Ukraine War Thread Part 2
Perhaps the news channels' head sheds. and editors, had advised their employees not to discuss the war in covering that story.(Fawlty Towers reference)
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
We now have public confirmation from the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Examinations (KNDISE) that the wreckage recovered following the 7 FEB 2023 and 30 DEC 2022 raids are in fact from 3M22 Tsirkon, a Russian hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile system.
This is the first operational employment of a hypersonic cruise missile system. These missiles were likely drawn from Northern or Pacific Fleet stock. It indicates that vessels of the Black Sea Fleet have received Tsirkon integration, likely the Admiral Grigorovichs or Buyan-Ms.
This is the first operational employment of a hypersonic cruise missile system. These missiles were likely drawn from Northern or Pacific Fleet stock. It indicates that vessels of the Black Sea Fleet have received Tsirkon integration, likely the Admiral Grigorovichs or Buyan-Ms.
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Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine informs that Russian operators of Iranian-made drones are being trained in Syria for the war against Ukraine.
The training for the Russians is being conducted by the Lebanese Hezbollah Police and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on the territory of the Syrian military airfield Shayrat.
The Lebanese-Iranian-Russian training course involves mastering the Shahed-136 and Ababil-3 drones, as well as the Raad remotely piloted aircraft.
The military exercises are headed by one of Hezbollah's commanders, Kamal Abu Sadik, who specializes in the manufacture and maintenance of drones.
Along with the Russians, mercenaries from Syria, whom Russia plans to use in the war against Ukraine as drone operators, are undergoing training.
The training for the Russians is being conducted by the Lebanese Hezbollah Police and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on the territory of the Syrian military airfield Shayrat.
The Lebanese-Iranian-Russian training course involves mastering the Shahed-136 and Ababil-3 drones, as well as the Raad remotely piloted aircraft.
The military exercises are headed by one of Hezbollah's commanders, Kamal Abu Sadik, who specializes in the manufacture and maintenance of drones.
Along with the Russians, mercenaries from Syria, whom Russia plans to use in the war against Ukraine as drone operators, are undergoing training.
Looks like WW III is slowly percolating, ORAC, if all of that is true. (And why wouldn't it be?). Crappy time for the Americans to remove their 2000+ from Iraq, wouldn't you say?
The ripple effects of this war in Ukraine are beginning to manifest.
The ripple effects of this war in Ukraine are beginning to manifest.
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I do wonder if supplies are now restored and more in the quantities needed, has Ukraine still got the manpower to complete the task, having bleed themselves dry of manpower during the early periods of the war fighting to defend the west while the west pondered arming them.
i think the world is rapidly going to collapse in on itself and The USA may end up turning on those who have blocked the aid for their own personal agenda as Americans start to die as a result.
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Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Moments ago, the US Senate passed three major procedural hurdles for the $95 billion Ukraine-Israel-Taiwan aid deal, successfully invoking cloture 66-33 and setting up an imminent simple majority vote to send the bill to the House.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
https://www.reuters.com/business/aer...ys-2024-02-12/
Ukraine to produce thousands of long-range drones in 2024, minister says
KYIV, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Ukraine will produce thousands of long-range drones capable of deep strikes into Russia in 2024 and already has up to 10 companies making drones that can reach Moscow and St Petersburg, Ukraine's digital minister said.
Mykhailo Fedorov spoke about the wartime drone industry he has championed in a interview in Kyiv in which he revealed new details about the sector, after a spate of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil facilities in recent weeks.
"The category of long-range kamikaze drones is growing, with a range of 300, 500, 700, and 1,000 kilometres. Two years ago, this category did not exist ... at all," he told Reuters.
Fedorov, 33, has been at the heart of Ukraine's effort to nurture private military startups to innovate and build up the drone industry as the war goes into its third year and Ukraine seeks new ways to fight back against well dug-in Russian forces.
The recent series of strikes on oil facilities, he said, reflected the government's progress in rapidly deregulating the drone market and increasing funding for it, with the state acting as a venture investor.
Some $2.5 million in grants were allocated to military tech startups via the BRAVE1 initiative set up by the government last year, an amount set to be increased roughly tenfold in 2024, he said. "We will fight to increase the financing even more," he added.
In contrast with Russia where drone production is dominated by the state, the vast majority of manufacturers in Ukraine are private. Fedorov said only one of the 10 companies whose drones could fly as far as the regions around Moscow or St Petersburg was a state company…..
Ukraine's production levels and deliveries increased more than 120 times in 2023, according to Fedorov, part of a broader wartime push to develop and produce drones to narrow the gap with Russia's strike capabilities.
Fedorov said he agreed with an assessment by Ukraine's military spy chief Kyrylo Budanov that Kyiv had achieved a "certain kind of parity" with Moscow in the production of long-range drones.
"We need to act in an anti-bureaucratic way. This is the essence of a breakthrough in the war of technology. We are going to continue to put our bets on this, to work in this direction. Because technology can really save us," he said, noting the shortage of artillery rounds Ukrainian troops were facing.
Overall, more than 300,000 drones of different types were contracted last year and more than 100,000 were sent to the front, he said, adding that the figures did not cover volunteer supplies which he said made a "significant contribution".
"We removed taxes on UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) components, simplified the contracting procedure, and the procedure for decommissioning," he said. "In other words, we took all the blockages that private sector companies were facing and addressed them in six months by passing all the necessary laws and resolutions."
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has set a target for Ukraine this year to produce one million First Person View (FPV) drones, which are cheap to make and weaponised in huge quantities by both sides on the front.
Ukraine's drone industry relies heavily on components from foreign countries, including China, widely seen as an ally of Russia. Fedorov said there was an effort to localise production of components. "That's why I think that if we continue this trend, by the end of this year we will have a lot of companies that have already made more than 50% of their components locally."
The surge in recent production put such a strain on logistics that changes had to be rapidly made to prevent long delays in deliveries, he said. "In December alone, drone deliveries were 50 times higher than in the entire 2022. Just imagine, the system was not prepared for that, and I think the logistics did not realize that such volumes were possible."
The private sector was also held back by a state monopoly on making drone ammunition. Ukraine passed a resolution ending that state monopoly three months ago and later halted a separate one on making artillery rounds and rockets, he said. "Over the past three months, more than 20 companies have already undergone testing and can now hand over ammunition to the state," he said.
Ukraine has trained 20,000 drone operators since it launched a programme to provide grants for military training in private schools at the beginning of 2023, he said. There were 20 such schools, he added.
"We pay for every military person who comes to these schools. Now we have a plan to turn this into a larger state program and separately to modernize, update several training centres and make them work at a high level."
Ukraine to produce thousands of long-range drones in 2024, minister says
KYIV, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Ukraine will produce thousands of long-range drones capable of deep strikes into Russia in 2024 and already has up to 10 companies making drones that can reach Moscow and St Petersburg, Ukraine's digital minister said.
Mykhailo Fedorov spoke about the wartime drone industry he has championed in a interview in Kyiv in which he revealed new details about the sector, after a spate of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil facilities in recent weeks.
"The category of long-range kamikaze drones is growing, with a range of 300, 500, 700, and 1,000 kilometres. Two years ago, this category did not exist ... at all," he told Reuters.
Fedorov, 33, has been at the heart of Ukraine's effort to nurture private military startups to innovate and build up the drone industry as the war goes into its third year and Ukraine seeks new ways to fight back against well dug-in Russian forces.
The recent series of strikes on oil facilities, he said, reflected the government's progress in rapidly deregulating the drone market and increasing funding for it, with the state acting as a venture investor.
Some $2.5 million in grants were allocated to military tech startups via the BRAVE1 initiative set up by the government last year, an amount set to be increased roughly tenfold in 2024, he said. "We will fight to increase the financing even more," he added.
In contrast with Russia where drone production is dominated by the state, the vast majority of manufacturers in Ukraine are private. Fedorov said only one of the 10 companies whose drones could fly as far as the regions around Moscow or St Petersburg was a state company…..
Ukraine's production levels and deliveries increased more than 120 times in 2023, according to Fedorov, part of a broader wartime push to develop and produce drones to narrow the gap with Russia's strike capabilities.
Fedorov said he agreed with an assessment by Ukraine's military spy chief Kyrylo Budanov that Kyiv had achieved a "certain kind of parity" with Moscow in the production of long-range drones.
"We need to act in an anti-bureaucratic way. This is the essence of a breakthrough in the war of technology. We are going to continue to put our bets on this, to work in this direction. Because technology can really save us," he said, noting the shortage of artillery rounds Ukrainian troops were facing.
Overall, more than 300,000 drones of different types were contracted last year and more than 100,000 were sent to the front, he said, adding that the figures did not cover volunteer supplies which he said made a "significant contribution".
"We removed taxes on UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) components, simplified the contracting procedure, and the procedure for decommissioning," he said. "In other words, we took all the blockages that private sector companies were facing and addressed them in six months by passing all the necessary laws and resolutions."
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has set a target for Ukraine this year to produce one million First Person View (FPV) drones, which are cheap to make and weaponised in huge quantities by both sides on the front.
Ukraine's drone industry relies heavily on components from foreign countries, including China, widely seen as an ally of Russia. Fedorov said there was an effort to localise production of components. "That's why I think that if we continue this trend, by the end of this year we will have a lot of companies that have already made more than 50% of their components locally."
The surge in recent production put such a strain on logistics that changes had to be rapidly made to prevent long delays in deliveries, he said. "In December alone, drone deliveries were 50 times higher than in the entire 2022. Just imagine, the system was not prepared for that, and I think the logistics did not realize that such volumes were possible."
The private sector was also held back by a state monopoly on making drone ammunition. Ukraine passed a resolution ending that state monopoly three months ago and later halted a separate one on making artillery rounds and rockets, he said. "Over the past three months, more than 20 companies have already undergone testing and can now hand over ammunition to the state," he said.
Ukraine has trained 20,000 drone operators since it launched a programme to provide grants for military training in private schools at the beginning of 2023, he said. There were 20 such schools, he added.
"We pay for every military person who comes to these schools. Now we have a plan to turn this into a larger state program and separately to modernize, update several training centres and make them work at a high level."
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desperate times.Thread Starter
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The Gasprom-Neft refinery in Moscow Kapontnya ablaze as well
That's going to hit them
That's going to hit them
Around 02.30 , a heavy fire broke out at Gazpromneft's refinery in south-east Moscow. Normally, it supplies Moscow with 40% of the gasoline and 50% of the diesel the city needs, and also supplies the airports with most of the jet fuel they consume.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
The U.S. Senate approved a $95 billion funding package in the early morning of Feb. 13 that contained $60 billion in aid for Ukraine.
The bill, which received 70 votes in favor and 29 against, will now go to the Republican-led House, where it still faces significant obstacles.
House Speaker Mike Johnson preemptively rejected the bill on Feb. 12 before it was even passed by the Senate, saying that domestic border issues must first be addressed before any foreign aid is approved.
The news was welcomed in Ukraine as a significant step toward the aid's ultimate passage.
"I am grateful to (Senate Majority Leader Chuck) Schumer, (Senate Minority Leader Mitch) McConnell) and every U.S. senator who has supported continued assistance to Ukraine as we fight for freedom, democracy, and the values we all hold dear," said President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"American assistance brings just peace in Ukraine closer and restores global stability, resulting in increased security and prosperity for all Americans and all the free world."
The bill, which received 70 votes in favor and 29 against, will now go to the Republican-led House, where it still faces significant obstacles.
House Speaker Mike Johnson preemptively rejected the bill on Feb. 12 before it was even passed by the Senate, saying that domestic border issues must first be addressed before any foreign aid is approved.
The news was welcomed in Ukraine as a significant step toward the aid's ultimate passage.
"I am grateful to (Senate Majority Leader Chuck) Schumer, (Senate Minority Leader Mitch) McConnell) and every U.S. senator who has supported continued assistance to Ukraine as we fight for freedom, democracy, and the values we all hold dear," said President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"American assistance brings just peace in Ukraine closer and restores global stability, resulting in increased security and prosperity for all Americans and all the free world."
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it looks like bullsh*t does not sell.
One-fifth of Solovyev viewers have left him — Mozhem Obyasnit. A study of ratings conducted by Mozhem Obyasnit (MO) showed that Russians are not big fans of Solovyev anymore and watch less propaganda in general.
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Russia has issued an arrest warrant for the Estonian PM
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How about you take your political whinging to Jet Blast, where it belongs?
Story from the BBC:
Ukraine is struggling to meet its demand for soldiers.
Something I mentioned in the Unpleasantries thread: somewhere around 6 to 8 million Ukrainians are displaced/refugees. This war has inflicted a massive cost, in human capital, since it began, and that's before casualties are added into the human cost.
(Germany has taken in about a million according to the UNHCR.).
From a starting population of 44 million or so in 2022, that's a substantial loss of population (a bit over a fifth).
To put that in perspective, if the UK lost a fifth of their population over the course of a year, how many people would be gone? (Between 13 and 14 million). FWIW, Syria has suffered a similar loss of population since 2011.
Some of the Ukrainian refugees are obviously not combat/military eligible, but others are/were. They are having troop/recruitment/conscription shortages/problems. Those who have fled are, it appears, beyond the reach of the recruiters and/or conscription organizations.
Doubtless some who had initially fled have returned home to fight the invasion.
How many more will do that? Unknown.
Story from the BBC:
Ukraine is struggling to meet its demand for soldiers.
Volunteers aren't enough. The country constantly needs to replace the tens of thousands who've been killed or injured. Many more are just exhausted, after 18 months fighting off Russia's full-scale invasion.
Some men though don't want to fight. Thousands have left the country, sometimes after bribing officials, and others are finding ways of dodging recruitment officers, who in turn have been accused of increasingly heavy-handed tactics.
"The system is very outdated," says Yehor. He watched his father suffer from mental health issues after fighting with the Soviet Army in Afghanistan. It's why he doesn't want to fight. He's asked that we don't use his real name to protect his identity.
Typically, before Russia's invasion, men who didn't want to do military service because of their religious beliefs would be offered an alternative - like working in farming or social services. That choice disappeared with the start of martial law last year, but Yehor thinks it should still be available, regardless of peoples' reasons.
"Each situation is individual," argues Yehor. "The fact it is written in the constitution that all male citizens must fight is, in my opinion, not in line with today's values."
He was recently sent to a recruitment centre after being stopped by police in Kyiv, who accused him of avoiding the draft. He was eventually allowed to go home, after pleading that he had back problems, but next time he fears he won't be.
There are exemptions from service, including having poor health, being a single parent, and caring for someone vulnerable. But those convicted of draft-dodging face fines, or even up to three years in prison.
"Everyone should be allowed to contribute to this war if their situations are taken into account," says Yehor. "I feel sorry for people who are on the front lines, yet I don't have a pacifist alternative."
Some men though don't want to fight. Thousands have left the country, sometimes after bribing officials, and others are finding ways of dodging recruitment officers, who in turn have been accused of increasingly heavy-handed tactics.
"The system is very outdated," says Yehor. He watched his father suffer from mental health issues after fighting with the Soviet Army in Afghanistan. It's why he doesn't want to fight. He's asked that we don't use his real name to protect his identity.
Typically, before Russia's invasion, men who didn't want to do military service because of their religious beliefs would be offered an alternative - like working in farming or social services. That choice disappeared with the start of martial law last year, but Yehor thinks it should still be available, regardless of peoples' reasons.
"Each situation is individual," argues Yehor. "The fact it is written in the constitution that all male citizens must fight is, in my opinion, not in line with today's values."
He was recently sent to a recruitment centre after being stopped by police in Kyiv, who accused him of avoiding the draft. He was eventually allowed to go home, after pleading that he had back problems, but next time he fears he won't be.
There are exemptions from service, including having poor health, being a single parent, and caring for someone vulnerable. But those convicted of draft-dodging face fines, or even up to three years in prison.
"Everyone should be allowed to contribute to this war if their situations are taken into account," says Yehor. "I feel sorry for people who are on the front lines, yet I don't have a pacifist alternative."
(Germany has taken in about a million according to the UNHCR.).
From a starting population of 44 million or so in 2022, that's a substantial loss of population (a bit over a fifth).
To put that in perspective, if the UK lost a fifth of their population over the course of a year, how many people would be gone? (Between 13 and 14 million). FWIW, Syria has suffered a similar loss of population since 2011.
Some of the Ukrainian refugees are obviously not combat/military eligible, but others are/were. They are having troop/recruitment/conscription shortages/problems. Those who have fled are, it appears, beyond the reach of the recruiters and/or conscription organizations.
Doubtless some who had initially fled have returned home to fight the invasion.
How many more will do that? Unknown.
Last edited by Lonewolf_50; 13th Feb 2024 at 14:01.
How about you take your political whinging to Jet Blast, where it belongs?
Story from the BBC:
Ukraine is struggling to meet its demand for soldiers.
Something I mentioned in the Unpleasantries thread: somewhere around 6 to 8 million Ukrainians are displaced/refugees. This war has inflicted a massive cost, in human capital, since it began, and that's before casualties are added into the human cost.
(Germany has taken in about a million according to the UNHCR.).
From a starting population of 44 million or so in 2022, that's a substantial loss of population (a bit over a fifth).
To put that in perspective, if the UK lost a fifth of their population over the course of a year, how many people would be gone? (FWIW, Syria has suffered a similar loss of population since 2011...).
Some of the refugees are obviously not combat/military eligible, but others are/were. They are having troop/recruitment/conscription shortages/problems. Those who have fled are, it appears, beyond the reach of the recruiters and/or conscription organizations.
Doubtless some who had initially fled have returned home to fight the invasion.
How many more will do that? Unknown.
Story from the BBC:
Ukraine is struggling to meet its demand for soldiers.
Something I mentioned in the Unpleasantries thread: somewhere around 6 to 8 million Ukrainians are displaced/refugees. This war has inflicted a massive cost, in human capital, since it began, and that's before casualties are added into the human cost.
(Germany has taken in about a million according to the UNHCR.).
From a starting population of 44 million or so in 2022, that's a substantial loss of population (a bit over a fifth).
To put that in perspective, if the UK lost a fifth of their population over the course of a year, how many people would be gone? (FWIW, Syria has suffered a similar loss of population since 2011...).
Some of the refugees are obviously not combat/military eligible, but others are/were. They are having troop/recruitment/conscription shortages/problems. Those who have fled are, it appears, beyond the reach of the recruiters and/or conscription organizations.
Doubtless some who had initially fled have returned home to fight the invasion.
How many more will do that? Unknown.