Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
February 8, 2026
Ukraine Open Thread 2026-036

News & views related to the war in Ukraine …

Comments

AFU casualties still near 1.250 (1.255)
 
https://tass.com/politics/2085345
 
and fresh Marat detailing Zaporozhye advances
 
https://maratkhairullin.substack.com/p/brief-frontline-report-february-10th
 
The thread here is still nice and clean , nice
 
 
 

Posted by: Newbie | Feb 11 2026 14:40 utc | 201

Andrey Kartapolov is the very man who created the law on discrediting the army, which is widely used to conceal damage caused by incompetent generals and simple traitors. Who he works for and who gives him orders is a big question.

Posted by: wivinahwivinah | Feb 11 2026 14:43 utc | 202

unimperator @200: “Meanwhile there’s reports (also per Stanislav Krapivnik) that the use of TOS flamethrower ammunitions are much more available than before and a continuous rolling TOS barrage is moving forward in the Zap region, torching AFU strongholds as they go.” 
 
 
Is that really an indication of more ammo, or does it indicate a reduced ability of the AFU to threaten such weapons systems? After all, the TOS systems have relatively short range that makes them vulnerable to FPV drones and counter-battery fire. If the Russians are increasing the use of TOS systems it seems to me they are more comfortable with the survivability of those systems now. If this is the case then it has some interesting implications for the current state of the AFU defenses.

Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 11 2026 14:56 utc | 203

There doesn’t seem to be much discussion about the recent Ukrainian counterattacks in Zapo direction, which coincided with Russia being taken off of Starlink.
 
Curious what the fine commentors of MoA make of this situation. Why did Russian command allow their army to become dependent on the technology of their adversary for basic army coordination? Is intelligence gathering so bad that RU didn’t notice the preparations or concentration of force in this direction? They could have prepared themselves better to repel the Ukrainian units.
 
A Russian theory of victory pretty much exclusively rests on the AFU eventually collapsing and allowing Russia to accomplish it’s maximalist military and political objectives without resistance. If the AFU is still performing large scale counter attacks in Kupyansk and Zapo, does RU have actually have any realistic idea of ‘how close’ they are to achieving this? What if the AFU doesn’t collapse in 2026 and the war continues into 2027?

Posted by: Remote Page | Feb 11 2026 14:58 utc | 204

“Air Raid alarms across Ukraine due to MiG-31K’s.UPD: Kinzhals were launched towards western Ukraine.”
curious about the targets, Kinzhals are for high value, often time sensitive , targets only …
 
 
———————————
 
 
If the Russians are increasing the use of TOS systems it seems to me they are more comfortable with the survivability of those systems now. If this is the case then it has some interesting implications for the current state of the AFU defenses.
Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 11 2026 14:56 utc | 204
 
yes, I’d read the situation as AFU not being able to interdict the approaching ground.
 
if the situation is increasingly asymmetric , then very bad news for AFU, few soldiers get killed by bullets, if RF can use artillery and thermobarics and AFU can’t … 

Posted by: Newbie | Feb 11 2026 15:09 utc | 205

As far as i understood it’s blatant carteling of MAXXX (not even pro) by VK that hosts terabytes of ISIS videos and has pro-ukrainian donation groups it doesn’t ban. This kind of shit is exactly what prigo was marching against.

Posted by: klovane er | Feb 11 2026 15:13 utc | 206

Posted by: Remote Page | Feb 11 2026 14:58 utc | 205
 
######
 
Russian victory has nothing to do with the AFU.
 
Russia’s victory will be political and economic.
 
The means is battle.
 
“politics by other means”.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 11 2026 15:25 utc | 207

I’m not sure about real Prigo motives but yeah that situation with tg is basically actions of a real homeland betrayers who will sold their own mothers to gain a good stocks rise.

Posted by: MD Alastor | Feb 11 2026 15:28 utc | 208

Re: John Gilberts | Feb 10 2026 2:46 utc | 165
 
Author JPost opinion piece on Ukraine

 

(Ilan) Leibowitz Romania-Israel Law Firm is a partner in a law firm in Romania located in Romania. Leibowitz holds Romanian citizenship and speaks Romanian at a native level. 


As part of the Leibowitz Romania-Israel Law Firm’s activities, the firm provides business and legal support to Israeli entrepreneurs and investors in Romania in the fields of real estate, agriculture, trade and services. In addition, the Romania-Israel Law Firm is involved in restoring and obtaining Romanian citizenship for those eligible, and obtaining a Romanian/European passport.

Ilan Leibowitz (born January 25, 1967), was a member of the Knesset in the 16th Knesset from the Shinui faction.

Posted by: Oui | Feb 11 2026 15:30 utc | 209

What if the AFU doesn’t collapse in 2026 and the war continues into 2027?
 
Posted by: Remote Page | Feb 11 2026 14:58 utc | 205
 
#####
 
Look up how long the Russians fought the Swedes. And that was a proper war.
 
This SMO could go on for another decade.
 
America and most of Europe will be bankrupt by then.
 
Win by default.
 
This is attritional war. You outlast the opponent.
 
As long as it takes.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 11 2026 15:35 utc | 210

Kiriyenko is Yeltsin’s protégé and it is not surprising that he is an enemy of the Russian people and causes the maximum amount of damage.

Posted by: wivinahwivinah | Feb 11 2026 15:38 utc | 211

Russia is simply destroying Ukraine. Idiots talking about  so-called counterattacks which were so bad that Syrsky already replaced the General in charge of it dont know what they are talking about. The goal of the enemy is to fight Russia so that Russia destroys as much of the Donbass as possible .Ukronazis hate Donbass with or without Russia there. The more it gets destroyed then the more the carrot is dangled by their western paymasters of joint corruption schemes to rebuild there.
That explains what is happening, not any mistep by Russia.
Russia effectively must pick and choose which of the many towns and settlements in the Donbass to fight and the pace of it.  Draw the ukronazis in massacre them for months, which the brilliant Russian military has – can sometimes then make the adjacent moderately sized town or 2 go quickly into Russian hands without much destruction. Go too quickly and the ukronazis force the battles to go as such that  3 that 3 towns or cities  have to be rebuilt from scratch instead of 1
Belgorod has about 11 household without electricity at the moment.
The reason you troll idiots that the multiple times defeated Ukronazis arent collapsing is because the west are pumping 10s of billions of dollars into each month and has the ukronazi officials and militry and media in their back pocket . Napoleon and Hitler didnt have that advantage and probably had more common sense with regards to such dumb sacrificing of their people. Drones also prolong things but its simply a fact that Russia is showing HOW to conduct urban warfare.
Amazing that Ukronazis flood massive amount of the fighting area when destroying the dam and you idiots start moaning about the pace of things

Posted by: Winston | Feb 11 2026 19:32 utc | 212

Oui@210:
 
“Author JPost opinion piece on Ukraine.”
 
Thanks for this interesting additional info on Ilan Leibowitz.

Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 11 2026 20:32 utc | 213

The Duran: ‘Create Crisis, Impose Solution’
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPZBt6fZqXc
 
“Crisis creation and authoritarian solution. Globalists prepare for Munich.”

Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 11 2026 20:35 utc | 214

Putin is yeltsin’s protege

Posted by: random one | Feb 11 2026 22:01 utc | 215