Here we go again-Ukraine once again pt2

[mapuc]

Markus

[Skybird]

The situation for Ukrainians' eastern fornt becomes worse and worse while Russia presses the advances on many locations. Ukrainianian soldiers get more and more pessimistic. Colonel Reisner recently said the Russian now attack and slowly make progress along 16 axis of attacks. 6 weeks ago it sitll were 5.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/04/e...ntl/index.html

Later this month a first delivery of a quickly organised ammunition package by the Europeans is expected. The volume of it and the difference it can make remains to be seen. But my guts feeling tells me that in the past months something bigger has broken as if it can just be fixed and the trend quickly reversed by this alone. Putin will beef up the war after Russian elections. Maybe the spring weather can help the Ukrainians to drag the Russians down again. The new Ukrainian supreme commander so far fails to impress. That he recently publicly attacked commanders in the sector west of Avdijivka for their lousy performance and errors while these have to fight with practically no ammunition, leaves a foul taste in the mouth. Thats bad Sovjet general style.

Zelensky's star falls deeper and deeper with his people. His charms and magic in dealing with the West have gone. He cannot overcome the realities of internal western politics. I admit I see him as no longer relevant. He has become dispensable, exchangeable, and he does not want to see it. In fact he has started to become a burden. I give him huge credit for his efficiency PR role in the first 18 months of the war. But, and that is often overseen, already then he has also made several very severe mistakes that costed Ukraine dearly.

It recently got reported that estimations in the west say Russia can continue like this, can continue the war at the current intensity level and loss ratio, for at least another 2-3 years.

The West seems to have no advise for how to win the war. In case of some countries, namely Scholzany, I even doubt they want Ukraine to win. Different to what Bubble Olaf claims I have very very severe doubts that the little man in Berlin has really fully understood what is at stake. Else he would not behave like the hypnotized rabbit before the snake. Parts of his party still want to return to let's-be-buddies-again with Russia like before. And even more and beyond the SPD many seem to be ready to sacrifice Ukraine for their social spending frenzies and green climate agenda deals and policies.

Deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole, hoping that Alice's story on wonders and fantastic worlds was no fairy tale but a fact-based documentary.

As things stand at the moment, Ukraine has no chance of winning back the five occupied oblasts. I don't see any improvement in sight at the moment, not even in the long term. Its economy gets destroyed more and more, its debts mount and mount, its energy grid gets blown into pieces more and more. Not so in Russia, Russian territory is practically completely safe haven.

Its impossible to win a war with Russia this way. It should not have taken two years to learn this. The West must send much, much, much more. Higher quantities, by factors. Longer ranges. Logistics, C3I, traffic networks and powergrids as well as industrial production capacities contributing to the war - all this on Russian soil shall no longer be off the target list. The war must come home to where it was initiated, and it must find and destroy what drives and supports the aggressor'S war. Only then the war can end. And other end necvessarily means a defeat for Ukraine, and biog losses.


Losses that will be at the burden of the rest of Europe. We are talking about trillions. Or one leaves Ukraine alone and behind in the dirt. Well. Thats a way to avoid those costs, too. At another cost: two digit millions of Ukrainians moving westward.

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Germany says Kremlin's claim it is planning war with Russia is 'absurd'

Germany’s ambassador to Moscow was summoned to the Russian foreign ministry on Monday in order to explain the leaked discussion between senior military personnel about sending weapons to Ukraine.

Alexander Graf Lamsdorff arrived at the foreign ministry without responding to journalists’ requests for comment, according to reports on Russian news agencies.

Germany’s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, has accused Russia of waging “an information war” against Germany, by intercepting and then leaking a sensitive meeting among high-level military officers of the German military or Bundeswehr.

Russia has accused Germany, backed by its allies, of planning an all-out war on Russia.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the leaked discussions showed that the appetite for war in Europe “still remains very very high”, and the aim was to ensure “Russia’s strategic defeat on the battlefield”.

The former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev commented that: “Germany is planning a war with Russia”.

Pistorius dismissed the reactions as: “completely absurd”, accusing Moscow of wanting to sow distrust and discord in Germany.

In the telephone conference, four officers, including the head of Germany’s air force, Ingo Gerhartz, prepare for a discussion with defence minister Pistorius about the possible deployment of Taurus missiles to Ukraine, coming to the conclusion that a speedy delivery and the use of the missiles in the immediate future would only be possible if German soldiers were involved.

Taurus training for Ukrainian soldiers in order to avoid putting German soldiers on Ukraine soil, was a possibility, but would take months of preparation. The officers also discussed the possibility of using the missiles to destroy the Russian-built bridge connecting the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula and Russia.

Last week, Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, ruled out the sending of Taurus missiles because he said the operation would involve sending German troops to Ukraine. He said: “German soldiers can at no point and in no place be linked with the targets that this (Taurus) system reaches. Not even in Germany.”

As the German government struggles to deal with the fallout from the leak, with questions asked about the security of its internal communications and speculation over what other discussions Russia has been able to listen in on, defence policy experts said the intercepted communication was clearly meant to undermine Germany’s Ukraine strategy.

Roderich Kiesewette, the opposition Christian Democrats’ defence expert, said that Russia had leaked the meeting at this moment in time in order to specifically: “undermine a German Taurus delivery”. He suggested the leak was carried out “in order to divert public conversation away” from other issues, including the death of Alexei Navalny.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/li...elenskiy-putin

[Skybird]

[Tagesspiegel] According to the manufacturer, Russia's latest Armata main battle tank is too expensive for use in the war against Ukraine. "In terms of its functionality, it is far superior to existing tanks, but it is too expensive, which is why the army is unlikely to use it now," Sergei Chemezov, head of the state arms holding Rostec, told the state news agency Ria Novosti on Monday. The Armata T-14 was first presented to the public in 2015 at the military parade in Moscow.

According to media reports, the tank has not yet gone into series production due to various technical problems. According to Chemezov, a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin from their days together as agents in the GDR, the Russian armed forces have since taken the Armata into service. However, the costs are too high for use in Ukraine. "Today we need money to produce new tanks, new weapons, possibly cheaper ones," said Chemezov. It was therefore appropriate to buy cheaper T-90 tanks for the current conflict. The Armata was actually intended to replace the T-90.
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Reminds me of Western tanks - superior but too expensive to be thrown out of the window in quantities as we see tanks getting killed in Ukraine. Drones have changed everything.

[Jimbuna]

Russian frigate with Kalibr and Tsircon missiles docks in Qatar port: Purpose revealed

The Russian frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov, which carries the Kalibr and Tsircon missiles, has called at the Qatari port of Hamad to participate in the DIMDEX-2024 defense exhibition, according to Interfax.

"A welcoming ceremony for the Russian warship was held at the pier, attended by representatives of the Russian Embassy in Qatar and officers of the host nation's naval forces," the statement says.

The frigate will stay in the port of Qatar for several days, during the exhibition it will be visited by participants and guests of the international event.

The Marshal Shaposhnikov is a Russian Project 1155M frigate that is part of the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet. During the overhaul in 2016, the ship was equipped with launchers for the Kalibr, Tsirkon, and Oniks missile systems. The modernization was carried out at the Dalzavod Ship Repair Center in Vladivostok. As part of the modernization, hull structures and cable routes were dismantled and remanufactured.
It is noteworthy that the first launches of the Kalibr from the ship after the modernization were unsuccessful. Judging by the most widespread videos, the launched missiles fell into the sea a short distance from the ship.

On September 16, 2023, the frigate was visited by DPRK dictator Kim Jong-un, where he inspected the Kalibr and Uran missile systems.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...1ebb6a5b&ei=55

[mapuc]

Markus

[Skybird]

The German house of cards. If only it would finally collapse. If only. Even many Germans are so very sick and tired of this manling.



https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/...en&_x_tr_hl=de

[Dargo]

Originally Posted by mapuc

Markus

Russian meat is more economical than protection.

Originally Posted by Skybird

The German house of cards. If only it would finally collapse. If only. Even many Germans are so very sick and tired of this manling.



https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/...en&_x_tr_hl=de

What countries also have the Taurus or ordered them?

Originally Posted by Skybird

[Tagesspiegel] According to the manufacturer, Russia's latest Armata main battle tank is too expensive for use in the war against Ukraine. "In terms of its functionality, it is far superior to existing tanks, but it is too expensive, which is why the army is unlikely to use it now," Sergei Chemezov, head of the state arms holding Rostec, told the state news agency Ria Novosti on Monday. The Armata T-14 was first presented to the public in 2015 at the military parade in Moscow.

According to media reports, the tank has not yet gone into series production due to various technical problems. According to Chemezov, a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin from their days together as agents in the GDR, the Russian armed forces have since taken the Armata into service. However, the costs are too high for use in Ukraine. "Today we need money to produce new tanks, new weapons, possibly cheaper ones," said Chemezov. It was therefore appropriate to buy cheaper T-90 tanks for the current conflict. The Armata was actually intended to replace the T-90.
--------------------

Reminds me of Western tanks - superior but too expensive to be thrown out of the window in quantities as we see tanks getting killed in Ukraine. Drones have changed everything.

The T-14 was for a short period at (behind) the front in Ukraine in the autumn last year, think this test did not go so good. But there is more behind this heard they had problems with this tank before and why build the "best tank in the world" so now war comes along and Russia now says we can't use the T-14 Armata because it's "too expensive" to use in a war and someone might scratch it does not add up.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Dargo

What countries also have the Taurus or ordered them?

South Korea.

That it could be used against nuclear armed North Korea and its madman at the top obviously is not causing worries in Berlin. And the South Koreans LOVE their Taurus. Taurus is like Storm Shadow/SCALP - but on steroids.

And I think Spain.

Korea already has Taurus for sure, and wants more, but Spain ordered them, I think, but I am not certain.

[Dargo]

Originally Posted by Skybird

South Korea.

That it could be used against nuclear armed North Korea and its madman at the top obviously is not causing worries in Berlin. And the South Koreans LOVE their Taurus. Taurus is like Storm Shadow/SCALP - but on steroids.

And I think Spain.

Korea already has Taurus for sure, and wants more, but Spain ordered them, I think, but I am not certain.

Would suggest those countries to halt their order.

[mapuc]

Hmm Could we in the near future see SK giving some of their Taurus to Ukraine-Breaking an agreement with Germany

I don't know if there is a certain agreement on purchasing these Taurus from Germany

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Ukraine said it has damaged one of Russia's Black Sea Fleet patrol ships and 18 drones from Moscow were shot down over Odesa.

Kyiv's military intelligence (GUR) said on Telegram its special unit "Group 13" attacked Russia's Sergey Kotov near the Kerch Strait in Crimea.

They added "a strike by Magura V5 maritime drones" damaged the ship's "stern, starboard and port sides".

Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff, also said on Telegram after the attack: "The Russian Black Sea Fleet is a symbol of occupation. It cannot be in the Ukrainian Crimea."

[Dargo]

Russian soldiers who refuse to die on battlefield are tortured or hanged: 'It's hell here'

Russian servicemen, mostly released criminals, are indulging in all sorts of atrocities on the front lines in Ukraine against their comrades unwilling to face death. Soldiers report from the front lines torture, mock executions and even a case of hanging. So writes the independent Russian research site Vjorstka. Soldiers who do not allow themselves to be sent into the line of fire are sometimes tied to a tree for days or held captive in a pit in the cold, a habit the Russian military has inherited from the war in Chechnya. The worst abuses occur in the most dangerous places on the front lines, where soldiers are almost permanently under fire and are often not relieved for months. "It is hell here," a Russian soldier reported from the front line near Krynki, a town on the left bank of the Dnipro River where the Russians had been trying to drive out the Ukrainians for months. According to him, one group of soldiers after another was sent forward, almost no one returned. Their unit, he says, was constantly shelled, with the result that the contract soldiers and ex-prisoners went completely berserk. "They know everyone is going to die. That's why they make it hell for the regular guys. They are totally unhinged. They have created their own penal camp here in a literal sense."

Video footage he and other soldiers from his unit forwarded shows a group of soldiers chasing four soldiers naked into a pit for punishment in the freezing cold. One of them gets punched in the face. "And you to the pit, whore, to copulate!" The soldiers then allegedly forced them to rape each other in the pit, laughing as they watched. The 32-year-old soldier Misha Maltsev who forwarded the images to Vjorstka, himself incidentally an ex-prisoner, complained that wounded soldiers were not evacuated, but were patched up and thrown back into battle as quickly as possible. Killed comrades had to be left lying around by their commanders. He himself spent four days in a pit with the corpses of soldiers whose cookies he picked from their pockets to survive. "Whoever opens his mouth is immediately ordered to advance to a place from which you will never return alive," he reported in the video, shortly before he himself would be killed with his unit in an attempt to storm Krynki. Another video from the front lines in Ukraine shows a soldier dangling from a tree, with a garbage bag over his head. "In this world there is no place for cowards," reads a sign hung around his neck. "There you have another deserter," you hear someone say. "That guy really screwed them over." The images allegedly came from the cell phone of a Russian soldier captured by the Ukrainians. Another soldier was tied to a tree for refusing to serve and had to stand there for two days without food or water. Eventually he gave up and agreed to be sent to the front.

Formally, soldiers who refuse an order must be court-martialed, but according to Vjorstka, at the front they are punished by their commanders or lynched by their other soldiers. "At the front, normality is a stretch," the site quotes one soldier, who passes Vjorstka video footage of Wagner mercenaries dealing with soldiers allegedly responsible for the deaths of their comrades. They are beaten with sticks, while their colleagues are forced to dig a deep pit. Another soldier is kicked. Yet another gets the barrel of a machine gun placed against his head. "Enough, forgive me, please," he begs. "Finished, you are already a 200," the Wagner mercenary yells at him. '200' is the Russian code for a fallen soldier. Shots sound in the background, but it is unclear whether anyone is actually being shot. A Russian officer with the airborne troops confirms to Vjorstka that harsh action is sometimes taken against mobilized soldiers, but he says it is necessary in a war. "If you want to maintain discipline, you have to be rock hard on them," he explains. "Do you know how many 500s (deserters, ed.) we had here? If you don't want to go on the attack, you go into the basement. That's the only thing that works!"

Vjorstka's description of the abuses at the front is consistent with earlier complaints from called-up Russian reservists. They, too, reported being threatened by their officers if they refused to be sent into the line of fire without adequate armament or artillery support. According to some reports, there are even special units operating just behind the front lines, ready to shoot fleeing Russian soldiers. It is also common for reservists who were imprisoned in a pit for punishment to have to pay their commanders to be released from it. The Russians also often used that practice during the war in Chechnya, although then it was mostly Chechen men who were imprisoned in the pits to extort ransom from their families. https://www.demorgen.be/oorlog-in-oe...hier~b16c5c47/

[mapuc]

^ Nothing new there it ain't.

I believe it's true all of it or most of it while others would say it's West propaganda.

Markus