Germany in particular, will not return to the prosperity of the '90 ies in my lifetime.

Posted by: Passerby | Sep 20 2024 16:01 utc | 44

Posted by: Occasional poster | Sep 20 2024 15:49 utc | 40

I read this week in a major Western publication the breathless proclamation that NATO and Western conventional arms superiority was so overwhelming vis a vis Russia and China that it threatens the nuclear balance of forces and MAD.

This from the nation that took three attempts to successfully fire off one of their 50 year old ICBMs during a test, the other two aborted. Or whose lead AA system is completely incapable and 40 years old. Or whose tanks are powered by jet engines and whose main military might is projected using highly vulnerable floating airfields.. I mean, how much money has DARPA shovelled into fruitless hypersonic projects? Meanwhile Ansar Allah has them. Womp womp.

I've never been so astounded by reading propaganda.They'll run with any old bollocks, really.

The crazy thing is they get paid for this. Good gig if you can get it I suppose, given the lies cannot be questioned.

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Sep 20 2024 16:05 utc | 45

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2024 15:32 utc | 30
.
.
.
Now today's Russian airfields look different, BUT Russian jets are developed from the beginning so that they can take off and land from almost any take-off point, whether it's a road, a motorway or even a meadow. The Mig 29 was already able to place the intake opening upwards during take-off so that it didn't suck in dirt, stones, screws, etc. As already mentioned, Russian weapons are developed according to only one principle: to be BETTER than those of the enemy and to be used anywhere, even without luxury service.
There are no dividends and profits only come if these weapons are any good and... Russian weapons are always demonstrated to customers in a real environment, not in an advertising video.

Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 16:08 utc | 46

Áobh Ó'Sheachnasaigh 14

Wait and see.

And my MOA pen name is not about sarcasm,
but about an extinct creature of the Eocene

Posted by: Andrew Sarchus | Sep 20 2024 16:08 utc | 47

Key takeaways from B's full-length introduction (thankfully, his medical issues seem to have significantly improved) are essentially twofold regarding the AFU: (1. average/median age of frontline troops is something in excess of FIFTY years old. Think about that for any purpose beyond that of passively holding the line, while being heavily "persuaded" to not retreat. Meat for the grinder is a sign of accumulating resignation in the face of impending defeat.

Secondly, but hardly secondarily is the matter of command and control. For some weird reason the Ukie general staff appears to be frozen in time with their absence of upper level coordination of forces. Brigades are essentially left on their own. From all indications there is virtually no Division level command structure and staffing. If division is divisible by four or more outliers; Corps C.&C. is essentially nonexistent.

Though "Schwerpunkts" (strong points) and associated trench networks, have been long and diligent in preparation; those lines of defense currently apply only to those Donbass coal-mining and industrialized cities, towns and villages. It appears that the RU forces have penetrated to the penultimate and in some areas even the final redoubts.

Beyond those highly defendable outposts; open steppe country looms. A few more hard knocks from the RU accelerating advances and those BIG ARROWS for well supported Russian armor are in prospect.

Issue is now merely a matter of time...as mid-October is close on the horizon and the U$$A election follies just a hop and a skip beyond that scale.

Breakthrough immanent in about three weeks time?

Posted by: aristodemos | Sep 20 2024 16:16 utc | 48

Posted by: Áobh Ó'Sheachnasaigh | Sep 20 2024 15:49 utc | 41

Apparently, you are completely unaware of the dominance of the Chinese of the supply chain of rare earth metals.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/chinas-rare-earths-dominance-focus-after-mineral-export-curbs-2023-07-05/

I've done my best to find a non-partisan link there.

Further, Chinese EV vehicles are a crap-load cheaper to produce, but do not in any way think they are inferior to western equivalents.

https://insideevs.com/features/703248/byd-everything-you-need-to-know/

Please, tell me, Áobh Ó'Sheachnasaigh, how many EV vehicles have you yourself owned and tested?

Posted by: Ant. | Sep 20 2024 16:17 utc | 49

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is increasingly being criticized as an autocrat in the Western media, while former military commander Valery Zalushny is being praised. Could a Western-backed military coup take place in Ukraine?
.
There is a distinct smell of a coup in Ukraine. At least, this word has been heard constantly in recent days. It all started with the unexpected appearance of the dismissed but not forgotten General Valery Zalushny on the Kyiv train platform. He appeared there on September 11 together with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his British counterpart David Lammy. Just one day later, the digital newspaper Politico published an article with a telling title: "Zelensky's seizure of power is bad for Ukraine."

"All of a sudden" the newspaper noticed the fact that Zelensky had abolished elections and was demonstrating arbitrariness in his cadre policy. First, the names of the "wrongly accused" were mentioned - the recently dismissed Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba and the former commander of the Ukrainian military Valery Zalushny. They were praised for their loyalty to the West. Politico wrote: "Both Kuleba and Zalushny were admired by Western officials, and their resignations caused some unrest." This was followed by blatant praise for the retired general, whose dismissal the newspaper linked to Zelensky's jealousy over the popularity of a potential rival in the power struggle.

This was followed by a flood of articles in Western media and commentaries by staunch Ukrainian analysts (who have usually fled Ukraine long ago) in which two key words appeared: "Zaluzny" and "coup". The Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano published an article entitled: "Zelensky is a post-Soviet autocrat". The Washington Post published a huge front-page article in which Ukrainian military officials openly threatened a coup. The cherry on the cake is an article in the aforementioned Politico, which directly accuses Zelensky of the adventurous decision to invade the Russian Kursk region and claims that Zalushny tried to dissuade his superior from this plan.

Politico: Zalushny was against Kursk attack
Politico: Zalushny was against Kursk attack
Now Ukrainian commentators are debating whether a violent removal of Zelensky is possible and whether Zalushny started his campaign - more precisely, whether the British started Zalushny's campaign.

Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 16:20 utc | 50

Toropets, Russia

Posted by: Elmagnostic | Sep 20 2024 16:21 utc | 51

Andrew Sarchus | Sep 20 2024 15:34 utc | 32--

The reason VW, Audi and other German car makers are closing shop is the lack of energy to power their factories, not necessarily its price but supply. The out-of-work skilled workers will either migrate or overthrow the government and rid Germany of NATO and its occupation by the Outlaw US Empire, which is the source of the chaos.


As I insisted yesterday, barflies need to watch this chat between Escobar and Napolitano that lasts just under 30 minutes. And yesterday's meetings dealing with Russia's MIC as reported here also need to be digested, which is easy as the report isn't long. I'll repeat the main takeaway--Russia's UAV production of all types will exceed 1.4 Million this year and will continue to multiply along with new types of droids, some of which are already seeing combat.

Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 20 2024 16:25 utc | 52

karlof1. 53

The YT channel “electric Viking” and also “Inside China Business” are good sources of info on car and EV industry developments that you won’t hear in western state media.

China EV sales are now 55%, there is a fast dying market for ICE cars in China and, a little later, everywhere else as well.

Posted by: Andrew Sarchus | Sep 20 2024 16:36 utc | 53

The mighty Russian Forces need to keep an eye on the Marculesti airbase in Bălți because neighbouring Romania is a member of the US of A-led neo-NAZI nato and have a nasty plan.

Moreover, US of A-led neo-NAZI nato states like Germany, France, Poland and the Baltic States are 'heavily' arming Moldova 'as we speak' all for the sake of the terrorist country 404.

Posted by: AI | Sep 20 2024 16:39 utc | 54

From b’s piece it seems that the entire Ukrainian campaign will be looked at by future military historians and academics as a case study in “How Not To Do It”. It certainly seems to be a case study in what happens when politicians (most of whom are heavily corrupt) take over military planning and decision-making; an awful warning for the West there.

Still, no doubt @anon2020 will be along shortly with a motley collection of random copypasta from Telegram channels that no-one else has ever heard of, in order to prove to his/her/its satisfaction that, no matter how bad things are for Ukraine, it’s much, much worse for Russia...

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Sep 20 2024 16:41 utc | 55

The reason VW, Audi and other German car makers are closing shop is the lack of energy to power their factories ...

Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 20 2024 16:25 utc | 53

---

Pretty sure that German cars makers are suffering a lack of customers, not energy. If there was demand for German cars then the energy to produce them could be found.

Price fixes all demand issues. To keep the factories open and making cars they just need to lower the prices.

Posted by: too scents | Sep 20 2024 16:43 utc | 56

There is a limit to running mass formation psychosis program

Posted by: Joe | Sep 20 2024 14:12 utc | 15

Absolutely, "Mattias Desmet book "Mass Formation" is really good, and a soft easily readable introduction to mass Psychological Brainwashing of Populations.

An even easier introduction is Martha Stout - "The Sociopath Next Door"

But even I couldn't handle the hardcore...OK I read about half of it, but couldn't take any more.

Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes Paperback – by Andrew M. Lobaczewski

Mass Genocide by Political Psychopaths - currently in The Ukraine/Russia and Israel/Palestine, with full backing from the current British Labour Government - Freeze us to Death now.

Posted by: tonyopmoc | Sep 20 2024 16:46 utc | 57

Posted by: too scents | Sep 20 2024 16:43 utc | 57

That’s not a zero sum game though, lowering prices collides with increasing costs at some point.

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Sep 20 2024 16:47 utc | 58

Without referring to previous posts... my understanding is that Elenskky has no right to maintain his Presidency, given that his mandate to govern expired back in May.

Elenskky cancelled democratic elections under declaration of martial law, back in February, understandably, but I was led to believe that doesn't continue his mandate to govern beyond late May (20/21st, depending on your time zone). That, according to the Ukrainian constitution, presidential authority reverted to the Vekhodha Rada (parliament) after a lack of presidential elections.

Can anyone elucidate?

Posted by: Ant. | Sep 20 2024 16:47 utc | 59

Posted by: too scents | Sep 20 2024 16:4Stateline.

"Price fixes all demand issues. To keep the factories open and making cars they just need to lower the prices."

Kind of hard to lower their prices when their energy costs have quadrupled, Don't you think?

Posted by: morongobill | Sep 20 2024 16:50 utc | 60

wow, what a complete cluster fk for Ukraine. can we wrap this up sooner than later please?

on a side note, the idea anyone would trust the bbc over MoA is absurd.

Posted by: annie | Sep 20 2024 16:51 utc | 61

Posted by: Ant. | Sep 20 2024 16:47 utc | 60

You’re right about Zelly’s term of office, and the procedure, but added to the mess is the expiry of the Rada’s term of office at the end of August. I’ve stopped thinking of them as a government but instead use the word junta, it seems to fit the circumstances.

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Sep 20 2024 16:52 utc | 62

That’s not a zero sum game though, lowering prices collides with increasing costs at some point.

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Sep 20 2024 16:47 utc | 59

---

Yes. It converges in The tendency of the rate of profit to fall and the crisis of Capitalism.

That is why practically all Commodity production is subsidized.

Posted by: too scents | Sep 20 2024 16:52 utc | 63

The Ukrainian losses keep coming, at a rate of around 80,000 troops per month, 650 artillery pieces per month. The Kursk area keeps being the graveyard for tanks and LAV/HMV.

Ukrainian losses for the week September 14th to September 20th, as reported by the Russian defence ministry:

- Kursk & Kharkiv fronts: 3,510 troops, 18 tanks, 117 LAV/HMV, 66 motor vehicles, 34 artillery pieces, 2 MLRS, 4 EW and counter-battery systems.

- Zapad Group (Luhansk area): 3,745 troops, 1 tank, 1 APC, 9 LAV/HMV, 60 motor vehicles, 40 artillery pieces, 16 EW and counter-battery system.

- Yug Group (Donetsk north): 4,855 troops, 1 tank, 2 IFV, 52 motor vehicles, 34 artillery pieces, 4 EW and counter-battery system.

- Tsetr Group (Donetsk south): 3,610 troops, 1 tank, 1 IFV, 2 APC, 8 LAV/ HMV, 21 motor vehicles, 29 artillery pieces.

- Vostok Group (southern front): 735 troops, 2 tanks, 7 LAV/HMV, 16 motor vehicles, 7 artillery piece.

- Dnepr Group: 355 troops, 2 tanks, 27 motor vehicles, 5 artillery piece.

In total: 16,810 troops (72,843 per month, with undercounting probably 80,000 plus).

25 tanks (18 in Kursk/Kharkov), 3 IFV, 3 APC, 141 HMV/Light Armoured Vehicle (117 in Kursk/Khakrov), 242 motor vehicles. Further evidence of the transformation of the Ukrainians to an infantry using HMV/light armoured vehicles, “technicals” (pickup trucks with mounted weapons), and civilian vehicles for mobility.

2 MLRS (All in Kursk/Kharkov), 149 artillery pieces (34 in Kursk/Kharkov). 24 EW and counter-battery systems (4 in Kursk/Kharkov).

Total losses so far for the Ukrainians in the Kursk front have been 15,300 troops, 124 tanks, 56 IFV, 93 APC, 780 LAV/HMV, 471 motor vehicles, 115 artillery pieces, 28 MLRS, 36 EW and counter-battery systems

Posted by: Roger | Sep 20 2024 16:56 utc | 64

In order to stand a chance of fixing the problem, you need to understand the source of the problem, and tell the truth. Some people are incredibly brave.

Posted by: tonyopmoc | Sep 20 2024 16:57 utc | 65

@Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 20 2024 16:25 utc | 53

More than one UAV for each Ukrainian soldier! I am seeing more and more videos of troops being tracked individually by UAVs, even in forests and inside buildings. This was only in science fiction movies quite recently.

Posted by: Roger | Sep 20 2024 17:02 utc | 66

Human nature being what it is, there will be no declared neutrality; what there will be is people in the weaker NATO members quietly picking up the phone, talking to the Russians and destroying NATO from within.

Posted by: CitizenSmith | Sep 20 2024 13:36 utc | 3

"Human nature", huh? I suppose the epileptic fits of a dying Imperialism represent human nature? End the wars, meet basic needs for all, then you'll see human nature flourish. Lock everyone into wage slavery and carry out endless pointless wars to save the rich and you get what we have today. There is no eternal human nature, it depends on the historical and social context.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Sep 20 2024 17:04 utc | 67

Posted by: Ant. | Sep 20 2024 16:47 utc | 60

Zelensky’s legitimacy expired 20 May and the Rada’s 29 August in the wake of no election.

Posted by: Down South | Sep 20 2024 17:08 utc | 68

Posted by: Áobh Ó'Sheachnasaigh | Sep 20 2024 15:49 utc | 41

Did you have a chance to catch Rogers excellent deep-dive into the state of play in the global vehicle market and where China sits in the epochal level changes that are occurring:

Link to Rogers article

Ps. A personal thanks to Roger for an excellent piece of analysis.

Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Sep 20 2024 17:12 utc | 69

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Sep 20 2024 16:52 utc | 63

So, any agreement made by Elenskyy with foreign governments after his term of office expired is constitutionally invalid, and therefore invalid.

Oh... but there's that's Rules-Based Order we have now. You know, that New World Order.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ygsixNsPSc

Ant.

Posted by: Ant. | Sep 20 2024 17:12 utc | 70

Even if the kill ratio is 1:10 that is still lot of Russian deaths. Feel their death in vain if no Odessa. Only standing in Odessa can their loved ones finally say may their souls rest in peace

Posted by: Joe | Sep 20 2024 17:14 utc | 71

thanks b and to many of the posters here...

Posted by: james | Sep 20 2024 17:16 utc | 72

Andrew Sarchus | Sep 20 2024 15:34 utc | 32

So what will Germany do with a workforce and a fleet of factories previously making cars but now out of work?

Well that’s a question that answers itself. Obviously they will make tanks and other weapons. Germany will be back in business with a new militarised Reich. Good times!

No they won't. No finance, no energy, no engineers.

Posted by: Sarlat La Canède | Sep 20 2024 17:16 utc | 73

@Posted by: too scents | Sep 20 2024 16:43 utc | 57

The German car manufacturers bet big on cheating diesel emission tests, continued massive investments in ICEs, and hydrogen. They simply did not take the time and money to learn how to build EVs so are now far behind the Chinese. It is not just price, as Mercedes had a performance and quality disaster around its EVs in China that no price cut could fix. BMW tried slashing their prices this year, but it did not really improve their sales much and destroyed their and their dealers profits so have now reversed those huge price cuts. At one point a BMW 3 series in China cost half the price charged in Europe. VW, and the other German manufacturers have also struggled with the complexity and integration of software required for Chinese customers. Apart from perhaps SAP, Germany does not have world-class software-driven companies.

China has developed the most advanced manufacturing industry in the world, together with an end-to-end EV supply chain within China, both of which drive up efficiency and reduce costs. Its not just cheap energy. The entry of both Huawei and Xiaomi into the EV space has also driven software and technology integration to new levels.

There is now a full on attack by many of the Chinese brands against the German luxury brands, which can only spell sales disaster for them and quite possibly an exit of the Chinese market by the end of 2026. And perhaps the only VW's will be from Xpeng, and the only Stellantis will be from Leap.

Posted by: Roger | Sep 20 2024 17:18 utc | 74

"If only reality was scripted by the BBC, everything would be so much more sensible."

Occasional Poster (5)

Ah - good to see you have a sense of humour - or is it sarcasm?

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Sep 20 2024 17:19 utc | 75

Julio4Ever | Sep 20 2024 13:51 utc | 7

The four regions are now part of the Russian federation. Just regions of Russia.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2024 17:23 utc | 76

Posted by: Ant. | Sep 20 2024 17:12 utc | 71

So, any agreement made by Elenskyy with foreign governments after his term of office expired is constitutionally invalid, and therefore invalid.

To an extent the situation suits Russia, as they can publicly ask “Who is there to negotiate with? Who is able to sign a legally-binding document?”, though they know it won‘t really be Ukraine who has the power in this respect.
Oh... but there's that's Rules-Based Order we have now.

Ah yes, the International Rules-Based Ordure, that makes sh¡t up as it goes along...

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Sep 20 2024 17:23 utc | 77

Jared (14).

On Latvia - it has now banned the Russian language choice from its cash machines - even though Russian, is the second most spoken language in the country.

https://www.rt.com/news/604366-latvia-bans-russian-language-atm/

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Sep 20 2024 17:24 utc | 78

Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 20 2024 16:25 utc | 53

"Pepe Escobar : What Does Putin Want?"

It was incredibly hot. We took our teenage kids and one of their friends to a Greek Island about 20 years ago. They loved it.

All I had was Pepe Escobar's book Globalistan to read under the shade of a Grape Vine..before I had to jump in the pool too.

Pepe Escobar is a total Geopolitical Genius...He is also funny, and likes the same music as me

He is like the equivalent of the best Brazilian Racing Driver, and still on top of his form.


Massive Respect from The Entire World


Posted by: tonyopmoc | Sep 20 2024 17:27 utc | 79

It's as if everyone has come to terms with it,,,if anything, then it's over, we'll just enjoy it one more time.
Climate madness scares stupid people more than nuclear war, war in general!
Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 15:21 utc | 27

My thoughts exactly. I said to my sister once that with things so bad, there are no peace protests. She had no understanding of why there should be peace protests.

The massive protests of the Vietnam war.... The majic of the narrative. The sheeple go like lambs to the slaughter.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2024 15:39 utc | 34

Key point when considering single issue folks ostensibly deeply concerned about the environment. Nuclear war is without question the worst thing man can do to his environment. It is the absolute negation of the human environment we all know and love. If these "environmentalists" are not opposed to war with Russia, they are frauds.

That's the extreme case. I could say the same about industrial capitalism which, despite all the green washing, rewards oligarchs for finding new and clever ways to totally pollute critical water sources for fun and great profits.

An environmentalist that is pro war and pro capitalist is an absolute fucking fraud.

That said, the environment is being degraded rapidly and I feel very strongly that radical measures to halt that process are required. At root its a question of who controls the state power: the bourgeois of the revolutionary working class? Unlike Russia and China, there has never been a modern class based revolutionary movement to win power in the west. We're seeing the consequences of that failure to politically modernize every day now.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Sep 20 2024 17:28 utc | 80

It is not just price,

Posted by: Roger | Sep 20 2024 17:18 utc | 75

---

I don't want to expand my off-topic post above any more that to say it is always just price.

Posted by: too scents | Sep 20 2024 17:29 utc | 81

If there was demand for German cars then the energy to produce them could be found.
Price fixes all demand issues. To keep the factories open and making cars they just need to lower the prices.
Posted by: too scents | Sep 20 2024 16:43 utc | 57

The energy is in Russia, the price is in Russia. Cheap energy good economy, expensive energy poor economy. The Euro elite prefer war.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2024 17:30 utc | 82

Posted by: Passerby | Sep 20 2024 16:01 utc | 45

Prosperity of the 90's??? I must have lived in a different Germany back then...The Situation was so bad, that Schröder was given the Neoliberal opportunity to finally crush the good old, good working German welfare State model once and for all. Within three years Gemany had by far the biggest working poor population of whole Europe...

Posted by: Larsbo | Sep 20 2024 17:35 utc | 83

the price is in Russia.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2024 17:30 utc | 83

---

Draghi recently proposed that the EU should borrow €800B to fund expansion. Europe is already borrowing to spend on their Ukraine project. They could just as easily subsidize anything else.

Posted by: too scents | Sep 20 2024 17:36 utc | 84

In total: 16,810 troops (72,843 per month, with undercounting probably 80,000 plus).

25 tanks (18 in Kursk/Kharkov), 3 IFV, 3 APC, 141 HMV/Light Armoured Vehicle (117 in Kursk/Khakrov), 242 motor vehicles. Further evidence of the transformation of the Ukrainians to an infantry using HMV/light armoured vehicles, “technicals” (pickup trucks with mounted weapons), and civilian vehicles for mobility.

2 MLRS (All in Kursk/Kharkov), 149 artillery pieces (34 in Kursk/Kharkov). 24 EW and counter-battery systems (4 in Kursk/Kharkov).

Total losses so far for the Ukrainians in the Kursk front have been 15,300 troops, 124 tanks, 56 IFV, 93 APC, 780 LAV/HMV, 471 motor vehicles, 115 artillery pieces, 28 MLRS, 36 EW and counter-battery systems

Posted by: Roger | Sep 20 2024 16:56 utc | 65
.
.
.
Have you ever thought about the possibility that these rapid losses are part of a plan to force Ukraine to surrender quickly before winter.
That this plan was drawn up by the USA, CIA, etc. to end everything very quickly.
Then simply portray it as stupidity "We didn't know anything about it". Sylensky's fault and madness alone, as if he was doing something that wasn't approved by the USA or England.

Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 17:42 utc | 85

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Sep 20 2024 17:19 utc | 76

Re: Occasional Poster..

"Ah - good to see you have a sense of humour - or is it sarcasm?"

I picked it up immediately, but some have appeared to have missed it entirely.

It's an interesting cultural artefact that, (like those from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, & England), Australians and New Zealanders catch irony and sarcasm, yet both generally fly on by at LEO altitude for those from North America.

Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Sep 20 2024 17:42 utc | 86

Draghi recently proposed that the EU should borrow €800B to fund expansion. Europe is already borrowing to spend on their Ukraine project. They could just as easily subsidize anything else.
Posted by: too scents | Sep 20 2024 17:36 utc | 85

That is the way of a poor business model where costs are higher than revenue. Borrow borrow borrow, then declare bankruptcy.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2024 17:45 utc | 87

Posted by: too scents | Sep 20 2024 17:36 utc | 85

I thought I read somewhere that the Bundesbank had turned its flinty gaze towards Draghi’s idea and then filed it in the circular filing cabinet underneath the desk.

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Sep 20 2024 17:49 utc | 88

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Sep 20 2024 17:49 utc | 89
.
:
A state CANNOT become insolvent as long as IT (EU) can print money!

Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 17:51 utc | 89

Posted by: Joe | Sep 20 2024 17:14 utc | 72

Ukraine at best, when bitch-face EU Ambassador to the Europeon Union, Victoria Nuland, very diplomatically said 'Fuck the EU' and declared 'Yatsy our man!' a good six weeks before the Maidan tragedy, had a population of around 46 million citizens.

Guess how many now, I won't say. Fucking awful, there is about ten times as many Ukrainian soldiers that die every day as women and children in the Gaza Strip...

And who cares about either?

Posted by: Ant. | Sep 20 2024 17:52 utc | 90

That's the bad thing

Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 17:53 utc | 91

That is the way of a poor business model

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 20 2024 17:45 utc | 88

---

Yes. Draghi built his career on externalized costs.

Posted by: too scents | Sep 20 2024 17:55 utc | 92

RT
.
.
On the night of Wednesday, the enemy managed to blow up large parts of an ammunition depot near the town of Toropets in the Russian Tver region, northwest of Moscow. There was no official confirmation of the attack and its consequences from the Russian Ministry of Defense. The local authorities reported damage as a result of a piece of debris shot down by a Ukrainian drone and ordered the evacuation of the population. The town has a population of around 10,000.

Western media, citing military experts from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in the US state of California, assume that there was an explosion with the detonation of 200 to 240 tons of explosives. According to Newsweek, around 30,000 tons of grenades had exploded by Wednesday afternoon. The Ukrainian authorities are celebrating the attack as the greatest success of their special forces to date. Nothing further is known about the type of weapon used in the attack.

The explosions were documented and commented on by various social media users. An unverified eyewitness video captured the nighttime explosion:

The following reports and assessments are based on unofficial sources. The Russian news portal Tsargrad, which is blocked in the EU, has summarized them in an article.

According to residents of Toropets, almost all buildings, both residential and administrative, in the city and the surrounding villages were damaged. In many buildings, all the glass was broken and the window frames were blown out. In one house, even the front metal door was bent and everything was riddled with shrapnel. This is how a local resident, whose husband was injured, describes the events:

"The blast wave shattered the balcony in the bedroom. Shrapnel flew, one of which hit my husband's leg. He got up from the ground and got a few more shrapnels in his foot. It was crazy: no windows. My husband can hardly walk anymore."

According to satellite images, the fire after the impact spread over the entire area of ​​the warehouse, about five square kilometers. The grenades detonated with such force that seismic sensors recorded dozens of tremors, the strongest of which had a magnitude of 2.8, Tsargrad reported.

Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 17:55 utc | 93

Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 17:51 utc | 90

Currency != money. That is all, before we get too far off topic.

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Sep 20 2024 17:56 utc | 94

Teil II
.
People felt the man-made earthquake for several hours in a row. According to local authorities, a total of twenty people were injured. Since Wednesday afternoon, the evacuated residents have been able to return to the city.

The ammunition depot near Toropets was modernized in 2018 and was considered well protected against the air strikes. After the attack, several Russian military bloggers accused the military authorities of sloppiness and corruption in the construction.

However, satellite images from the US company Maxar, taken after the smoke cleared, show that most of the concrete buildings on the storage site remained intact. The explosion was apparently caused by ammunition stocks that were not stored properly.

RT
Military expert Boris Roschin (Colonelcassad) wrote on his Telegram channel:

"Another satellite image of warehouses in Toropets. Characteristic traces of detonations or fires are clearly visible. Some of the warehouses survived, but the losses in equipment are significant. Thanks to active satellite reconnaissance, the enemy has no particular problems with objective control of the attacks."

RT
The author of the Telegram channel "Military Chronicle" also commented on this:

The published images from enemy satellites clearly show that a significant part of the Toropets warehouse survived thanks to the underground storage facilities that withstood the cascade detonation. The damage is, of course, significant, but not fatal.

Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 17:57 utc | 95

Jon_in_AU (87)

Well spotted - BTW - you must not know whether to laugh or cry - with the AUKUS deal in mind - or the fact that the US has turned Australia in the tip of the spear, in an economic war against China - a country which Australia once traded well with.

Incidentally like Scotland (Faslane nuclear naval base) - Australia has painted a huge bullseye on its back - with Pine Gap - which is currently renewing its huge Radomes to further spy on Chinese communications and military movements.

Gough Whitlam must be turning in his grave - at the state Australia is now in - in a political sense.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Sep 20 2024 17:57 utc | 96

Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 17:51 utc | 90

States do indeed go bankrupt, Las example is Ukraine. They can print all the grivnas they want but they are bankrupt.

Without external financing they will not be able to pay pension, fuel whatever.

Posted by: Mario | Sep 20 2024 17:58 utc | 97

On the night of Wednesday, the enemy managed to blow up large parts of an ammunition depot near the town of Toropets in the Russian Tver region, northwest of Moscow. There was no official confirmation of the attack and its consequences from the Russian Ministry of Defense. The local authorities reported damage as a result of a piece of debris shot down by a Ukrainian drone and ordered the evacuation of the population. The town has a population of around 10,000.

Western media, citing military experts from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in the US state of California, assume that there was an explosion with the detonation of 200 to 240 tons of explosives. According to Newsweek, around 30,000 tons of grenades had exploded by Wednesday afternoon. The Ukrainian authorities are celebrating the attack as the greatest success of their special forces to date. Nothing further is known about the type of weapon used in the attack.

The explosions were documented and commented on by various social media users. An unverified eyewitness video captured the nighttime explosion:

The following reports and assessments are based on unofficial sources. The Russian news portal Tsargrad, which is blocked in the EU, has summarized them in an article.

According to residents of Toropets, almost all buildings, both residential and administrative, in the city and the surrounding villages were damaged. In many buildings, all the glass was broken and the window frames were blown out. In one house, even the front metal door was bent and everything was riddled with shrapnel. This is how a local resident, whose husband was injured, describes the events:

"The blast wave shattered the balcony in the bedroom. Shrapnel flew, one of which hit my husband's leg. He got up from the ground and got a few more shrapnels in his foot. It was crazy: no windows. My husband can hardly walk anymore."

According to satellite images, the fire after the impact spread over the entire area of ​​the warehouse, about five square kilometers. The grenades detonated with such force that seismic sensors recorded dozens of tremors, the strongest of which had a magnitude of 2.8, Tsargrad reported.

Tsargrad
People felt the man-made earthquake for several hours in a row. According to local authorities, a total of twenty people were injured. Since Wednesday afternoon, the evacuated residents have been able to return to the city.

The ammunition depot near Toropets was modernized in 2018 and was considered well protected against the air strikes. After the attack, several Russian military bloggers accused the military authorities of sloppiness and corruption in the construction.

However, satellite images from the US company Maxar, taken after the smoke cleared, show that most of the concrete buildings on the storage site remained intact. The explosion was apparently caused by improperly stored ammunition stocks.

RT
Military expert Boris Roschin (Colonelcassad) wrote on his Telegram channel:

"Another satellite image of warehouses in Toropets. Characteristic traces of detonations or fires are clearly visible. Some of the warehouses survived, but the losses in equipment are significant. Thanks to active satellite reconnaissance, the enemy has no particular problems with objective control of the attacks."

Posted by: ossi | Sep 20 2024 17:59 utc | 98

@Posted by: Larsbo | Sep 20 2024 17:35 utc | 84

Yep, Germany was the "sick man" of Europe. The Euro helped them out by fixing a lower exchange rate, together with domestic wage suppression, and stopping the other members of the Euro from devaluing. Then the vendor financing gig, where German banks funded the crazy consumption levels of the Greeks etc., helped by the too low interest rates provides to the likes of Greece within the Euro. Then the hangover and the consumer nations forced to pay for their consumption and the German banks bailed out by the ECB and consumer populations. And of course the massive growth of the Chinese market that sucked in so many German cars and machines (now being reversed) and cheap Russian pipeline gas (reversed).

Germany is now once again the sick man, and the condition will only deteriorate. Wage suppression isn't enough so now Germany wants to repeat the Turkish Gastarbeiter (guest worker) scheme starting with 250,000 Kenyans! Germany simply does not have the manufacturing or financial ability to rearm anywhere near the scale needed to fight Russia. It also completely lacks the domestic cohesion required, with the majority now against supporting Ukraine further.

Ukraine is toast, with the final denouement accelerated by the Kursk folly. There is no way that the US could build up the forces in Europe to attack Russia without it being blindingly obvious, and Russia ready to interdict all supply routes on water, on land and in the air. The intensity of modern battle would quickly eat up the munitions and equipment (and men) built up in Europe. The end result would be full on WW3 and nukes as the US goes up the escalation ladder.

I see 2025 perhaps being like 2020, where a huge US mistake (Afghanistan) is at last accepted and exited from. Trump will do this with more fanfare and grandstanding BS, while Harris will do it a lot more quietly and with the aid of the MSM to memory hole it (just like Afghanistan). Then a pivot to the new Chinese enemy, with Russia left to history just like the "Moslem Terrorists" of the War On Terror; so very much like the book "1984" even with our regular two (or more) minutes of hate against the defined bogey nation and its people.

The US may coup Zelensky, but it will be as useless as the 1963 US coup againt the South Vietnamese president Diem. Nothing substantive will be changed.

Posted by: Roger | Sep 20 2024 18:01 utc | 99

Ukraine Weekly Update, 20th September 2024: May be useful to some: https://robcampbell.substack.com/p/ukraine-weekly-update-006

Posted by: Dr. Rob Campbell | Sep 20 2024 18:06 utc | 100

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