Here we go again-Ukraine once again pt2

[Rockstar]

Orban is talking out his butt.

In December 2023 the U.S. Army invested 1.5 billion dollars and signed contracts with domestic, Canadian and Polish manufactures to produce artillery ammunition. It will primarily be used to replenish our own stocks that have been drawn down and given to Ukraine. On a side note I noticed several weeks afterwards European countries suddenly started reporting to have miraculously ‘found’ ammunition in their own stock piles to assist Ukraine.

Romania, NATO and Lockheed Martin are also building a training facility and NATO airbase to house and teach Romanian pilots how to operate the F-16’s they’re getting from Norway. According to Lockheed Martin the base could be used to train Ukr pilots too.

[Dargo]

Czechia has sourced an additional 700,000 artillery rounds for Ukraine as part of its own initiative to procure critically needed weaponry for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, writes The Wall Street Journal. The plan is to buy more ammunition on top of the 800,000 shells already financed, provided the required funds are available. “[Czechia] has sourced around 800,000 artillery shells from a diverse coalition of suppliers spanning the globe and identified another 700,000 that could be secured with extra funds,” the text reads.

Ukraine will be able to receive the first shipments of weapons in the coming weeks. By the end of the year, a total of 300 units of Soviet-caliber weapons and 500,000 units of NATO-caliber ammunition will be delivered. “More shells will be available as funding comes in, the Czech government said. Altogether, Czech officials say around 3 billion euros, equivalent to $3.3 billion, would secure around 1.5 million shells—a fraction of the $60 billion aid package for Ukraine now stranded in the US Congress,” The Wall Street Journal writes. https://www.ukrainianworldcongress.o...s-for-ukraine/

Ukraine races to build weapons at home

Ukraine manufactured practically no weapons before Russia invaded in February 2022, but the local arms industry is now booming. Factories spit out shells, mortar rounds, military vehicles, missiles and other items crucial to the war effort. Production tripled in 2023 and is expected to increase sixfold this year, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a Ukrainian government meeting in January. Local production is not sufficient to make up for a loss of international support, especially weapons from the United States. But with a $60 billion aid package stalled in Congress, domestic manufacturing is more critical than ever. For certain crucial items, such as the drones that have transformed how the war is fought, Ukraine is already making 90 percent of what it needs, Mykhailo Fedorov, the digital transformation minister, said at a conference last month.

...

Some weapons are on the horizon. Ukraine’s minister of strategic industries, Oleksandr Kamyshin, said last month that Ukraine had deployed a locally made missile with a range of more than 400 miles. He did not provide details. Air defense systems and high-precision missiles similar to the U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) are also being developed, officials said. But the high-tech systems that Ukraine needs to push back the Russian invaders are a long way off from being manufactured in Ukraine. “To master such a production, to build such a production, decades must pass,” said Polyvianyi, who is also director of the National Association of Ukrainian Defense Industries, which includes more than 50 private contractors... https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...ic-production/

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

Orban is talking out his butt.

In December 2023 the U.S. Army invested 1.5 billion dollars and signed contracts with domestic, Canadian and Polish manufactures to produce artillery ammunition. It will primarily be used to replenish our own stocks that have been drawn down and given to Ukraine. On a side note I noticed several weeks afterwards European countries suddenly started reporting to have miraculously ‘found’ ammunition in their own stock piles to assist Ukraine.

Romania, NATO and Lockheed Martin are also building a training facility and NATO airbase to house and teach Romanian pilots how to operate the F-16’s they’re getting from Norway. According to Lockheed Martin the base could be used to train Ukr pilots too.

12 Ukrainian fighter pilot + ground staff are being trained in Denmark since end of last year.
Don't know when they will be finished their training.

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Ukraine’s survival is in danger, Pentagon chief warns;

Ukraine’s survival is at stake amid an ongoing funding impasse in the U.S. Congress, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Tuesday, stating that additional aid for Ukraine was a matter of “honor” for the United States.

“Today, Ukraine’s survival is in danger and America’s security is at risk. They don’t have a day to waste, and we don’t have a day to spare either,” Austin said at a press conference after a meeting of the Ukraine defense contact group meeting at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Tuesday, with representatives from Ukraine and around 50 allied countries attending.

“I leave here today fully determined to keep U.S. security assistance and ammunition flowing. And that’s a matter of survival and sovereignty for Ukraine. And it’s a matter of honor and security for America. And make no mistake, Putin is watching. The world is watching and history is watching,” Austin said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/20/ukra...n-ukraine.html

[Dargo]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Ukraine’s survival is in danger, Pentagon chief warns;

In the meantime, just 72 hours until congress will go on another two-week holiday.

[mapuc]

'Says Russia' When it comes from that corner one should take the information with a ton salt.



Markus

[Skybird]

[Focus] The two academics Ivana Stradner and Mark Montgomery warn that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to start a new war in Europe. The experts from the think tank "Foundation for Defense of Democracies" fear that this could take place in the Balkans.
"Since the Russian armed forces have suffered losses in Ukraine, Moscow has much to gain by stirring up trouble elsewhere on the continent," write the two academics in their guest article for the Wall Street Journal. Putin's aim behind this is to destabilize the West and weaken support for Ukraine.

The two academics warn: "While NATO is celebrating its 75th anniversary and Putin is suffering further losses in Ukraine, Moscow is trying to open a new front in the Balkans." Russia does not have to send any soldiers into the area itself, but "only has to rely on Serbia to stir up violence and instability and bet that Nato will hesitate". According to the two experts, the USA is also assuming an increased risk of violence in the region.

-------------

And if he wants to start a war by sending own troops but only a few, then the east of Moldovia is his option.

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by mapuc

12 Ukrainian fighter pilot + ground staff are being trained in Denmark since end of last year.
Don't know when they will be finished their training.

Markus

Yep, the U.S. will not allow anyone to transfer their F16’s to Ukraine until Ukraine pilots have been trained.

[Skybird]

It gets reported that the Russians got their hands on Starlink terminals despite the item being on the sanction list. They are now actively using Starlink against the Ukrainians. Super. I take it for granted that they also study the technology in them and build their own clones, to have more terminals available.

There may come a time when the balances shift that much against Ukraine that Starlink better gets switched off.

[Jimbuna]

NATO ally ready to deploy 60,000 troops to Ukraine as Vladimir Putin threatens retaliation

Aprominent NATO ally has suggested its troops are ready to intervene in the Russia-Ukraine war to discourage Vladimir Putin from launching further attacks.

General Pierre Schill, France's ground forces chief, wrote in an op-ed on Tuesday that his country is prepared to put boots on the ground in Ukraine.

Schill's piece in Le Monde claimed French troops are "ready" for "the toughest engagements" and can be called upon to "deter any attack on France".

He suggested France could mobilize 20,000 troops within 30 days to support Ukraine's war effort. That number could reach as high 60,000 when taking into account other allied troops deployed alongside the French.

He wrote: "If you want peace, prepare for war. The sources of crisis are multiplying and carry with them risks of spiraling or extending."

French President Emmanuel Macron has recently been contemplating deploying French troops in Ukraine, though Putin has threatened decisive retaliation.

He proposed discussions between a number of NATO countries that could see allied forces entering Ukraine to support in training and advisory roles, rather than as combat troops.

Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland are interested in carrying out the mission, but other powerful nations such as the US and Germany have expressed strong opposition.

Russian officials have repeatedly responded to claims of NATO involvement in Ukraine, threatening retaliation and significant escalation in the two-year long conflict with Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the French president's "idea of potentially sending such a contingent," is "clearly perceived differently in different European capitals. We continue following this situation closely."

Foreign Intelligence Service head Sergey Naryshkin added: "It will thus become a legitimate priority target for attacks by the Russian armed forces.

"This means that it will suffer the fate of all the French who have ever come to the Russian world with a sword."

Despite talks from members of France's government, there are not yet any plans for the country or other NATO members to put boots on the ground in Ukraine.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...2ab270b0&ei=37

[mapuc]

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Putin withdraws tank he once called 'best in the world' over fears Ukraine will destroy it

Vladimir Putin has withdrawn his T-14 tanks from combat amid fears they could be easily defeated by Ukrainian forces.

The tanks are worth £7million each and have been branded 'city destroyers' in the past.

But the UK Ministry of Defence has claimed that the tanks will now not be deployed by Russia.

Posting on X, the MoD said: "This is highly likely due to the high costs and potential reputational damage of losing a 'prestige' vehicle in combat."

Former British Army colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon responded to the tweet saying the Russian tank is "rubbish."

The T-14 tank is equipped with a gun that boasts a five-mile range. In the past, Russia has claimed the tank has a stealth coating that makes it untraceable on enemy radars.

Other features include a fully autonomous turret that can rotate 360 degrees, UV detectors to warn of incoming fire, and a 125mm smoothbore cannon.

Putin has previously branded it the "world's best tank."

Ukraine has already destroyed some of these tanks in the ongoing war.

In 2022, Ukraine's Defence Ministry released footage of a destroyed T-14, adding that they had taken out "the pride of the Russian tank industry."

Since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022, Putin's men have reportedly lost nearly all of the tanks that had at the start of the war. Figures also estimate that Russia has lost 3,000 armoured vehicles since the war began.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...0d11ed15c&ei=3

[Skybird]

The French proposal is that: a FRENCH proposal, not helped by any other NATO ally. Thats what makes it untrustworthy, at best. It also coincides with photos of Rocky Macron working at the sandbag, showing his - if not photoshopped than indeed impressive - bizeps in Putin-style.



Its posing. I do not take it serious currently.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Skybird

The French proposal is that: a FRENCH proposal, not helped by any other NATO ally. Thats what makes it untrustworthy, at best. It also coincides with photos of Rocky Macron working at the sandbag, showing his - if not photoshopped than indeed impressive - bizeps in Putin-style.



Its posing. I do not take it serious currently.

Coming from France me neither.

[Jimbuna]

'Desperate' Vladimir Putin rocked by Ukraine failures as Russian casualties soar

Vladimir Putin is "desperately clinging on to power" as he does not trust his successor if he leaves, it has been claimed.

The war in Ukraine has seen thousands of Russian troops killed and the country's economy threatened by Western sanctions.

Despite this, Putin has maintained his grip on power after an election victory in which he received 87 percent of the vote after barring prominent opponents from the ballot.

Russia expert Mark Galeotti says Putin's current situation shares similarities with the final stages of the Soviet Union before its collapse in the early 1990s.

He told Times Radio: "I think the election is a signal of a process that has been happening since the February 2022 invasion.

"This is what late-Putinisn looks like, where elections are just sham civic rituals. Where an increasingly ageing leadership is clinging onto power knowing full well that to abandon power is to put all your fate and fortune in your successor. They don't trust their successors.

"Russia is under the pressure of military spending and is sliding slowly into economic stagnation, but for the moment can sustain itself.

"This all looks terrifyingly and depressingly familiar to the end days of the Soviet Union."

Galeotti also warned that Putin cannot abandon his wartime rhetoric against NATO, meaning tensions between Moscow and the West are unlikely to calm in the future.

He said: "He doesn't necessarily need the shooting war to go on forever, but Putin and Russia probably have two years or likely substantially longer in the tank.

"But what Putin cannot abandon is this wider war narrative. Whatever he gets in Ukraine he will say that it was a great triumph as Russia was up against the whole united West. But the point is the West is still our enemy.

"Putinism is now permanent wartime, it is something he cannot abandon."

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine recently claimed that Putin's army has lost over 400,000 men in the war since February 2022.

Kyiv has also lost a lot of men in the fighting. A Ukrainian soldier said earlier this week that they are losing so many men that it is impossible to retrieve the bodies.

The soldier told The Times they are "losing so many people, there are so many bodies we can't even bring them all back."

He added that the situation on the frontline is "********** awful" and that Kyiv's troops "can barely hold the line."
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...45083aad&ei=62