Previous day’s thread: https://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/4176438/posts
Calling someone a RuZZian on FR is considered an insult.
Calling someone a Comrade on FR is considered an insult.
Summarizing this war:
A tragedy for Ukraine.
A disaster for RuZZia.
A strategic win for the USA. The biggest winner of the war.
“More than three decades after Reagan left office, most Republicans still believe that America is a force for good.”
Ukraine: military situation update - Aug 20, 2023
••Denotes Transcribed Dialogue. Extras are just that - from other sites, or my comments marked (Edit: .... ) or { } or [ ].
==
——> Tu-22 Backfire Destroyed In Drone Strike Deep Inside Russia <——
Russia now admits one of its aircraft was “damaged” in a drone attack using a “copter type” at a Tu-22M bomber base.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/tu-22-backfire-destroyed-in-drone-strike-deep-inside-russia
https://www.youtube.com/@RFU
[ Ukrainian Spies Hit Russians From The Back! ]
••Day 543: Aug 20
Today there is a lot of good news.
First of all, more information became available about yesterday’s strike on the Russian strategic airfield in the Novgorod region.
Recently released footage clearly shows a burning strategic bomber Tu-22M3 in the aftermath of a successful Ukrainian drone strike.
The Russian Ministry of Defense was forced to officially admit the loss of the bomber.
Interestingly, the Russian Ministry of Defense also admitted that Ukrainians launched their drones not from the territory of Ukraine, but somewhere from the Russian territory, confirming that Ukrainian Intelligence has organized a powerful network of spies and saboteurs deep inside Russia.
And this makes even more sense, if we take into account the fact that the Ukrainian flag was raised in front of the Russian Federal Security Service building.
Many Russian analysts concluded that a simultaneous strike and appearance of the Ukrainian flag in the same region is not coincidental and assumed that this is the result of the work of the same group.
The latest available information suggests that this group launched quadcopters with explosives several km away from the airfield.
Moreover, some sources noted that footage of the burning bomber first appeared in Ukrainian sources of information, which strongly indicates that the pictures were taken not by Russian soldiers, but by the second Ukrainian drone.
Some analysts affiliated with the Russian Ministry of Defense started defending the Russian General Staff, pointing out that the United States also do not cover their aircraft and leave them in the open without concerns.
But other analysts viciously critiqued both, noting that the US aircraft at not at risk, while Russian aircraft are consistently being destroyed for almost one year, and the General Staff has made absolutely zero attempts to increase the security of the strategic airfields with precious carriers of nuclear weapons.
While Russians are losing their aircraft, Ukrainians are increasing the number of their fighter jets.
Today, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky met with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte to discuss the question of the supply of F-16s.
The footage shows that Zalensky got into the cockpit of an F-16, and was given basic information about the aircraft, and some of the differences and unique features that the Ukrainian pilots will have to deal with during the training process as well as on the battlefield.
After the meeting was over, Zelensky officially announced that he had reached an agreement with Marko Rutte about the deliveries of F-16s, and the Netherlands agreed to give Ukraine 42 aircraft.
Interestingly, the Netherlands have 42 F-16 in total, which implies that they will give all of them.
Although it will not happen at once, but after Ukrainian pilots complete the training program, which will take up to 6 months.
Given that the Netherlands had plenty of them on sale, and many more scheduled for a write-off over the next 12 months, it becomes less surprising as it seems like the Netherland planned to modernize their Air Force in the coming year anyway.
The Ukrainian President also paid a visit to Denmark and met with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
The meeting took place on the airfield Skrydstrup, where they checked the F-16s.
Later the Danish Ministry of Defense officially stated that they were joining the Netherlands in their attempts to provide Ukraine with F-16s and help Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
Denmark also started creating a coalition together with the Netherlands to help with preparation for the use of F-16s, including training.
In total, Denmark has pledged 19 fighter jets - 6 by the New Year and others next year.
-—> In total, Ukraine is already scheduled to receive 61 fighter jets.
Ukrainian fighters and commanders on the ground were extremely happy to receive such news and said that despite the fact that they will receive them only in winter, this is still very good news.
Having F-16s would give Ukrainians a massive advantage because they can identify targets 150 km away, while the current Ukrainian fighter jets have a reach of 20 km.
Given that Russian helicopters operate around 15 km from the front, F-16s can completely eliminate the threat of Russian KA-52s.
As you know, Russian helicopters are one of the most serious threats to Ukrainian tanks and armored fighting vehicles, so having even just a few F-16s on each front will allow the Ukrainian assault units to attack without the fear of being attacked by the Russian helicopters.
••Robotnye:
Is in the gray zone. Next week liberation. Russians say they have left the town.
Staromaiorske:
UA expands FEBA to east and west.
Andriivka:
Town is surrounded on 3 sides, Russian attack demolished, lost lots of vehicles again.
Donets:
Another bigger Russian convoy devastated.
==
Bloomberg:
Speculation? FSB supports Prigozhin’s idea: the dismissal of the Russian military command. Plus, supporting measures to increase the size of the Russian army, announcing a military state with full mobilization.
==
UK Intel:
Ukraine may have redesigned the SA-5 missile from its air defense role into a ground attack ballistic one.
Oryx, August 17-20, 2023.
Russia - 80, Ukraine - 52
Ukraine destroyed twice as many tanks, and, as usual, twice as much artillery.
The difference between heavy and light armored vehicles is striking. Ukraine destroyed 5 times more heavy ones, Russia destroyed 5 times more light ones.
This is due to the difference in tactics - Ukraine is advancing with light infantry groups.
And also with what I have talked about many times - Russia has very few light armored vehicles like “Tiger” and “Typhoon”, instead of them you have to use ordinary “KamAZ”, “URAL” and “UAZ”, therefore, in the category “trucks” Russia also always has more losses.
Tanks:
Russia - 18
Ukraine - 9
Artillery:
Russia - 13
Ukraine - 7
==
The media report another UAV attack on the airfield where Russian missile carriers are based.
This time, the Shaikovka air base in the Kaluga region, where Tu-22M3s are located, was attacked.
Reportedly, the attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was unsuccessful - the copter, retrofitted with IEDs and a reinforced battery, was detected and shot down in time.
Previously, Shaikovka had already been attacked by Ukrainian drones, then it was a large drone but now the airbase was attacked by a saboteur using a quadrocopter, as was the case two days ago in Soltsy.
Like Nizhny Novgorod Soltsy, Shaikovka is not equipped with any shelters for aircraft.
https://t.me/pilotblog/6152?single
The Financial Times:
Over the past year and a half, Saudi border guards have Killed 100s of Ethiopian migrants who tried to enter the kingdom from Yemen.
Human Rights Watch, in its report, claims that security forces used “explosive weapons” (mines and grenades - ed.), and sometimes asked which limb to shoot.
Many migrants are fleeing human rights abuses by their government.
https://t.me/s/briefsmi
[ Sigh ]
Another attack on Moscow threatens to resign a number of generals
The last few days have not been easy for the Russian army. Earlier, drones attacked Tu-22M3 strategic aircraft at the Soltsy airfield, and in the morning the Moscow region was attacked.
Due to the attack of drones, civil aviation flights again had to be stopped, which brought inconvenience to thousands of passengers.
According to our information, the increased attacks on Moscow unnerve not only Sergei Sobyanin (for whom this spoils the atmosphere before the elections), but also the President.
Vladimir Vladimirovich recently spoke with the military and demanded to close Moscow so that nothing could reach here.
However, only in the last week the capital was attacked several times. And the trend is towards an increase in such attacks, which is not to the liking of Vladimir Putin.
“There are already rumors about upcoming purges in the command of the air defense and missile defense forces.
“It is not clear yet whether they will remove the command in the districts or bigger heads will roll,” a source in the General Staff told us.
The President instructed to strengthen the protection of the sky, but the number of air defense divisions is limited and some part is constantly lost at the front.
Removing even more installations from the front means leaving our fighters without cover.
And if you don’t shoot, then Moscow will continue to be attacked, but on a much larger scale.
==
Ukraine may launch 3 or 4 more offensives on the front this year
Such a forecast is given by the Ministry of Defense, two sources in the ministry told us.
“The West continues to pump weapons into the enemy, a significant part of the weapons is given secretly, and we see them only on the battlefield. According to intelligence, the plans of NATO countries to supply weapons to Ukraine are simply frightening,” one of them said.
According to him, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, Artemovsk (Bakhmut), Mariupol and Donetsk will be under threat in the event of new Ukrainian offensives.
Also, problems in the Kupyansk direction, where the initiative is now behind our troops, and a serious aggravation of the situation in the Crimea are not ruled out.
As for the current Ukrainian offensive, according to sources, “the enemy has individual, very limited successes, we have lost part of the territories, but the enemy has not achieved its goals.”
At the same time, Russian fighters are fighting on a number of sectors of the front “with the last of their strength.”
“Our troops are very exhausted, they fight on moral and strong-willed qualities. Fight heroically! But there are many problems, the main of which is big losses.
“In the same Zaporozhye direction, our army may one day simply end. We hope for mobilization, but we may not wait for it, we really need fresh forces, and right now,” the representative of the Ministry of Defense admitted.
Our interlocutors refuse to talk about how the current and future offensives of the Ukrainian troops will end. The situation, they say, is “most unpredictable.”
https://t.me/kremlin_secrets/2674
==
Sad news about the offensive of Ukraine at the front
A few days ago , we wrote that the West will continue to pump weapons into Ukraine, as a result of which the enemy forces may launch several more offensives on the front this year.
Our insider, unfortunately, was confirmed: the Ukrainian army is quite officially given more than 40 F-16 aircraft.
According to our source in the Foreign Intelligence Service, the enemy will have many more such aircraft, some will be given secretly.
The first F-16s should appear at the front soon enough, which could seriously worsen the situation for us. In addition, NATO has plans to supply other weapons to Ukrainians.
A source in the General Staff is sure that under such circumstances, Ukrainian troops will advance almost until the end of the year.
“We expect to save Crimea, there is every chance. But with Melitopol, Donetsk, Mariupol and Luhansk, it can be much more difficult,” he predicts.
At the same time, the military is sure that Russia is quite capable of defending the controlled territories, if not all, then almost all.
“The number of casualties will increase, but we are all waiting for mobilization.
“Plus, we have plans that will still surprise the enemy,” the military man assured us.
Of the participants in the Great Game, R. Abramovich, S. Shoigu and E. Prigozhin arrived in Moscow today.
thermonuclear mixture.
US Embassy Minsk/US State Department earlier today:
Alert for U.S. citizens: The Lithuanian government on August 18 closed border crossings with Belarus at Tverecius/Vidzy and Sumskas/Losha. Other border crossings remain open. Do not travel to Belarus. U.S. citizens in Belarus should depart immediately.
https://twitter.com/USEmbBy/status/1693622862777618663
Probably nothing, but who knows. Maybe some additional border closures coming that would make evacuation more difficult.
Quiet night for the ruble, staying under 94.