It would appear that the Ukrainians are not satisfied with the speed of their internal collapse and have decided to speed it up some more with a push near Berdino. While certainly a desperate gamble to improve their position before Trump takes office, it’s equally certain to fail with high casualties and appears to be based on the misguided assumption Russia needs negotiations. Russia is ready for negotiation, but will equally just murder the press-ganged Ukrainians all the way to Lvov if needed. They’re not in what I would call a bargaining mood.
So expect a Western circle jerk in the media for a while before a quiet retreat as it becomes obvious the new ‘offensive’ has only scattered so many UAF corpses and so much UAF materiel across the cold hard ground. After all the typical Westerner has the attention span of a gnat.
Sad but Ukraine is being used as a whore by certain Western interests that are absolutely incapable of accepting defeat. So it will be force-fed to them.

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Jan 5 2025 13:44 utc | 3

First time poster
3 Doctor Eleven
We’ll stated. Weeb Union sounded bothe amazed and disgusted with this latest Ukrainian “invasion.”

Posted by: Rick O’Shay | Jan 5 2025 13:57 utc | 5

Looks like a great big nothingburger. Sputnik, quoting the Russian Defence Ministry, reports that 2 out of 2 tanks, 1 out of 1 mine-clearing vehicle and 7 out of 12 armoured vehicles destroyed.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20250105/russian-troops-repel-ukraines-counterattack-in-kursk-region-1121360861.html

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Jan 5 2025 14:04 utc | 7

Oh, the UAF infantry is resilient enough – but the leadership is absolutely inept. Let’s not play pretend, please. From the (Ukrainian) channel Resident today:

Our source in the General Staff reported that the enemy was aware in advance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ plans to strike in the Kursk region. Ukrainian military columns were intercepted as they approached the Russian army’s defensive lines. It is already clear that the information was leaked from the headquarters, and the losses in equipment and personnel are significant. To stabilize the situation, Syrsky is deploying new reserves to Sudzha.

Per other reports all three initial columns were annihilated. NATO military strategy and hardware in action.

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Jan 5 2025 14:16 utc | 9

Ukraine Weekly Update, 3rd January 2025: May be useful to some: https://robcampbell.substack.com/p/ukraine-weekly-update-168

Posted by: The Busker | Jan 5 2025 14:20 utc | 11

The ethnic cleansing of Ukraine accelerates to what end?

Posted by: steve | Jan 5 2025 14:28 utc | 13

Report from the border of the Kursk region.
A DIVERSIONAL ATTACK?
The Ukrainian Armed Forces launched an offensive in the Kursk region. The main fighting is taking place in the area of ​​Bolshoy Soldatsky and the Berdin farmstead in the Bolshesoldatsky district.
Aerial reconnaissance also detects the accumulation of enemy equipment and personnel in the Sumy region, adjacent to the Glushkovsky district (Kursk region).
A concentration of APU is recorded in the village. Terny, Stepanovka (Sumy region). The enemy has dug in. Fire attacks are being carried out in identified areas where the Ukrainian Armed Forces are concentrated.
@starshii_pogrannaryada
Since the enemy’s actions in the Bolshoi Soldatskoye area could be an auxiliary attack (like the attack on Pyatikhatki before the attack on Rabotino in the summer of 2023), in the near future it is necessary to show increased vigilance in other areas in order to prevent the enemy from achieving tactical surprise.

Posted by: ossi | Jan 5 2025 14:36 utc | 15

Telegram message.
Partisans in the Odessa area report:
Collection and partial withdrawal of Ukrainian units…

Posted by: Lese meist nur mit | Jan 5 2025 14:39 utc | 17

It is amazing how strong Ukrainian army still is in spite of the all losses.
They hold the line, they attack, they fight. They are ready and happy to die for the western interests. There is no discontent, no massive surrender just a strong will to fight and die. Just amazing.
Ukrainians are ready to send their sons to the front line.
All this can be stopped fast by destroying Ukro electrical infrastructure but Russia is incapable of achieving that.

Posted by: vargas | Jan 5 2025 14:49 utc | 19

We got our joke of the day. The same exact joke repeated ad nauseam only makes it funnier, as some say.

Posted by: boneless | Jan 5 2025 14:56 utc | 21

Patriarch Kirille of Russian Orthodox church in Moscow, called for a 36 hour ceasefire …
Both Russian and Ukrainian presidents marked the occasion, with Vladimir Putin agreed to 36-hour ceasefire and Volodymyr Zelensky glorified Ukrainians for their fighting spirit. To retaliate the Christmas bombing of 25 December, Zelenskyy preferred to send his elite soldiers into a mission impossible by a new Kursk incursion …. Getting headlines in the Western corporate media.
Ukraine officially moves Christmas observance to Dec. 25 in ’huge cultural shift’ | 1 Aug 2023 |
In short … to impress the incoming administration, Zelenskyy is busy putting lipstick on a pig. Ukraine knows Donald hates losers … and dead soldiers.

Posted by: Oui | Jan 5 2025 15:04 utc | 23

!NEW! UKR campaign in Kursk region
may just be there to provide enough imagery
for “bouncy” Ukraine progress reports:
( what UKR agenda is currently decided?)
https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/europa/ukraine-kursk-offensive-100.html
reporting again appears larger than life.
complemented by the German Panzerfahrer activating in media here.

Posted by: MAKK | Jan 5 2025 15:16 utc | 25

There can be no doubt that the Ukrainian army tout court is the strongest army Europe has fielded since the Second World War, if this army had been transported to North Africa, all of Libya (and its countless oil fields and gas deposits) would be Europe’s for the taking, with the entirety of the mineral and offshore riches of Western Sahara as a bonus. Instead it’s all wasted suicidally against Russia and thus the EU’s own current and future economic interests.

Posted by: Ludovic | Jan 5 2025 15:22 utc | 27

The point is that the West has so many war plans, so many ways to attack Russia.
And this war cost them nothing or almost nothing.
I do not understand many things and my regular listening to Dima helped just a bit.
I do not understand how is this all possible.

Posted by: vargas | Jan 5 2025 15:24 utc | 29

Posted by: Ludovic | Jan 5 2025 15:22 utc | 30
Yes it was a dream mercenary army for the west. Million plus strong and willing to even die for their masters for a pittance

Posted by: Michael J | Jan 5 2025 15:35 utc | 31

@32 vargas
Why the Ukraineans stubbornly continue to fight? Well, some in this forum (including me) believe they are fighting on the wrong side for the wrong reasons, but they obviously have a different opinion. Right or wrong doesn’t matter. It’s a war, neither side wants to lose.
Why EU isn’t going all in with jets, missiles, boots on the ground? Well, one Oreshnik on the ASML plant, four Oreshniks for the LNG ports and boom, there goes your economy, there comes the pain. It certainly isn’t for lack of brutality or cunning.

Posted by: Hamburger | Jan 5 2025 15:41 utc | 33

It is amazing how strong Ukrainian army still is in spite of the all losses.
Posted by: vargas | Jan 5 2025 14:49 utc | 19
Amazing?? The Wehrmacht launched an offensive against the Soviets in March 1945 and the country surrendered 2 months later.
Posted by: HB_Norica | Jan 5 2025 15:22 utc | 31
I didnt know this.

Posted by: vargas | Jan 5 2025 15:49 utc | 35

Jmaas@16….we know nothing at all about what objectives are. Right here, for months, the Kursk Adventure was written off as a failed attempt to take the Kursk NPP…..stupid objective, right? It wasn’t even the objective, would have been a cherry on top. Who here at MOA knew a major, the major objective, had been accomplished. Major blunder by Russia considering the contracts coming due, and the importance of the LNG metering station that is now in Ukraine’s possession. Maybe Zman can get Trump to write the intro …..The Art of the Steal.
Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jan 5 2025 15:52 utc | 37

The Russians are not ever going to negotiate about Nazis on Russia soil, or even their borders, so I don’t understand what the Ukrainians think they can gain by another incursion. The Russians will just methodically exterminate the Nazis.
With that said, the Nazis are not only a problem for the Russians. If the Ukraine’s expired president seriously wants to negotiate, the Nazis must first be gone, one way or another. Z-boy obviously lacks the backing to deal with the Nazis himself, and they will kill him if he tries to negotiate any peace that will be acceptable to the Russians. The only answer if the green vagrant wants to salvage a portion of the Ukraine is to eliminate the Nazis by sending them to the killing fields for the Russians to take care of.
That is the only rational explanation. There are believable irrational explanations too, so this could be wrong. The loopy Ukrainians might actually imagine they could intimidate the Russians.

Posted by: William Gruff | Jan 5 2025 15:53 utc | 39

Feed 1; the flock will return. 🤬
Posted by: Mary | Jan 5 2025 15:45 utc | 37
Some only seem to work 10 hour shifts. Maybe a weekend off? Or B has zapped this flock.

Posted by: JohninMK | Jan 5 2025 16:04 utc | 41

Posted by: William Gruff | Jan 5 2025 15:53 utc | 42
.
.
As soon as the situation arises of “a remnant of Ukraine”, these Nazis will be the West’s problem.
Should Poland or Romania strike at their supposed territories?
Will these Nazis be a problem for the EU.
Perhaps the reason why Russia places NO VALUE on the whole of Ukraine…on the contrary, Russia can thank the West, i.e. the EU…and should Putin take over Odessa???
The rest of Ukraine is a financial bottomless pit for the EU and woe betide the EU if it doesn’t do as it should…these NAZIS, as long as they stay in the rest of Ukraine, will show the EU politicians how it’s done…weapons, they will have enough weapons…and sponsors against Russia too…will it then stay with Russia?
Poland, with these Nazis, the rest of Ukraine will have a huge problem even without joining the EU…The top leadership of the Nazis will move to Canada, Algeria, USA, etc., as they did in 1945…Sylenski and his immediate circle…well, he/she will NOT live as long as I do.

Posted by: ossi | Jan 5 2025 16:09 utc | 43

@Lese meist nur mit | Jan 5 2025 14:39 utc | 17
Link please?

Posted by: Norwegian | Jan 5 2025 16:13 utc | 45

Meanwhile, the Russian forces are now closing in on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (7 km from the nearest point of the line of contact).
When they break through into a new Oblast, what kind of shit-fit will Sholz and Biden have? Will they beat their wives? Or will their diapers be full of their own feces?

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Jan 5 2025 16:29 utc | 47

Still haven’t scared them off…..the metering station.
Cheers M
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jan 5 2025 15:20 utc | 29

You place outsized importance on that station, which is frankly irrelevant..I really dont understand what straw you are trying to clutch here to paint Kursk as a success. Feel free to elaborate. Perhaps you mean because it helps temporarily fuck up Europe’s energy supplies? How does that help Ukraine?
The target was the Kursk NPP..was probably known as a moonshot but the people whose views you parrot aren’t risking their asses, are they? The Kursk misadventure, which I have called it from day 1, is a NATO driven push to get leverage, which has done exactly the opposite.
The problem is the mouth breathing swivel eyes who plan and execute these genius operations don’t ever get relieved or demoted. Kursk is a disaster for the AFU and any other view is simply wrong. Historians aren’t going to extoll the AFU for their suicidal, pointless incursion – they will exoricate the absolute dipshits planning this war from behind Ukraines skirts.

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Jan 5 2025 16:31 utc | 49

Vegass@1551 Dec 5
Crass stoopidity outflanked by sheer inanity.

Posted by: aristodemos | Jan 5 2025 16:37 utc | 51

Ghost of Zanon @47: “When they break through into a new Oblast, what kind of shit-fit will Sholz and Biden have?”
That meltdown sure will be entertaining!
As for Russia, that would be time to start planning another referendum. Always easiest to be fighting on your home turf.

Posted by: William Gruff | Jan 5 2025 16:48 utc | 53

Oops. Dove Donbass is 1431 rather than thirteen.

Posted by: aristodemos | Jan 5 2025 16:58 utc | 55

RT
Has Ukraine fallen into a trap again?
.
By Vladislav Sankin
The enemy is currently “actively dying,” reported the Telegram channel Military Chronicle on Sunday morning, citing information from the special unit “Akhmat,” which is responsible for defending the hamlet of Berdin in the Kursk region. This type of murderous, black humor is typical of the reporting of numerous Russian military bloggers, whose reports often precede the scant reports from the Ministry of Defense. The information war tolerates no emptiness – if you don’t fill it with your own truths, the enemy sources are immediately on hand to quench the interested public’s thirst for fresh news from the front.
Russia repulses Ukrainian counterattack in Kursk region
Russia repulses Ukrainian counterattack in Kursk region
This was also the case with the current Ukrainian attacks in the Kursk region. For a week, Russian military blogs have been talking about the fact that the AFU (Ukrainian Armed Forces) was preparing a major offensive in the Kursk, Belgorod or Bryansk regions in early January. Early on Sunday morning, Russian military blogger and expert on the region Roman Alekhine reported that the enemy offensive he had previously reported had begun. “It began from Sudzha in the direction of Bolshoye Soldatskoye, although we considered this direction the most difficult for the enemy. In the offensive, the enemy uses mine-clearing trawls, tanks and other armored vehicles. The enemy has densely covered the attack area with REB [radio-electronic defense – editor’s note], so many drones are useless,” Alekhine wrote.
After a few hours, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that there had indeed been a counterattack in the direction of Berdin, west of Bolshoye Soldatskoye, and that it had been repelled. Two battle tanks and seven armored vehicles were destroyed – RT DE reported. However, the enemy apparently managed to land groups of infantrymen in a forest on the outskirts of Berdin. The special unit “Akhmat” reported a close-quarters fight with small arms, which Alyochin also confirmed.
He also spoke of attempts to break through in other directions in the Sudzha district. Overall, the situation was not very successful for the Ukrainians, he noted. They wanted to take advantage of the few frosty days in the otherwise mild January, because otherwise the roads and fields in this region are impassable due to the muddy ground. For this reason alone, the offensive attempt was predictable for the Russian side. Military correspondent Alexander Sladkov, who is also very familiar with the region, even speaks of a trap into which the Ukrainians are repeatedly maneuvering themselves. He, however, attested to the skill of the Russian military command:
“I see the actions of our high command in the direction of Kursk [including allowing the enemy to mine the passages] as calculated and advantageous. In general, I am of the opinion that the enemy is marching into its own military and political trap.”
Military blogger and volunteer Alyochin, who is often critical of the deficiencies at the front, also sounds optimistic. Shortly before two o’clock Moscow time, he reported the third landing attempt at Berdin and a total of 15 vehicles destroyed and up to a hundred soldiers killed. In another post, he praised the Russians’ improved communications architecture in the Kursk region, which was largely achieved through the efforts of volunteers like him. The Russians have also recently been increasingly using cable-controlled FPV drones in the Kursk region, which helps them to circumvent radio-electronic suppression by the enemy. Their advantages also include images with much sharper resolution, which help to better identify targets.
Final blow by the Ukrainian army: Not “if”, but “where”, “when” and “why”
Analysis
Final blow by the Ukrainian army: Not “if”, but “where”, “when” and “why”
In assessing the goals of the Ukrainian advance, many military observers agree that these are largely political and not military in nature. The Ukrainian news portal Strana also recognizes this: The United States should be shown that the Ukrainian armed forces can be successful on the battlefield and that the thesis that Ukraine will inevitably lose the war if it continues is wrong. And that is why it is necessary to continue to support Kiev and not make concessions to Russia.
But to achieve these political goals, the Ukrainians would have to take more than just a few more Kursk villages. This will not impress anyone. “It could, for example, be an advance near the
Kursk nuclear power plant.” But whether Ukraine has the strength for such a deep breakthrough is not yet known, Strana doubts and asks: “Another question is how the transfer of AFU reserves for an offensive on Russian territory will affect other parts of the front. Especially where the Russians are now actively attacking.”
It is also obvious that this question is rather rhetorical. This is also confirmed by military analyses from sources close to the Russian army. Some are already calling the offensive a “counterattack of last hope”. “From a military point of view, the units now advancing should reinforce the Ukrainian defense in the Donbass and not burn material in Kursk,” writes military correspondent Alexander Koz on his Telegram channel. In another post, he names the difficulties facing the Ukrainian military leadership in the Kursk region.
It must be clear that Kiev has thrown some of its best reserves into the battle, he states. “It is not mobilized troops picked up on the street, but western-trained professionals with NATO equipment who are advancing on Bolshoye Soldatskoye and the hamlet of Berdin.” The expert lists the reasons why the Ukrainians are unable to make a breakthrough even with well-trained fighters:
“Firstly, Starlink, to which the entire Combat control of the AFU is not tied to the ‘old’ Russian territory. You quickly get used to the good things.
Secondly, in the Kursk area the enemy is poorly covered by its air defenses. Kiev does not risk bringing the scarce Patriots to the Russian border. This allows Russian tactical and military aviation to work at full strength.
Thirdly, in winter it is extremely difficult to hide equipment. Forest regiments stand naked, the heat of the engine can be seen for miles on thermal imaging, and the tracks in the snow are clearly visible from the air. And the AFU will have to advance along a prepared defensive line.
Fourth, and finally, Kiev is under time pressure. It is extremely important that it can show at least some result before Trump’s inauguration. Those who rush make mistakes and suffer heavy losses. In the age of drones, blitzkrieg no longer works.”
According to the experts from Military Chronicle, the decisive strike by the Ukrainians is not expected until tomorrow or the day after. The results of the short-lived attack on Berdin must be evaluated by the Ukrainian military leadership today. It is unclear whether the AFU have achieved their goals or not, because no reinforcement group is being sent to Berdin and the attack group is too small to survive a longer “sit-in” (in the forest strip) without heavy weapons. According to the latest reports from the battlefield, the remaining Ukrainian soldiers were surrounded and fired upon by Russian artillery. The chances of survival of this landing group are extremely slim.
The military observers therefore assume that the main attack will go in a different direction: Most likely it will lead through the southwestern border village of Tyotkino (there is currently no activity there) or along the E38 highway to Rylsk, for which a large mechanized group could be deployed. The next few days will show whether these assessments are correct.

Posted by: ossi | Jan 5 2025 17:14 utc | 57

Russia shot down a MIG 29 Ukraine yesterday…I am very surprised that Ukraine has any planes of that origin left let alone the F16 are any in Ukraine? …..are the French Mirage planes plus 200 trained pilots definitely on their way , in Ukraine already …or are they really are a mirage,?
Someone somewhere has a current stock.list of what is in Ukraine s “possession” and what is still in supply lines….wherever…

Posted by: Jo | Jan 5 2025 17:21 utc | 59

Doctor Eleven@1344 Dec 5
A proposed reconsideration. It is my informed opinion that a Russian move clear to Lvov is a definite no-go. Why? you might ask. Simple enough. Lvov is the epicenter of Neo-naxzi Banderism.
Because Galicia and parts of nearby oblasts were long under the Polaks and latterly by the Austro-Hungarian Empire; the once Russian Orthodox people there were “convinced” to become Uniates religiously. The Uniates follow Orthodox rituals but are effectually communicants with “Holy” Mother Church, the afterbirth of Constantine’s re-engineering of the Roman Empire.
Writ more simply, the denizens of that chunk of the westernmost elements of the Frankenstein Monster, the former Ukraine SSR…were mistakenly welded onto that SSR monster. Those nutcases are culturally indigestible by the Russian Orthodox peoples…including central Ukraine. Problem is, that the culturally re-engineered Uniates are historically deracinated.
For months running, my take on Russian probability factoring is that they will hold referendums throughout all of current Ukraine, up to but not including the Uniate majority regions. Those referendums would offer three choices: One, to establish a NovoUkrainia government within the Ukrainian dialect culture in the center: Two, to become Oblasts within the R.U. and Three: For some elements in the former SSR state to choose whether to ethnically return to their actual homelands: Slovakia, Hungary or Romania…OR to adhere to a disarmed but protected pariah state, possibly named Greater Galicia.
Such an arrangement would dissolve the Frankenstein Monster while allowing majority residents of each oblast to choose their preferred political entities. One could consider such as outcome as a fairness doctrine…a system where the will of the people would prevail over other less humane and systemic rule from the top retrogressions.

Posted by: aristodemos | Jan 5 2025 17:31 utc | 61

Russia shot down a MIG 29 Ukraine yesterday…I am very surprised that Ukraine has any planes of that origin left
Posted by: Jo | Jan 5 2025 17:21 utc | 59
They’re still importing & fixing up old airframes as it’s the only useful platform they’ve had for the occasional launch of ALCM’s. Despite their best efforts they cannot train a significant number of pilots on any other aircraft plus those other aircraft require unrealitically pristine airfields, better ground crews and logistics. That’s why the F-16’s in particular have been among the most ridiculously overblow wunderwaffen to date.

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jan 5 2025 17:37 utc | 63

Such an arrangement would dissolve the Frankenstein Monster while allowing majority residents of each oblast to choose their preferred political entities. One could consider such as outcome as a fairness doctrine…a system where the will of the people would prevail over other less humane and systemic rule from the top retrogressions.
Posted by: aristodemos | Jan 5 2025 17:31 utc | 61
Yes, and the agreement to establish that would also specify any non-RU oblasts are free of anything more than local police forces in perpetuity.

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jan 5 2025 17:40 utc | 65

@ LoveDonbass, §14:
Agree completely.
And I always find Doctor Eleven to be spot on.
You are particularly right in that tyrants hate ridicule, much as Hitler was enraged by Charlie Chaplin.
We should use it more, especially against the likes of Ursula Fon d´a Lyin´ and Mark the nutter Rutte, not forgetting England´s “Kneeler” Starmer who can´t define a woman.

Posted by: John Marks | Jan 5 2025 17:53 utc | 67

Aristodemos- I’m asking that you please take care in your praise of one who would be POTUS, & remember the image of this man’s AR-15-totting family X-mas card ! Like Wilm. F. Buckley, he stays above the hot mess but is IMO a dangerous player. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> There is exactly ONE “Representative” in the U$$A Congress who does not “sport” an AIPAC monitor in their very offices: Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Yes, that MAN is the only member of Congress who has not sold his soul to the Khazarian $hapechangers.
Posted by: aristodemos | Jan 5 2025 16:54 utc | 54

Posted by: Ben Trovata | Jan 5 2025 18:18 utc | 69

In a nutshell , nuts shell deep
https://x.com/OlgaBazova/status/1875949140523553101?mx=2

Posted by: Newbie | Jan 5 2025 18:28 utc | 71

340? So full August Kursk , with 4 tanks and 40 vehicles will probably be upgraded to 400 killed
“The operation to destroy the formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continues,” the Defense Ministry added.
In general, over the past day, the group “North” in the Kursk direction defeated the forces of 14 Ukrainian brigades and repelled two counterattacks. The losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in these battles amounted to:
about 340 soldiers killed and wounded;
four tanks;
three infantry fighting vehicles;
four armored personnel carriers;
12 armored combat vehicles;
boom machine;
20 cars;
five mortars.
https://ria.ru/20250105/vsu-1992575943.html

Posted by: Newbie | Jan 5 2025 18:33 utc | 73

Posted by: John Marks | Jan 5 2025 18:48 utc | 74
Eminently reasonable, and although NATO on the whole will be unhappy P, R & S/H will be.

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jan 5 2025 19:08 utc | 75

Night Tripper @ 30. Or palm hits forehead in self-slap.

Posted by: mjh | Jan 5 2025 19:16 utc | 77

A better card in future negociations ?
sted by: America is defeated | Jan 5 2025 19:16 utc | 76
There are no cards to be had; it’s all fodder for the narrative as the NATO talks upcoming at Ramstein.

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jan 5 2025 19:23 utc | 79

Mark Sleboda yesterday on Danny Haiphong predicted AUF offensive to be in several directions, with main one directed vs the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, that has been attacked so often previously. Taking it would be big propaganda victory for Ukraine and damaging it could be blamed on Russia.

Posted by: mjh | Jan 5 2025 19:38 utc | 81

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Jan 5 2025 13:44 utc | 3
Superb comment Doc 11
Áobh O

Posted by: Áobh Ó’Sheachnasaigh | Jan 5 2025 19:47 utc | 83

Jams O’Donnell@1934 Dec 5
Appreciating the response, kind words and your perspectives on how the upcoming Administration in what has long been the House of Horrors, will have little if any actual affect upon the people managing the show in the R.U. Of course, Odessa, not only for strategic protection, but also for its primary ethnic Russian population and that city’s establishment and history as Russia’s southwestern eye on the world.
Keep on keeping on. Thanks.

Posted by: aristodemos | Jan 5 2025 19:48 utc | 85

There are no cards to be had; it’s all fodder for the narrative as the NATO talks upcoming at Ramstein.
Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jan 5 2025 19:23 utc | 79
That’s why I posted
“In a nutshell , nuts shell deep
https://x.com/OlgaBazova/status/1875949140523553101?mx=2
Posted by: Newbie | Jan 5 2025 18:28 utc | 71″
There might be a much simpler explanation for yet another suicide safari in Kursk Oblast.
Ramstein meeting is on Jan 9th, and the nanoführer needed to manufacture more content to beg for more money by sending more Ukrainian soldiers for senseless slaughter for political gains.

Posted by: Newbie | Jan 5 2025 19:54 utc | 87

Jmaas@16….we know nothing at all about what objectives are. Right here, for months, the Kursk Adventure was written off as a failed attempt to take the Kursk NPP…..stupid objective, right? It wasn’t even the objective, would have been a cherry on top. Who here at MOA knew a major, the major objective, had been accomplished. Major blunder by Russia considering the contracts coming due, and the importance of the LNG metering station that is now in Ukraine’s possession. Maybe Zman can get Trump to write the intro …..The Art of the Steal.
Cheers M
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jan 5 2025 15:52 utc | 37
We do not know what the objectives were, but we do know what the possibilities are based on what is in the region. Most favor that they wanted to take the nuke power plant because it is north of the area they invaded. A second choice would be the ability to threaten the city of Kursk. Why Kursk? Because it is in the area. If that gas metering station is important, it has been given surprisingly little attention. The rest of what they took is a rolling countryside of mixed forest areas and farmland. Plus the villages that are part of the local farming industry.
It takes better military units to do an invasion than what is required to hold a defensive position. Thus, to do the Kursk invasion they had to draw away the mobile reserve forces from the major battlefield area in the east. That left a great many of their military units along the eastern battle line without reserves. The result can be observed on a daily basis by following the many internet sites that document territory gained and lost. As Ukraine lacks mobile reserves, the Russians can now push deep salients into the Ukrainian battle line without the troops in the salient being cut off by mobile reserves called in to attack the flanks. Hey, they are up in the Kursk region getting seriously beat-up.
As for the battle in the Kursk salient, the mobile troops are not so mobile anymore because their ability to hide their transport devices is minimal. The troopers have the same problem. The small civilian population has fled or was evacuated, and the troops seek cover in the evacuated villages because that is what is available. The downside is that the villages are not hidden from sight. The Russians know where they are and killing the troopers is a matter of shelling the village until nothing is left. That is, unless the troopers accept the losses that go with evacuating the village.
If that Kursk invasion is a combat gain, then pity the poor Ukrainians when they have to endure a combat loss. Something that, alas, is going on right now.

Posted by: Jmaas | Jan 5 2025 19:56 utc | 89

Posted by @ Eighthman | Jan 5 2025 13:38 utc | 2
‘AFU may be suicidal, but they are not inept.’
This is not about ineptitude. The complete f’ckers in charge of the AFU care nothing about sacrificing vast swathes of the fast-decreasing male population of the Ukraine. In fact it may be desirable to the puppet masters in Warshington and Londinium, whose dream is the complete conquest of that land whereupon they depopulate to only what is required to sustain a slave population managing the demons’ industries.

Posted by: Áobh Ó’Sheachnasaigh | Jan 5 2025 20:01 utc | 91

TJ&TheBear@1740 Dec 5
Thanks. Astute addendum that those newly liberated lands should only have “National Guard” ‘police’ forces and not heavily armed and equipped armies…if I correctly read and interpret your intent.

Posted by: aristodemos | Jan 5 2025 20:03 utc | 93

Posted by: aristodemos | Jan 5 2025 20:03 utc | 93
You are interpreting correctly. Just enough to do both local policing plus suppress any potential insurgency in the name of “anti-terrorism”.

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jan 5 2025 20:08 utc | 95

The AFU with NATO assistance is throwing everything against the wall these days trying to make something stick.
Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jan 5 2025 20:02 utc | 92
😉Maybe, theyre starting this “new offensive” in order to catch some NK troops they keep babbling on about but have yet to prove.😉

Posted by: HERMIUS | Jan 5 2025 20:36 utc | 97

So, in addition to @TJandTheBear’s comments about a limited policing force, we could see Russia insisting on constitutional and legislative restrictions covering the activities of NGOs.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Jan 5 2025 20:31 utc | 96
Ironically, I’d see these new areas getting a lot more TLC from Russia than the West. A happy population is much more passive and unlikely to support any restive elements.
😉Maybe, theyre starting this “new offensive” in order to catch some NK troops they keep babbling on about but have yet to prove.😉
Posted by: HERMIUS | Jan 5 2025 20:36 utc | 97
LOL, but the NAFO’s on X are STILL treating these imaginary troops as entirely real, which is even funnier. No matter how idiotic they look they always aim for more and their followers just eat it up. You’d think after so many years of being so epically wrong they wouldn’t have any followers but you can never underestimate the stupidity of some crowds.

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jan 5 2025 20:46 utc | 99