Here we go again-Ukraine once again

[Jimbuna]

Kuleba urged partners to remain strong and continue to support Ukraine

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, called on partners to remain strong and continue to support Ukraine, noting that there are two more months of winter ahead.

The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, wrote about this on Twitter, Censor.NET informs.

"Preparing for two more winter months and plunging into the new year 2023, we call on Ukraine's partners to remain strong and continue to support our country. Ukraine's victory will be a victory for the whole world and will bring us all peace and prosperity," he wrote. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3390951

"We didn’t want war. West rallied to destroy us. I asked my husband to take revenge," - Russian woman zombified by propaganda about elimination of occupiers in Makiivka. VIDEO

Residents of Russian Samara are organizing mourning events in connection with the liquidation of a large number of mobilized soldiers of the Russian army, who were stationed at PTU-19 in occupied Makiivka.

This is reported by Censor.NET.

It should be noted that a woman who is clearly under the influence of propaganda took the floor during the event. It is clear from her speech that her husband is in Ukraine and probably heads some branch of the occupation forces.

"Samara hasn't slept for three days. Neither we nor our men wanted war, but the whole West rallied against us to destroy us... I asked my husband to take revenge (after the attack of the Armed Forces on the concentration of occupiers in Makiivka. - Ed.)," she said. Source: https://censor.net/en/v3391008

[Jimbuna]

Germany is ready to seize Russian assets to help restore Ukraine, - mass media

Germany is open to using billions of euros in frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine rebuild, if the legal issues are resolved and allies follow suit.

As Censor.NET reports, Bloomberg writes about this with reference to people familiar with the discussions.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government supports Ukraine's demand for war reparations, but has yet to take an official position on seizing Russian state assets due to differences in the ruling coalition.

If Berlin can resolve its own problems, it could give new impetus to discussions in the European Union and put pressure on the United States to seize assets, such as central bank reserves, that were frozen in response to the Russian invasion.

According to the publication, German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock insists that the seizure of at least part of the frozen assets should be an option.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who heads the pro-business Free Democrats, is more cautious. He is concerned that confiscating the assets of the Russian central bank could set a dangerous precedent and drag European countries and their allies into a legal quagmire.

The EU and the G7 countries froze about 300 billion euros of reserves of the Russian central bank. The EU has also frozen around €19 billion in assets belonging to sanctioned Russian businessmen, although these estimates are not complete. These assets are in a suspended state and cannot be distributed at this time.

Instead of an outright arrest, a more likely legal path would be to seize the assets of individuals proven to be involved in Russian war crimes, one of the interviewees said. However, such cases can take years to go through the courts, which can reduce such an initiative to mere symbolism.

Details of the discussions show that the potential for asset seizure is moving beyond theoretical debate and into practical implementation, but serious obstacles remain. Scholz wants any move to be coordinated with allies and legally clear. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3391036

Zelensky discussed with Dutch Prime Minister Rutte risks of escalation at front and defense needs

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, had a telephone conversation with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte.

This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to Telegram channel of the head of state.

"He talked about the risk of escalation at the front and potential challenges, as well as about our defense needs for an adequate response. We are counting on concrete steps by our partners to maximally strengthen Ukraine at the nearest Ramstein," the president wrote. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3391030

[Skybird]

Die Welt writes:
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Ukrainian attacks on targets far behind the front line - here's what's behind them

Several Ukrainian attacks on targets in Russia or Russian-controlled areas apparently killed hundreds of Russian soldiers and knocked out power supplies. This serves psychological warfare - and a tactical goal of the Ukrainian General Staff.

The governor of Bryansk did not have much to say. "This morning, a Ukrainian drone attack occurred in the Klimovsky district," Alexander Bogomas wrote on the short message service Telegram on Monday. "The attack damaged the electric power station and the power went out."

For the governor, it was a new, unpleasant experience. After all, it's usually Ukrainian towns, not Russian places, where the lights go out. The governor and the 400,000 or so residents of Bryansk would hardly have thought it possible. After all, there are almost 150 kilometers between their city and the Ukrainian border.

Recent attacks show that this Ukrainian tactic can have much more dramatic consequences for Russia. For example, the Ukrainian army shelled a former vocational school in Makiyivka in the Russian-controlled Donetsk region, which served as housing for soldiers, with the advanced U.S. Himars multiple rocket system. One of the rare official reports from Moscow on casualties mentioned 63 killed.

According to Ukrainian figures, there were about 400, but the former leader of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, Igor Strelkov, also spoke of hundreds of dead, saying that the soldiers had been unprotected and that ammunition had also been stored in the building.

Already on New Year's Eve, the General Staff in Kiev reported, heavy losses were inflicted on the enemy with an artillery attack in the Kherson region near the village of Chulakivka - according to the report, they amount to 500 dead and wounded.

Kiev has been trying for two months now to push the war more and more often and further into Russian territory. Initially, Belgorod was a favorite target of Ukraine. The Russian city is located just a few kilometers across the Ukrainian border, level with the provincial capital of Kharkiv.

In April, Mi-24 helicopters had set fire to fuel depots in Belgorod in a spectacular operation. Since late November, however, Ukrainian attacks have not been limited to targets in the border area. Ukrainian drones fly deep into the territory of the Russian Federation.

In November, the governor of Kursk reported attacks on critical infrastructure in the Russian city. This was followed in December by reports of explosions at the Kursk airbase. After that, Engels military airfields and the Ryazan military base were hit. The latter is located only a few hours' drive from Moscow.

Russian fighter jets and bombers take off from these mentioned facilities to launch missiles at Ukrainian cities. It is unclear how extensive the total damage caused was. However, fuel depots were reportedly hit, some aircraft damaged, and Russian soldiers killed and injured.

The government in Kiev would neither confirm nor deny the attacks - the usual silence when it comes to secret operations. However, the air strikes in the middle of Russia are exactly in line with the strategic concept of the Ukrainian General Staff.

The blackouts, as in Kursk and recently in Bryansk, may have only symbolic value. But the attacks and blackouts are part of the psychological warfare and bring the consequences of Vladimir Putin's "special operation" deeper into the consciousness of Russian society.
Most importantly, the drone attacks on air bases in Russia reveal, yet again, the serious problems of the Russian army. If enemy flying objects can penetrate bases that occupy key functions within Russian military strategy, then air defense has worrying gaps. It is such vulnerabilities that the Ukrainians have repeatedly targeted to their advantage since the beginning of the invasion, giving them hope of victory.

Ukraine's successful counteroffensives in Kharkiv and Kherson were based on the understanding that forces do not necessarily have to fight battles, do not have to conquer specific cities and regions, in order to win. "The Ukrainians have recognized from the beginning that their real enemy is the Russian military machine," Phillips P. O'Brien sums up after ten months of war in Ukraine. "They rationally calculate at what point Russian casualties will be so great that a counteroffensive is possible."
The professor of strategic studies at Scotland's St. Andrews University admits he was dumbfounded when Ukrainian intelligence calculated the conditions of a counterattack for August as early as May. "They had not miscalculated badly," O'Brien writes in one of his regular analyses of the armed conflict. The victorious Kharkiv offensive began in September, and by November Kherson in the south of the country had been liberated.

The secret of Ukrainian warfare is permanent and precise attacks on the logistics of the Russian army and its organizational structure. Targets are ammunition depots, gasoline depots, military bases and food supplies. If these Russian army resources are indeed hit sensitively and systematically, it could mean the end of the entire "special operation" in Ukraine.

Until now, Kiev has relied on drones for its attacks, most of which are still Russian-made. This is because the version of the Himars missiles that the U.S. is providing to Ukraine only has a range of 80 kilometers. Should Washington decide to supply variants with a range of 150 and 300 kilometers, this could be a "gamechanger." Kiev would then be able to attack the Russian army in almost all relevant places - on the occupied Crimean peninsula and also in Russia.

But the decision on the delivery of long-range Himars missiles is still pending. That is why Kiev is working on a Plan B to take its operations to a new level on its own. Ukrainian weapons producer Ukroboronprom announced in November that it had developed new drones with a range of up to 1,000 kilometers and a warhead of 75 kilograms.

"The final stage of testing on behalf of the General Staff begins with flights in electronic warfare conditions," the company reported on Facebook at the time. With these drones, Ukraine could even attack targets in Moscow. At first glance, this sounds like fantasy. But thinking about the shortcomings of Russian air defense, it could be within the realm of possibility.

"Almost certainly, the Ukrainians are making their calculations again," writes military expert O'Brien. "Their assessment of Russian losses will put them on the road to victory in 2023," the academic believes. In fact, the Ukrainian General Staff seems to have already made a new calculation.

"Russian forces have significant problems with artillery ammunition, which will become more pronounced by March 2023," Kyrylo Budanov, the head of military intelligence, told Ukrainian media at the turn of the year. "Russian forces used to consume 60,000 artillery shells per day. Today, they use only 19,000 to 20,000."
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[Jimbuna]

To prepare quality solutions, Ukraine needs "Boyd’s loop", - Butusov

Colonel John Boyd created a world-famous doctrine that became one of the basic ones for the US Army. "Boyd’s loop" allows you to overtake the opponent.

This is stated in the material of the editor-in-chief of Censor.NET Yuriy Butusov on ZN.

"Boyd proved that in a great war the cause of defeat or victory is not a set of material or moral factors in themselves, not the total number of men, weapons, resources, psychological state or social conditions. First of all, this is the quality of management, which makes it possible to use one's advantages and reduce the significance of the enemy's advantages, that is, to act faster and more competently than the enemy," the post reads.

"Boyd's loop" is a continuous cycle of planning strategic and tactical steps, which should be its own for each country. "Boyd's loop" defines that the management cycle in war is divided into four components: observation, orientation, decision and action.

Butusov suggests ways to improve management within the framework of the existing government structure in Ukraine.

"The position of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief (SCC). Must perform the function of coordination and control between independent blocks of power, which are responsible for creating the advantage and efficiency of the state in all elements of the cycle. For this, the president must reduce the number of management objects and delegate independent powers to a certain circle of managers, whom he trusts as much as possible. For the efficiency of the Boyd cycle, it is necessary to create an organization with distributed functions, the hyperconcentration of powers at Bankova does not allow quick reaction and action," the journalist is convinced.

He calls for an end to competition in the military leadership, the "war of reprimands and official investigations", to punish commanders for truthful reports about a difficult situation. Currently, the implementation of post-operational analysis of combat operations (after action review) and streamlining of work in the Ministry of Defense (in particular, the management structure) are extremely important.

Butusov is convinced that a consistent and logical defense policy should be implemented. Among other things, in his opinion, the SSU should coordinate the work of all departments in the fight against Russian influence, and all intelligence structures - the NSDC.

"The key criterion for assessing the quality of the troops - combat capability, the creation of motivated combat teams and the organization of people should include them in the Boyd cycle as full-fledged participants at their echelons," Butusov emphasizes. He calls for the creation of combat training standards, the organization of large-scale training of commanders, the improvement of the quality of training of soldiers and non-commissioned officers of the military unit, the appointment of professionals from related fields of activity (auto mechanics, locksmiths, etc.), the creation of a full cycle of military justice and the institution of the commissioner for the rights of servicemen.

"We need to understand what kind of army we are building, what training, management, and armament systems will be needed tomorrow and will be needed in three years. To keep up with the war, we need to be ahead of the curve. "Boyd's loop" is needed to prepare high-quality solutions, and solutions are built precisely on planning. In particular, there is no planning, so we have self-organization and chaos in logistics, procurement, and any distribution of resources. We need short-term and long-term defense planning," the journalist emphasizes. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3391050

[Skybird]

^That will fail them if Western nations do not beef up their production capacities and ease their permissions to deliver heavy weapons.



The war serves as a reminder of a lesson first taught in WW1, and since WW2 maybe has been forgotten again in Europe: that industrialized armies consume ammo at industrialized rates.



And another truth: gold coins are the sinews of war.

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

[mapuc]

Depending on who you ask and what standpoint a person got when it comes to this war in Ukraine, the response on who's to blame goes from Putin to Biden.

However-Each and one them are wrong. To find the perpetrator behind this development that lead to the civil war which started 2014 and the invasion Feb. last year 2022.

Who is the perpetrator then

It's none other than Mr. Josef Stalin.

His biggest mistake was to give Crimea to Ukraine in the 50's- A majority of people there are Cossacks.(I'm not saying it's ok to invade and annex Crimea far from it)

"In the end of the 40's he moved millions of east Ukrainian to other places in Soviet. and moved millions of Russian mostly (forgot the name) to east Ukraine."(The part between "" is taken from memory)

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Makiivka: Russia blames missile attack on soldiers' mobile phone use

By Will Vernon in Moscow & Elsa Maishman in London
BBC News

Russia has said a new year missile attack that killed at least 89 Russian soldiers happened because troops were using mobile phones, defying a ban.

Turning on the phones and massive use of them allowed the enemy to locate its target, officials said.

Ukraine says 400 soldiers were killed - and another 300 wounded - in the attack on a college for conscripts in Makiivka, in the occupied Donetsk area.

It is the largest number of deaths Russia has acknowledged in the war.

Russia said that at 00:01 Moscow time on New Year's Day, six rockets were fired from a US-made Himars rocket system at a vocational college, two of which were shot down. Moments earlier President Vladimir Putin had given his annual new year address on Russian TV.

The deputy commander of the regiment, Lt Col Bachurin, was among those killed, the ministry of defence said in a statement on Wednesday. A commission was investigating the circumstances of the incident, the statement said.

But it was "already obvious" that the main cause of the attack was the use of mobile phones by troops in range of Ukrainian weapons, despite this being banned, it added.

"This factor allowed the enemy to locate and determine the co-ordinates of the location of military personnel for a missile strike."

Lt Gen Sergei Sevryukov said officials found responsible by the investigation would be brought to justice and "all the necessary measures are currently being adopted to prevent this kind of tragic incident in the future".

The defence ministry's statement was striking for two reasons.

The military's official death toll is now 89. The previous figure of 63 dead already represented the highest single loss of life Moscow had admitted since the war began. The real death toll in Makiivka could be much higher, as is claimed by both Ukraine and by unofficial Russian sources.

Second, the statement said that "responsible officials" would be brought to justice, suggesting that something went wrong. This is highly unusual behaviour for Moscow - very rarely do authorities admit that errors have been made.

The vocational college was packed with soldiers at the time - men believed to have been among the 300,000 called up in President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilisation in September. Ammunition was also being stored close to the site, which was reduced to rubble.

The head of Russia's proxy authority in the Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, praised the heroism of those caught up in the missile strike, who he said had tried to pull comrades out of the building. Some of those returning to the building had died in the process, he added.

With such a high official death toll, one would think the Russian military's latest update on the horrific events in Makiivka would be the top story on Russian state TV news today.

Not so. There was almost no mention of the story on Rossiya-24's main bulletins this morning.

Over on Channel One, the main news programme did briefly mention the defence ministry statement, but chose to bury it at the end of a report about alleged victories on the front line and losses amongst Ukrainian, not Russian, forces.

"A whole series of Russian missile attacks was unleashed on the first days of the new year against Ukrainian nationalists and foreign accomplices of the Kyiv regime," said the Channel One correspondent triumphantly, using common false narratives to describe Ukrainian forces.

But if you switch off the TV and log on to vKontakte, Russia's version of Facebook, you get a very different picture.

Communities have sprung up where soldiers' relatives are organising, appealing for information and crowdfunding for troops on the front line. Here there is anger.

Many relatives of the Makiivka soldiers blame military officials for the incident, and are sceptical of reports that those guilty will be punished. Some question why Kremlin-controlled media are largely silent on the story. However, there is little direct criticism of President Putin or of the war in general.

Pavel Gubarev, a former leading official in Russia's proxy authority in Donetsk, said the decision to house a large number of soldiers in one building was "criminal negligence". "If no-one is punished for this, then it will only get worse," he warned.

The deputy speaker of Moscow's local parliament, Andrei Medvedev, said it was predictable that the soldiers would be blamed rather than the commander who made the original decision to put so many of them in one place.

The defence ministry's claim that military officials who were allegedly responsible for this disaster will be punished will be seen as an attempt to defuse public anger over the disaster in Makiivka, but also to place the blame firmly on the military, and not President Putin. He has yet to respond to the disaster so far,

Throughout this war, the Kremlin has been careful to distance Russia's president from any bad news coming from the front line.

In November, Russia withdrew from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, a major strategic defeat for Moscow. The announcement to retreat, though, was made by Gen Sergei Surovikin, commander of Russian forces in Ukraine. President Putin was meanwhile pictured touring a neurological facility, and did not make any comment on the situation in Kherson.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Tuesday night that Moscow was "on the eve of new mobilisation processes".

Declaring that "their new offensive must fail", Mr Zelensky said Ukraine had no doubt Russia would throw everything they had left and everyone they could muster in a bid to turn the tide of the war.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64159045

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

WARNING: ADULT CONTENT

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Ukraine agrees not only on new Patriot batteries, but also on supply of new systems NASAMS, Iris-T, Crotale, - Kuleba

Ukraine is negotiating not only about new Patriot batteries, but also about the supply of new NASAMS, Iris-T, and Crotale systems since air defense and anti-missile defense equipment is a priority need.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said this at a briefing today, Censor.NET informs with reference to "Interfax-Ukraine".

"The first group of needs concerns all air defense and anti-missile defense equipment without exception, including ammunition for them. Ukraine needs as many high-tech air defense systems as possible, and that is why we are negotiating not only about new Patriot batteries but also about the supply of new NASAMS, Iris-T systems, Crotale.
We are grateful to the USA, Germany, Norway, and France for the already adopted decisions. We are working to speed up such decisions either from them or from other countries," Kuleba said during an online briefing on Wednesday.

He noted that this work is performed daily by the President, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Defense.

Kuleba also emphasized that Ukraine is interested in additional anti-aircraft installations, such as Gepard and Vulcan, as well as portable air defense systems, such as Stinger, etc.

"All these means are needed so that the Ukrainian sky becomes an impregnable wall for the terrorist country as soon as possible and we can protect our peaceful cities and critical infrastructure and citizens," the head of the Foreign Ministry said.

In addition, he added that another important need remains artillery shells of all calibers.

"Ukrainian gunners do not get tired of using them effectively, so we appeal to all partner countries to speed up the relevant additional supplies as much as possible," he said.

According to him, Ukraine is currently working with partners to reach a new level in providing the Armed Forces with artillery systems and armored vehicles of all types. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3391194

[Jimbuna]

As of November, EU estimated that Russia had lost up to 60% of its battle tanks and 60,000 soldiers in Ukraine

The Commander of the European Union Military Mission, Admiral Herv Blejean, in November 2022, during a speech before the deputies of the National Assembly of France, claimed that Russia had lost 60% of its total stock of battle tanks.

As reported by Censor.NET with reference to "Euro Integration", the transcript of Blejan's speech at the meeting of the National Defense Committee of the French Parliament on November 16 was published.

"According to our most reliable estimates, at least 60,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and three times more wounded, which means that about 250,000 Russian soldiers are now incapacitated," he said.

The admiral added that the losses on the Ukrainian side are more difficult to estimate, and the EU believes that they are lower than the Russian ones, "but still significant."

"Russia has lost 60% of its tank arsenal, as well as 70% of its stockpile of missiles suitable for hitting ground targets. So it now uses anti-aircraft missiles to hit ground targets, with corresponding accuracy problems, and relies on supplies of equipment from Iran or North Korea ", the head of the EU Military Mission added.

He clarified that it is difficult to assess the nature of Pyongyang's supplies, but Iran had already provided Russia with drones, and there were also negotiations on the transfer of medium-range ballistic missiles.

Blezhan also cited EU estimates, according to which Russia has lost 40% of its armored personnel carriers and 20% of its artillery since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

He predicted the resumption of active offensive actions by Ukraine in the spring of 2023. But for this, Kyiv needs to form three new army corps numbering approximately 75,000 people - "the approximate number of the ground operational group of the French army," the admiral noted.

"Therefore, more than ever, this is a war of attrition, and the Ukrainians need our support to rebuild their forces, repair or replace their weapons, and support in rebuilding their forces, repair or replace damaged or destroyed weapons and equipment, and to be able to continue the reconquest territories annexed after the winter," he emphasized.

We will remind you that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg believes that Russia is preparing a new wave of offensive during its aggression against Ukraine, and also calls not to underestimate the impact of the mobilization carried out in the Russian Federation. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3391287

EU did everything possible to stop Russia’s war against Ukraine, but Putin just wants to destroy neighboring state, - Berbok

The European Union has done everything possible to stop the war in Ukraine, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has nothing else on his mind but to destroy the neighboring country.

This opinion was expressed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Annalena Burbok, Censor.NET informswith reference to DW.

According to her, Putin's position is the reason why "it is important to continue the supply of weapons so that Ukraine can defend itself and protect people's lives."

In addition, the minister emphasized that the EU can no longer afford to block decisions by individual member states. "We must be able to act effectively and quickly," Burbock was quoted by Reuters as saying at the conference. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3391242

[Jimbuna]

Danilov on German tanks for Armed Forces: If Scholz wants war with Russian Federation near Berlin, he can continue game

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov is sure that the transfer of modern tanks to Ukraine is a matter of time, and Germany should go for it if it does not want the war with the Russians to continue already on its territory.

He said this in an interview on a telethon, Censor.NET reports with reference to LigaBusinessInform.

"If Mr. Scholz wants the Germans to fight with the Russians near Berlin and near Stuttgart with German tanks, then they can continue this game in the future, conduct research: whether tanks should be given or not," said Danilov.

The Secretary of the National Security Council stated that the war unleashed by Russia is a "huge challenge" for Europe, and countries that understand this help Ukraine "by 150%".

"Those countries that are gradually beginning to see that this needs to be done, they also started this movement. And I thank both the Germans and the French for changing their point of view," Danilov said.

He also expressed confidence that "the issue of tanks is a matter of time." Source: https://censor.net/en/n3391307