“13 more RuZZian tanks added to the list.”
"Tanks (2944, of which destroyed: 1955, damaged: 155, abandoned: 301, captured: 533)”
Posted on 02/24/2024 5:59:01 AM PST by SpeedyInTexas
Now that Ukraine has fulfilled all four recommendations set forth by the European Commission to approve the framework for Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations, the Kyiv Independent reports:
“The EU should be able to offer a negotiating framework to begin the process of Ukraine’s ascension to the European Union in June, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna said during a press briefing on April 16, as reported by the Hromadske news outlet.
Stefanishyna, who is in Brussels this week to meet with European foreign ministers, said Kyiv is receiving “optimistic indicators” about upcoming negotiations...
...Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal (earlier this year) said that European Council President Charles Michel had named 2030 as a possible target year for further EU enlargement but added that the Commission would work to try to integrate Ukraine on a faster timeline.”
AP reports:
“(Speaker) Johnson also spoke over the weekend with President Joe Biden as well as other congressional leaders about the emerging U.S. aid package, which the speaker plans to move in separate votes for each section — with bills for Ukraine, Israel, the Indo-Pacific region. He spoke about it with Biden again late Monday.
It’s a complicated approach that breaks apart the Senate’s $95 billion aid package for separate votes, and then stitches it back together for the president’s signature.
The approach will require the speaker to cobble together bipartisan majorities with different factions of House Republicans and Democrats on each measure. Additionally, Johnson is preparing a fourth measure that would include various Republican-preferred national security priorities, such as a plan to seize some Russian assets in U.S. banks to help fund Ukraine and another to turn the economic aid for Ukraine into loans.”
The Hill reports:
““It does appear at first blush that the Speaker’s proposal will in fact help us get aid to Ukraine, aid to Israel and needed resources to the Indo-Pacific for a wide range of contingencies there. At first blush it looks like that, we just want to get more details,” he (John Kirby, a White House spokesperson) added.
The White House had a day earlier said it would oppose a stand-alone bill to fund aid to Israel.”
Biden is growing more and more afraid of the Hamas wing of the democrat party. And for good reason. They are fanatics. I would not be surprised to see all out war at the Dem Convention, including violence. It's the only method the islamists know when they don't get their way. And it's not just the islamists, as BLM and Antifa are both in the pro-Hamas wing, and both have a high potential for organized violence.
Ukrainian Armed Forces conducted massive strikes on the Russian military airfield in Dzhankoi, occupied Crimea.
“massive strikes”
That’s the Spirit!
The Guardian reports:
“The Czech prime minister, Petr Fiala, said 20 countries had pledged enough to buy 500,000 artillery shells for Ukraine outside Europe within the so-called Czech initiative. The Czechs said in March they were able to collect about 800,000 shells in total for Ukraine outside the continent.
Fiala said there was no reason why the donors could not “deliver one million more in the next 12 months … I want to highlight that this initiative is not a one-time project. Our goal is to create a long-term system of ammunition supplies for heavy weapons. This will directly help to change the situation on the frontline.””
China has been building up Defense Industrial Base production facilities in Russia.
Ukrainska Pravda reports:
“US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will discuss US concerns over China’s support for Russia’s military industry at the G7 ministerial meeting in Italy (17 April).
Source: Ukrinform news agency, citing Matthew Miller, US State Department spokesman
Quote: “What we have seen over the past months is that there have been materials moving from China to Russia that Russia has used to rebuild that industrial base and produce arms that are showing up on the battlefield in Ukraine. And we are incredibly concerned about that.”...
...US data show that China has sharply increased its sales of machine tools to Russia, as well as microelectronics and other technologies that Moscow uses to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weapons for its war against Ukraine.”
“Massive explosion and fire tonight at Dzhankoi airbase, Russian-occupied Crimea, after a possible Ukrainian air raid.”
https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1780422385658720307
https://twitter.com/NAFORaccoon/status/1780424816723378435
“Massive stockpiles of Russian munitions continue to explode at the Dzhankoi military airfield in the north of occupied Crimea after Ukrainian air strikes.”
https://twitter.com/igorsushko/status/1780417197527163096
“According to Radio Liberty, “Dzhankoi” is an active state airfield in Crimea, where the 39th helicopter regiment of the 27th mixed aviation division of the 4th Air Force and Air Defense Command of the Southern Military District of the russian army, three aviation squadrons, are stationed.”
https://twitter.com/albafella1/status/1780407853632675847
russian sources report Ukraine destroyed a warehouse of hypersonic Zircon missles in Dzhankoi, Crimea. Also they report a “black day” for russian aviation.
Wow, that is some video of Dzhankoi blowing up!
Special Eclipse viewing glasses are recommended to watch that fireball go off.
No air defense. No air raid alarms until after the explosions started.
Drones or ATACMS used?
I think Storm Shadows.
ATACMS.
Khortytskyi wind, 04/16/24.
A Ukrainian Channel. Numerous videos available on this channel:
https://t.me/s/Khortytsky_wind
The seven hundred and eighty-fourth day of large-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine has begun
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, during the past day:
in the Kupyansk direction. the enemy did not conduct offensive (assault) actions
in the Lymansky direction, the enemy attacked the positions of our defenders 9 times in the Terni, Torsky, Hryhorivka districts of the Donetsk region and Serebryansk forestry in the Luhansk region.
in the Bakhmut region - our soldiers repelled 19 attacks in the areas of Verkhnokamianske, Vyimka, Bilogorivka, Chasiv Yar, Ivanivske, Klishchiivka settlements of the Donetsk region, where the enemy, with the support of aviation, tried to improve the tactical position.
in the Avdiyiv direction - our defenders repelled 11 attacks in the areas of Ocheretyne, Novokalynove, Berdychi, Semenivka, Netaylove, Pervomaiske settlements of the Donetsk region.
in the Novopavlivskyi direction - Defense forces continue to restrain the enemy in the areas of Krasnohorivka and Novomykhailivka settlements of the Donetsk region, where the enemy tried to break through the defense of our troops 20 times.
East direction:
The defense forces continue to inflict losses on the enemy in manpower and equipment.
The total losses of the Russian army only in the eastern direction for 04/16/2024 amounted to:
personnel - 589
tanks - 4
armored combat vehicles - 8
guns and mortars - 7
anti-tank means - 2
air defense means - 1
automotive equipment - 13
means of EB - 2
BpLA - 373
shelters - 7
ammunition depots - 2
Much has been made of the costs of weapons and weapons systems being lost and the drag that is putting on Russian economy and budget. In particular I find interesting the claims of increased Russian gdp despite sanctions and how this reflects failures of sanctions to harm Russian economy
My initial thoughts were
First this is Russian reporting
Second, all this production in the form of weapons and weapons systems that are being produced and then destroyed is not exactly a positive even if it can be counted as increased GDP. ie Making 10000 cars and then blowing them up reflects positively on gdp, but in reality is not positive.
But to the point of the report, recruiting all these people Russian or otherwise is expensive and they have no choice. Which leads to the dilemma, pay for war costs or other services like maintaining infrastructure so dams don’t burst or Pooh rivers in kazan don’t happen
Things happen slowly till they don’t
Russia is kicking alot of cans down the road and the dilemma created is the war is an existential threat to Putin both personally and his power, he cannot be seen as losing so all focus is on that, the rest of the country (at least outside Moscow and St. Petersburg be damned) and will suffer.
Assume his calculation is he will focus on winning war and getting a sufficiently acceptable “peace” resolution, then be able to focus more energy on stamping out any dissent beyond what the increase “internal security” budget has allowed.
If Russia gets a resolution to the war, again imagine they will spend vast amounts on rebuilding military, and continue to neglect many other internal services like infrastructure
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