The Ukrainian's are reported to have said "you'd never guess." Brimstone?

The Lewes bomb devised by the SAS in WWII only weighed around 1lb and could easily destroy an aircraft.

Looks rather to big for a Brimstone. But attack from above does indeed point to something unusual being done.

The German magazine focus.de quotes Ukrainian forces as saying that 14 Tu-95 bombers took off sometime after the explosions

Probably the aim, make them shift them out of range and thus negate their effectiveness.

Chris Papallio, twitter.... :}

He might be on to something with that...

So, choppers near St Petes are not safe. TU-160 seems to be an endangered species, as is the Su-34. The Crimea is becoming high for ground risks of aircraft... as is flight risk/war cover I guess. The Black Sea is not healthy for surface skimmers, and not so good for dolphin wearers. The Baltic, Russia being a State sponsor of terrorism to the EU has a bit of a problem with trying to pass any territorial waters, they lost innocent passage, shame. That also keeps them out of Japanese home waters if Japan wants to acknowledge the EU status. All up, Kamchatsky seems like a nice place to place Russian air and naval assets. Nice place, toilets work, kind of. Harbour is interesting for ex fisheads. At some point, the Russian citizenry will probably start to notice the OHSA infractions at their main bases.

WarMonitor is reporting that Ukraine is currently under a significant cruise missile attack.

Reports that the Russians have launched 14 Bears from Engels, which is just about the entire wing.

Not enough time to have planned and launched an attack, so looks like they’re flushing the bombers to safer FOBs, presumably further east.

Which should severely hamper any further mass cruise missile attacks on Ukraine.

The other main Bear base is Ukrainka in the Far East, with around 42 aircraft, but that’s over 7,500km east of Moscow and deploying there would realistically take them out of the war.

Must be a day ending with "Y". Vlad knows how to win hearts and minds. IIRC, bombing the stuffing out of the populace didn't win a war to date, although it has concentrated minds. If they are not able to hit military targets then they deserve the war crimes trials that are in their tea leaves, assuming that the UN's spineless bureaucrats don't give out flowers instead to Vlads terrorists.

Fair to say the Russian blogosphere aren’t happy. That poor defenceless airbase…..


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....faf0ec5f10.png

Semantics at work again, but according to the letter of the law, if the Russians wish to get all precise all of a sudden, I noticed the Ukrainians said that they were hitting their own aircraft which were being used to bomb the Ukrainian populace, and which had been lifted from them some years ago.

Or did the Ukraine have intel about a planned raid today, and the attack was an attempt to hit them as they were being readied....?

Russia as an importer of oil?
 

The Angarsk oil terminal run by Transneft to the NW of Irkutsk on 27 NOV raises some questions.

1. Is it time for Russia to give up cigarettes?
2. The state of the oil refinery that was not burnt seemed to be consistent with the level of care that AK47's have been kept in, and that seems to be inconsistent with reliability in an arctic/permafrost area.
3. If Russia is unable to remain a reliable supplier of oil to the residual recipients, how long will it be before the remainder clients are obliged to change their supplier to someone more reliable than Vlads Hermits.
4. The EU declaration of Russia's status as a terrorist sponsor state will preclude shipments through EU related waters, so that is a problem unless Vlad has is Acme oil 'n gas pipeline kit handy.
5. If product is unable to be used, how long until the well heads cease to operate?
6. How does Russia going from an energy exporter to an importer impact the vibrant and welcoming economy of the kingdom of Rus?

That may be far fetched, but the fallout of that would give Vlad his entry in Guiness.

I thought it was a tanker?

That was the second incident

U.S. Altered Himars Rocket Launchers to Keep Ukraine From Firing Missiles Into Russia

Experts debate whether long-range missiles for Ukraine would deter Putin or widen war

​​​​​​​https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-alt...d=hp_lead_pos5

Remember Forgotten fact that also 8 Tu-160, 3 TU-95, 575 Х-55, 124 train cars went to Russia from Ukraine in 1994 as part of Denuclearization Agreement.

With the other attack stating a tanker was hit and everyone assumes a fuel truck, I do wonder if it has been misinterpreted as a fuel truck in some of the posts, the reason I mention it is..

A new but covert wave of mobilisation will begin in Russia in January 2023, according to multiple sources who have spoken to the 'We can explain' Telegram channel. It will reportedly include raids on places of residence to round up men for the army.…

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...383335424.html

​​​​​​​

Twitter

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Twitter

QUOTE Well, under such circumstances "covert" can only mean not officially announced in the newspapers or on TV

Presumably Russian Dyagilevo military air base near Ryazan, a tanker truck and a damaged Tu-22M3….


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....fa24069f7.jpeg

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0650f17b4.jpeg
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Worth pointing out that those Ukraine Bombers being chopped up was paid for by the US and executed under contract by Raytheon.

Also rather than handing over everything as part of Start or as a consequence of Budapest memorandum, Ukraine actually sold 11 Blackjacks to Russia in 2001 or so to pay gas bills. As far as I see Russia failed to pay the full agreed amount in the end.

Other details of Ukraine giving up their ALCM fleet can be found here.

https://www.nti.org/wp-content/uploa...ine_bomber.pdf

Another photo of the Russian Tu-22M3 bomber (RF-34110) damaged in today’s strike on Dyagilevo. It is armed with a Kh-22 missile under its wing.


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ec7a4187a.jpeg
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Defensenews: US plans to increase the production of 155mm artillery shells six fold. What caught my eye in the article is bolded underneath. This time the lend/lease goes against the Russkies... (but against the fascists, again. Take that, Putler).

“We are in a position to support Ukraine, but it’s more the mid and long term,” Bush said. “By creating this capacity ... if this war goes three or four years, we’ll be in a position to just vastly outproduce the Russians all by ourselves ― and if you combine that with our allies, then we’re just dwarfing their capability. They won’t be able to keep up.”

"Beyond artillery shells, Bush said he is pushing to double production for the the most in-demand precision munitions for Ukraine: rounds for the Lockheed Martin-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System and Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, as well as Javelins, the portable anti-tank weapon jointly made by Lockheed and Raytheon Technologies."

https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon...drains-stocks/

I would say that’s a starter truck not a refuel truck.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....c5c7fe6051.png



https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....49830608d2.jpg

Pieces? Pieces of a missile don't leave a crater few meters wide and deep and don't flip a tractor with a trailer as if it was a toy.

Estonia buys HIMARS, as eastern allies boost artillery arsenals

https://www.defensenews.com/global/e.../?utm_source=s

The important thing is the attack itself, as it means Russia now has to honour the threat in future. With no HAS or revetments they’ll have to disperse their entire TU-95/22/160 fleets to FOB outside threat range - severely limiting their ability to launch further ALCM attacks.

​​​​​​​Russian military researcher explains that such a tight arrangement of strategic bombers at airbases is due to a lack of expenditure in this type of weaponry, and only a few airbases are ready to take them.

Russian sources claim that it was a soviet era TU-141 drone that hit the Rjazan-Dyagilevo airbase.

I thought it was the tanker.

Long thread and worth reading by Ukrainian ground troops on RuAF SU-34 crash site.

Basic fact, Russia cannot out produce 27 co7ntries with GDPs far larger - and able to outbid them on the world market for weapons - or sanction those that seem willing to supply them..

https://www.defensenews.com/smr/reag...ordinary-rate/

Russia burning through ammunition in Ukraine at ‘extraordinary’ rate

https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon...drains-stocks/

Army plans ‘dramatic’ ammo production boost as Ukraine drains stocks

https://www.defensenews.com/global/e...rt-to-ukraine/

Nordic nations may pool their growing military support to Ukraine

Pretty large missile:

Twitter

That possibly makes sense, start with something you know and have that is proven technology with the range needed, you can then use one as a blueprint to mass produce them and improve on the design, new guidance, large payload and possibly the engine. A quicker scenario than starting from scratch.

https://twitter.com/search?q=Tu-141%...rc=typed_query

Preliminary lessons on the Ukrainian war and lessons the West and the RAF need to learn from it amongst other things.

https://rusi.org/explore-our-researc...uary-july-2022

You don't need missiles to take out substations
 

Tens of thousands in North Carolina without power after substations hit with gunfire

Lots of targets in Russia for the specops folks. Tit for tat:E

Anyone have suggestions about a good place to donate to help Ukraine? I'd like to send some money but hesitate because of scammers.

In the waning days of November and early December, 1863, the U.S. Army of the Potomac engaged in a series of abortive offensives in Virginia known as the Mine Run Campaign. It was inconclusive from the operational perspective and the armies went into winter camps….


https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...621378560.html

Fundraiser by John Parker : John's Red Bus Ukraine War Refugee Fundraiser (gofundme.com)

A Ukranian friend put me in touch with this lot and I have driven consignments of goods to their depot. PM me if you want more info. I'm back in Blighty next week.