Posted on 02/24/2024 5:59:01 AM PST by SpeedyInTexas
This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When a vehicle is captured and then lost in service with its new owners, it is only added as a loss of the original operator to avoid double listings. When the origin of a piece of equipment can't be established, it's not included in the list. The Soviet flag is used when the equipment in question was produced prior to 1991. This list is constantly updated as additional footage becomes available.
(Excerpt) Read more at oryxspioenkop.com ...
🚨 📢::: #BREAKING 🇺🇸 🇷🇺 🇺🇦
U.S. READY TO PULL OUT OF THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE NEGOTIATIONS IN A MATTER OF DAYS IN CASE THERE IS NO BREAKTHROUGH IN THE PEACE TALKS.
U.S. Secretary of State Rubio: "..the Ukraine war is a terrible thing, but it's not our war.."pic.twitter.com/cCWKxpyOOa— Henry Mensah (@solverHenry) April 18, 2025
“Sanctions!
Rubles is still down 33% against the dollar since the start of the war.
“Russia is reportedly heavily dependent on North Korean artillery ammunition”
I seriously doubt that they do this with fresh manufacture - the Norks are drawing down their war stocks.
Two Military threats being demilitarized at once.
The Holy Week loss of a famous religious relic sent to encourage prayer and success by Russians on the front is a sad commentary on warfare, but not nearly so sad as the horrific bombing on an ordinary Ukraine bus that same Week. More than 2 dozen civilians died a horrible death mostly burning to death, in Putin’s latest effort to make war as horrible for everyone as he can.
I was especially struck by the previous comment regarding “philosopher?” Alexander Dugin regarding the importance of having Russian women give birth of the soldiers Russia will need for fighting in 20 years and even the next 40 or 50 years. He is promising “a tax on childlessness , a ban on abortions , selling condoms and other contraceptives only with passports , and so on , - ed.), and completely new, revolutionary solutions that will help us solve the problem.” I, and I suspect Russian women are horrified to imagine what these completely new and revolutionary solutions will be to help solve the problem. A good solution would be money for each child born, and indoor plumbing and a washing machine for every pregnant woman. However, I doubt these will be the solutions proposed as all the spare money is being spent to bribe men into enlisting to fight. More likely might be breeding prisons where women are forced to have sex and bear children with elderly women forced to be child care providers, so women can concentrate on being pregnant.
There has been a concentrated effort to force our own women to bear children, whether they want to or not. by restricting or abolishing abortion in many states. This has forced desperate women to travel far to prevent unwanted pregnancies. I saw a recent report that actually the rate of abortion has increased since these restrictions were imposed. The fact the cost of living has increased with the advent of Covid and the worldside economic dislocations that resulted did not help. I suspect our current President gained many votes by his promise to eliminate the grocery inflation as soon as he was elected. The ongoing worldwide bird flu epidemic has not cooperated with these hopes as egg prices remain high if not higher, chicken costs much more, and puts pressure on other protein sources like beef, pork, and seafood. Russia’s attack on Ukraine has not helped as warfare in prime agricultural areas has interfered with grain production in both countries, and thus raised the worldwide price of basic grain foods, including in the US.
News reports today indicated the current Administration may be loosing hope that Russia and Ukraine are likely to agree to any cease fire or settlement to their brutal war. Meanwhile in our own country, uncertainly regarding employment possibilities, and immigration issues are creating a climate of fear in many. Hopefully, our President is right in his determination that an effective and better system of tariffs worldwide will have a good outcome. Thus many businesses and their workers fear the uncertainty and our women continue to calculate this is not a good time to have the children they would otherwise welcome. It does not help that efforts to eliminate family planning have been observed in some areas.
A climate of fear does not create a healthy society. Putin. Dugin and other Russians have been especially effective in developing and maintaining such a climate there. If the cruel methods recommended by Russia’s great philosopher, Dugin, are implemented, I suspect they will not improve Russia’s situation. I hope our leaders in this country will realize how ineffective in the long run such a strategy is for national health.
Such a high loss of vehicles and fuel tanks, 312. What on earth is Russia doing now providing roller skates or skis for the troops and little red wagons with gallon jugs of fuel?
In our own country, yesterday it was reported that US immigrants have been paying almost $100 billion in income taxes each year. Now economists expressed concerns that fear of ICE enforcement may cause many worried immigrants to no longer pay these taxes since confidentiality of IRS records is no longer reliable. In other words an amount equal to our Ukraine assistance budget may dry up.
In our own country, yesterday it was reported that US immigrants have been paying almost $100 billion in income taxes each year. Now economists expressed concerns that fear of ICE enforcement may cause many worried immigrants to no longer pay these taxes since confidentiality of IRS records is no longer reliable. In other words an amount equal to our Ukraine assistance budget may dry up.
Even if those numbers are correct and I doubt that, how many 100s of billions of tax payer dollars have been spent on supporting illegals?
Since trade and use of ruble is very limited, and value basically set by Russians artificially, the reported “value” of the ruble is basically worthless.
Are these immigrants here legally? If not, should they be allowed remain in the US, paying taxes, as the money generated can be used to finance Ukrainian needs?
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov announced that the temporary ceasefire on long-range strikes against energy infrastructure ended on April 18.[4] Peskov responded to a question about whether Russia will resume strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities and claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not issued further instructions. Russian officials have not expressed any interest in extending the temporary strikes ceasefire and the actual terms of the ceasefire remain unclear due to the lack of formal, publicly available, joint ceasefire documents. Russian officials accused Ukraine of violating the temporary strikes ceasefire almost daily over the last month, but provided no evidence for most of these accusations.[5]
ISW previously assessed that Russia may intensify its long-range strikes against Ukraine following the end of the strikes moratorium, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned at an event for Ukrainian energy workers on April 17 that Russia may intensify strikes on Ukraine around Easter (April 20).[6] It remains unclear how the ending of the temporary strikes ceasefire may impact Russia's nightly strikes against Ukraine, as the specifics of Putin's previous order to stop strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure also remain unclear. Putin claimed to have issued an order to the Russian military immediately following his March 18 phone call with President Trump to stop strikes on energy infrastructure facilities, but Russian officials have provided no further context about the duration or other specifics of this supposed order.[7]
Kremlin mouthpieces continue to reject all US proposals to end the war in Ukraine that do not concede to all of Russia's demands for Ukraine, including regime change, demilitarization, and significant territorial concessions. Russian propagandist and RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan responded on April 18 to Bloomberg’s report that the United States proposed freezing the war on the current frontlines, leaving occupied Ukraine “under Moscow's control,” and taking Ukraine's NATO membership “off the table” as part of a plan to end the war and claimed that this plan is a “bad deal for Russia.”[8] Simonyan claimed that Russia should reject this plan because the plan does not include terms for Ukraine's “denazification” or a formal recognition of occupied Ukraine as part of Russia, and additionally does not include assurances that Europe will not deploy a potential European peacekeeping contingent to Ukraine. Simonyan also attempted to delegitimize Ukraine and the United States as negotiating partners and claimed that “there can be no negotiating with the insane” in reference to the plan and the Ukrainian government. Russian Security Council Deputy Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev urged the United States to “wash its hands” of the war in Ukraine and let Russia “figure it out faster” in a social media post on April 18.[9]
Kremlin officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, have repeatedly stated that they are unwilling to accept any agreement that does not concede to all of Russia's territorial and political demands for Ukraine.[10] US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in an article published on April 17 that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been “fixated” on territorial concessions during their bilateral meetings, indicating that Russian officials likely continue to reiterate their territorial and political demands about Ukraine both in public and in private.[11] Russian officials have noted that Putin remains committed to accomplishing all his goals in Ukraine, which Putin has explicitly defined in part as the “denazification” and demilitarization of Ukraine.[12] Russian officials often invoke the term “denazification” to call for regime change in Ukraine and to demand the installation of a pro-Russian proxy government in Kyiv. ISW previously noted that Russia demanded in the April 2022 Istanbul Protocol draft agreement that Ukraine shrink its military beyond pre-2022 levels and commit to never fielding a military capable of defending the country against future Russian aggression.[13] Putin has also called for Ukraine to concede unoccupied territory to Russia, and Russian officials appear to be considering these demands as the Kremlin's standing guidance on negotiations.[14]
Russian officials’ continued insistence on these demands has also set conditions for Russian society to expect these demands to be fulfilled in any conclusion of the war in Ukraine, and Kremlin mouthpieces stating explicitly that these demands must be met even in a peace deal favorable to Russia is a reflection of this long-term rhetorical line. ISW continues to assess that the Kremlin maintains its long-standing goals in Ukraine, and Russian officials continue to indicate and explicitly state that they are unwilling to compromise on these goals.[15]
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on April 18 that the People's Republic of China (PRC) is supplying Russia with weapons and military materials.[33] Zelensky cited information from Ukrainian intelligence and Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) indicating that the PRC has provided gunpowder and artillery to Russian forces and that PRC representatives are involved in weapons production within Russia. PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Spokesperson Lin Jian denied Zelensky’s statement.[34]
ISW has recently observed indications that Russia and the PRC are deepening their cooperation, particularly regarding the war in Ukraine.[35] PRC military officials have reportedly visited the frontline in Ukraine to glean insights for future warfare, and the PRC government may be disinterested in combating Russia's reported direct recruitment of PRC citizens to serve in the Russian military for this reason.[36] A Russian company also reportedly collaborated with entities in the PRC to develop and produce attack drones for use in Ukraine as of September 2024.[37]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-april-18-2025
I well remember watching Putin on TV, maybe 20 years ago, announcing just such programs to encourage Russian women to have more babies.
This was at a time when China was still under the CCP's "One Child Policy".
Putin's policies did seem to increase births in the early 2000s, but since Putin's invasions of Ukraine began in 2014, Russian birthrates have fallen drastically, while deaths have increased even more:
Yuri Krupnov wrote 2015 about a reduction in the working-age population by 10 million by 2025 due to the demographic crisis
Estimate 2008: Between 2010 and 2025, the number of potential conscripts for the Russian army aged 20 to 29 will decrease by 44%
A number of researchers believe that depopulation affects the Russian people to a greater extent than others: according to Leonid Rybakovsky , the real (not census) number of Russians for the period from 1989 to 2002 decreased by 7%, while the entire population of the country by 1.3% ; according to Beloborodov, up to 2025 85-90% of the population loss in Russia will be accounted for by Russians and, taking this into account, in 20 years the percentage of Russians, according to a rough estimate, will be from 60 to 70% ; it is also predicted that in 2050 the share of Russians in Russia will be 46.5% . Thus, in 2015, with the overall population growth in Russia, a negative natural increase was observed in all regions populated predominantly by Russians : Pskov (−7.2 ‰), Tula (−6.6 ‰), Tver (−6.5 ‰), Tambov (−6.3 ‰), Smolensk (−5.8 ‰), Novgorod (−5.6 ‰), Oryol (−5.2 ‰), Leningrad (−5.0 ‰), Vladimir (−4.9 ‰), Ryazan (−4.7 ‰), Ivanovo (−4.6 ‰) and Bryansk (−4.4 ‰) regions .
BREAKING:
Reuters reports that, after a meeting with Russian Envoy Dmitriev, Trump’s Envoy Witkoff told Trump that the fastest way to broker a ceasefire would be to give Russia 4 regions: Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk & Donetsk.
Ukraine still holds:
- 42% of Kherson (ca. 300… pic.twitter.com/M0c0fDx8th— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) April 11, 2025
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